Dr Sanjukta Basu is a multipotential polymath with a career spanning more than 20 years holding diverse roles including lawyer, journalist, digital communications consultant, research scholar, teacher, writer, photographer, and more. She studied B.A. LLB from Delhi University followed by a M.A in Women’s and Gender Studies in 2016 and a PhD in Women’s Studies. She currently practices law before the Supreme Court of India, the High Court, and the Trial Courts of Delhi, and occasionally delivers guest lectures at universities in India and abroad. Her recent engagements include speaking at the London College of Communications, University of Arts, London, Northumbria University, Newcastle; King’s College London; G.L. Bajaj Institute of Technology and Management, Noida; and Alliance University, Bangalore.
Her doctoral thesis lies in the intersectional discipline of Gender, Digital Media and Politics. Over the years she has worked as a consultant with leading nonprofit organizations such as Azad Foundation, Centre for Media Studies, Participatory Research in Asia, Breakthrough Trust, Point of View, MAMTA-HIMC, Partners for Law in Development and Multiple Action Research Group among others. She is one of India’s earliest bloggers and has led the blogger communities in both Delhi and Bengaluru during the early decades of internet. For her blogging and digital activism since 2005, she won the TED Fellowship in 2009, and has spoken at several TEDx events. As a journalist, she has published over 200 Reportages, Photo Features, Interviews and Opinion Columns across various platforms both print and digital which includes Firstpost, Daily O, The Wire, National Herald, India Times, Global Voices, Women’s Web, Grazia Magazine, Good Housekeeping magazine, Global Voices among others. Her feminist photo-journalism series, ‘Where Are The Women’ and ‘Women With Tattoos’ have been widely recognized and referenced in academic and journalistic works worldwide. Her photo documentary on Babar Ali’s School have been published in media and academic publications in over five countries including Canada, Sweden, Germany and United Kingdom. Her reportage on ‘Karwan e Mohabbat’, ‘Kathputli Colony demolition’ ‘Women of Nizamuddin Basti’ are some of her other notable works. In 2017, it was listed amongst India’s the top 50 Feminist blogs by Femina Magazine and among Top 11 feminist blogs by Women’s Web. She has won the First Prize in Women’s Web Beyond the Doors Photography Awards and awarded for Feminist Journalism by ICUNR Women’s Day Award 2024. She has taught courses on women, law and digital media at the Apeejay School of Media and Communications and International Institute of Mass Media. In addition she has spoken and delivered guest lectures or workshops at several national and international conferences and seminars including at Delhi University, Jamia Milia Islamia, Centre for Science and Environment, Feminist Approach to Technology, Jagori, and more recently, GL Bajaj Institute of Technology & Management, King’s College London, London College of Communication, University of Arts, London, Northumbria University, Newcastle, and Alliance University, Bangalore. She has also appeared on national and international media such as BBC World Service, Al Jazeera, and India Ahead News as a political analyst and domain expert.
Dr Basu’s pioneering work on gender and public space includes a travel and photography research project across five Indian metropolitan cities. Traveling solo with her camera, she documented women’s lived experiences of navigating urban spaces. The findings were published as a series in Firstpost (2017) and have since been widely cited in academic and civil society discourse. Notable references include an EPW Engage article titled, “How Do We Help Women Navigate Cities Designed by Men?”; Edited volume titled, Graphic Narratives about South Asia and South Asian America (Routledge, 2021), by Kavita Daiya, (Link); Third Eye Portal article, “Our Cities are Designed For Men, By Men” by Harini Nagendra & Amrita Sen (Nirantar NGO).
Dr. Basu continued to work on gender and public space through her PhD thesis titled, “Women’s Political Space on Internet and Gender Trolling.” The autoethnographic thesis examines how women have historically been denied meaningful participation in physical public spaces and argues that the internet constitutes a transitional and hybrid space that is simultaneously public and private. It explores the potential of the internet to serve as a catalyst for women’s public participation and their existential search for identity, meaning, and purpose. The study argues that women’s safe access to the internet, whether for personal and existential expression or for political participation, without the constant threat of trolling and online violence, should form part of mainstream feminist demands.
Apart from research project, Basu also initiated Project SWBT – Single Woman Budget Travel, which seeks to reclaim public space through solo travel. As part of the project, she travelled solo to a range of destinations, from popular tourist spots to off-beat locations, on a predetermined small budget, using ordinary public transportation such as ordinary non-AC bus and trains, and staying in budget hotels without prior bookings. The project sought to examine, through first-hand experience, the safety perceptions for women travelling alone. Her experiences not only highlighted the challenges and risks faced by women solo travelers but also reveals how by taking the risk of stepping out and pushing boundaries of safety, women can reclaim public space. These insights were published in, Why I Travel Alone As a Single Woman In India, TED Fellows Blog (2016), Parks Not Only For Men To Loiter,” Solo Traveler Sanjukta Basu Reclaims Public Spaces, Indian Woman Blog (2018), and a public talk Take the Risk: Travel Solo delivered at Kunzum Women Travel Mixer (2016).
In 2020, Basu launched the Instagram account @genderandpublicspace to disseminate feminist knowledge and raise awareness on gendered experiences of public space. This initiative has since been integrated into the Feminist Alliance Trust as part of its public engagement and feminist knowledge production program.
Dr. Basu reflects that this eventful journey of her life began with a simple step into the hybrid space of the internet, taken without grand purpose but merely to express her most mundane and private thoughts. Through her own lived experiences, she came to understand the profound importance of public space and spatial justice for women, and it is this realization that has inspired her to design and lead the present workshop.