Shailaja Paik

Early life and education Paik was born in 1974 into a Marathi-speaking Dalit family in Pohegaon, Maharashtra, India, where she was one of four daughters. The family moved to Pune, where Paik grew up in a "one-room house in a slum area" in Yerawada. Her parents, and especially her father, encouraged the girls to obtain an education.

Paik attended Nowrosjee Wadia College and Savitribai Phule Pune University (1994 BA, 1996 MA) before earning her PhD in 2007 from the University of Warwick.

Career Paik first came to the U.S. in 2005, as part of a fellowship from Emory University.

Publications

Books

Dalit Women’s Education in Modern India: Double Discrimination (2014) The Vulgarity of Caste: Dalits, Sexuality, and Humanity in Modern India (2022)