Sharmila Rudrappa
PhD, University of Wisconsin–Madison
Director, South Asia Institute

Contact
- E-mail: rudrappa@austin.utexas.edu
- Phone: 512-232-6310
- Office: RLP 3.614
- Office Hours: TBA
- Campus Mail Code: A1700
Biography
Sharmila Rudrappa teaches on, and researches issues related to gender, race, and labor. Her specific interests are on reproductive markets, with a focus on the U.S. and India. She is author of Discounted Life: The Price of Global Surrogacy in India (New York University Press, 2015).She is also the author of Ethnic Routes to Becoming American: Indian Immigrants and the Cultures of Citizenship (Rutgers University Press, 2004), which explores race and activism in late 20th century Chicago.
- Soc 321K Feminist Theory (cross listed with Women's Studies and Asian American Studies)
- Soc 321K Race and Work (cross listed with Women's Studies and Asian American Studies)
- UGS 302 War and Asian American Families
Current Research Projects:
Dr. Rudrappa's work is on labor markets in care work.
NIH Biosketch
Courses
SOC 335R • Reproductive Justice/Race
44790 • Spring 2021
Meets TTH 9:30AM-11:00AM WAG 214
Hybrid/Blended
(also listed as AAS 330M, WGS 340)
SOC 321K • Reproductive Justice & Race
43494 • Fall 2019
Meets TTH 8:00AM-9:30AM RLP 0.122
CDEWr
(also listed as AAS 330, WGS 340)
SOC 394K • Classical Social Theory
43730 • Fall 2019
Meets TH 12:30PM-3:30PM RLP 3.106
SOC 395G • Feminist Theory
45170 • Spring 2018
Meets M 4:30PM-7:30PM CLA 1.102
(also listed as ANT 391, WGS 393)
SOC 321K • Reproductive Justice & Race
45455 • Spring 2017
Meets TTH 12:30PM-2:00PM ETC 2.114
CDEWr
(also listed as AAS 330, WGS 340)
SOC 395G • Feminist Theory
45615 • Fall 2016
Meets W 3:00PM-6:00PM CLA 3.106
(also listed as ANS 390, ANT 391, WGS 393)
SOC 321K • Reproductive Justice & Race
44535 • Spring 2016
Meets MWF 10:00AM-11:00AM CLA 0.122
(also listed as AAS 330, WGS 340)
SOC 395G • Feminist Theory
44785 • Fall 2015
Meets W 3:00PM-6:00PM CLA 0.120
(also listed as ANS 390, ANT 391, WGS 393)
SOC 395G • Feminist Theory
45220 • Spring 2015
Meets M 3:00PM-6:00PM CLA 0.120
(also listed as ANS 390, WGS 393)
UGS 303 • Diff Dialog: War & Asian-Amers
64360 • Fall 2014
Meets MWF 10:00AM-11:00AM CLA 0.122
Wr
ID
SOC 321K • Sociology Of Race And Work
46407 • Spring 2014
Meets TTH 3:30PM-5:00PM CLA 1.106
(also listed as AAS 330, WGS 322)
SOC 395G • Feminist Theory
46645 • Spring 2014
Meets TH 12:00PM-3:00PM CLA 4.106
(also listed as ANS 390, WGS 393)
SOC 321K • Feminist Theory
45740 • Spring 2013
Meets TTH 12:30PM-2:00PM BIO 301
Wr
(also listed as AAS 330, WGS 350)
SOC 379M • Sociological Theory
45880 • Spring 2013
Meets TTH 3:30PM-5:00PM WAG 112
Wr
SOC 321K • Sociology Of Race And Work
45545 • Fall 2012
Meets MWF 12:00PM-1:00PM BUR 134
(also listed as AAS 330)
SOC 379M • Sociological Theory
45680 • Fall 2012
Meets MWF 1:00PM-2:00PM BUR 231
Wr
SOC 321K • Feminist Theory
45515 • Spring 2012
Meets TTH 11:00AM-12:30PM PAR 306
Wr
(also listed as AAS 330, WGS 322)
SOC 321K • Sociology Of Race And Work
45550 • Spring 2012
Meets TTH 2:00PM-3:30PM BUR 136
(also listed as AAS 330, WGS 322)
SOC 395G • Feminist Theory
45610 • Fall 2011
Meets W 12:00PM-3:00PM BUR 231
(also listed as ANS 390, ANT 391, WGS 393)
SOC 379M • Sociological Theory
46220 • Spring 2011
Meets TTH 2:00PM-3:30PM MAI 220A
Wr
UGS 302 • War & Asian American Families
63570 • Spring 2011
Meets TTH 11:00AM-12:30PM BUR 228
Wr
WGS 322 • Feminist Theory
47615 • Spring 2011
Meets MW 2:00PM-3:30PM GAR 2.112
SOC 379M • Sociological Theory
46490 • Spring 2010
Meets MWF 9:00AM-10:00AM BUR 214
AAS 330 • Asian Amer Iss: Family Polit
36022 • Fall 2009
Meets TTH 3:30PM-5:00PM BUR 136
(also listed as WGS 340)
WGS 393 • Feminist Theory
48911 • Fall 2009
Meets TH 12:00PM-3:00PM BUR 480
AAS 330 • South Asian Amer Experience-W
36055 • Spring 2008
Meets MW 5:00PM-6:30PM MEZ 1.118
C2
(also listed as WGS 340)
AAS 330 • South Asian Amer Experience-W
35500 • Spring 2007
Meets MW 4:30PM-6:00PM BUR 231
C2
(also listed as WGS 340)
AAS 330 • Asian Amer Iss: Family Polit
36245 • Fall 2006
Meets TTH 11:00AM-12:30PM BUR 224
(also listed as WGS 340)
AAS 330 • Spec Tpc In Race: Nation/Citzn
34500 • Spring 2006
Meets MWF 9:00AM-10:00AM PAR 8C
(also listed as WGS 322)
ANS 390 • Feminist Theory
29817 • Spring 2006
Meets W 1:00PM-4:00PM BUR 231
(also listed as WGS 393)
AAS 330 • South Asian Amer Experience-W
34235 • Fall 2005
Meets W 5:00PM-8:00PM BUR 231
C2
AAS 330 • Asian Amer Iss: Family Polit-W
33130 • Spring 2005
Meets W 4:00PM-7:00PM BUR 228
C2
ANS 384 • Citznshp In Multiracial Democs
28440 • Spring 2005
Meets T 4:00PM-7:00PM BUR 214
AAS 330 • Asian Amer Iss: Family Polit
31840 • Spring 2004
Meets MW 3:00PM-4:30PM UTC 3.102
(also listed as WGS 340)
AAS 379 • Conf Crs In Asian Amer Studies
32430 • Fall 2003
ANS 390 • Feminist Theory
27697 • Fall 2003
Meets F 12:00PM-3:00PM BUR 231
(also listed as WGS 393)
AAS W679HA • Honors Tutorial Course
84369 • Summer 2003
AAS 330 • Asian Amer Iss: Family Polit
31550 • Spring 2003
Meets MW 3:00PM-4:30PM UTC 3.102
(also listed as WGS 340)
AAS 330 • South Asian Amer Experience-W
31930 • Fall 2002
Meets TTH 2:00PM-3:30PM ECJ 1.214
C2
(also listed as WGS 340)
AAS 379 • Conf Crs In Asian Amer Studies
31940 • Fall 2002
AAS 330 • Spec Tpc In Race: Nation/Citzn
31535 • Spring 2002
Meets TTH 8:00AM-9:30AM BUR 214
AAS 330 • So Asians In Us: Race/Work/Fam
32362 • Fall 2001
Meets MWF 10:00AM-11:00AM CBA 4.344
AAS 330 • Sp Tpc In Race: Nation/Citizen
32363 • Fall 2001
Meets MWF 8:00AM-9:00AM GEA 105
Publications
Books
2015 Discounted Life: The Price of Global Surrogacy in India. New York, NY: New York University Press. 224 pages.
2004 Ethnic Routes to Becoming American: Indian Immigrants and the Cultures of Citizenship. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press. 256 pages.
Journal articles
2018 “Reproducing Dystopia: The Politics of Transnational Surrogacy in India, 2002-2015,” Special issue in Critical Sociology, edited by Jennifer Chun, Heidi Gottfried, and Ito Peng. November 2018 (44:7/8).
2016 “What to Expect When You’re Expecting: The Affective Economies of Consuming Surrogacy in India.” Positions: Asia Critique, 24 (1).
2015 Co-authored with Caitlyn Collins. “Altruistic Agencies and Compassionate Consumers: Moral Framing of Transnational Surrogacy.” Gender & Society. Dec 2015. 29 (6): 932-959.
2014 “Des ateliers de confection aux lignes d’assemblage des bébés. Stratégies d’emploi parmi des mères porteuses à Bangalore, Inde” [From sweatshops to intimate labor: Employment strategies among surrogate mothers in Bangalore, India]. Cahiers du Genre, 56, 59-86.
2012 “Working India’s Reproductive Assembly Line: Surrogacy and Reproductive Rights?” Western Humanities Review, 66(3), 77-101.
2012 “India’s Reproductive Assembly Line.” Contexts, 11(2), 22-27.
Peer reviewed book chapters
2016 “From Manufacturing Clothes to Manufacturing Babies: Economic Precarity and Labor Options Among Surrogate Mothers in Bangalore, India.” Edited by Virginie Rozée Gomez and Unisa Sayeed. Assisted Reproductive Technologies in the Global South and North: Issues, Challenges and the Future. Routledge, London.
2015 “Conceiving Fatherhood: Gay Men and Indian Surrogate Mothers.” In Globalized Fatherhood. Edited by Marcia Inhorn, Wendy Chavkin, and Jose-Alberto Navarro. Oxford, UK: Berghahn Books, 291-311.
Op-eds
2016 “Why India’s New Surrogacy Bill is Bad for Women,” Op-ed in Huffington Post, August 28, 2016. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/why-indias-new-surrogacy-bill-is-bad-for-women_us_57c075f9e4b0b01630de83ad
2015 “If America Really Cared About Mothers, Reproductive Health Care Would Be Available to All.” Op-ed in American Prospect for Mother’s Day, May 10, 2015. http://prospect.org/article/if-america-really-cared-about-mothers-reproductive-health-care-would-be-available-all
2015 “White American’s ‘Equal Opportunity Anger’ Leads to Execution-Style Deaths of Three Muslim Americans.” Op-ed in Truth Out, February 17, 2015. http://truth-out.org/opinion/item/29162-white-american-s-equal-opportunity-anger-leads-to-execution-style-deaths-of-three-muslim-americans
2015 “Fingers in the Attic.” Op-ed in Pacific Standard, January 28, 2015. http://www.psmag.com/books-and-culture/fingers-in-the-attic-collecting-human-remains
2014 “The International Surrogacy Market.” Op-ed in Pacific Standard, September 23, 2014. http://www.psmag.com/navigation/health-and-behavior/the-international-surrogacy-market-india-bangalore-pregnancy-babies-90953