Magna Mohapatra

Magna Mohapatra is a second-year PhD student in the department of Cultural Anthropology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her research interests lie in the intersections of decoloniality, political movements, affect, care, indigeneity and political and legal anthropology. She plans to study the judicial processes that impact the Dongria Kondh communities in Odisha, India in their everyday struggles to resist the neocolonial extractivism and systemic oppression of their indigenous livelihood. Prior to coming to Madison, Magna has completed her Master’s Program in Sociology from South Asian University, New Delhi, India, graduating summa cum laude. She has published three papers and presented in numerous national and international conferences on the topics of decoloniality, affect and political-social movements. With the help of the Scott-Kloeck Jenson Fellowship, Magna intends to further her research on the theoretical and methodological contours of political anthropology.