Shailaja Paik is an Indian historian who studies modern Indian history. Her work focuses on how class, gender, and caste interact, with a special focus on the experiences of Dalits (formerly known as “untouchables”). She is also connected with the Women’s, Gender, and Studies departments and Asian Studies. In 2024, she was honored with a prestigious MacArthur Fellowship.
Shailaja, a historian and author living in the US, has made history by becoming the first Dalit person to win the prestigious MacArthur Fellowship, often known as the “genius grant.” The fellowship comes with a prize of $800,000.
Educational Details Of Shailaja Paik
Paik studied at Savitribai Phule Pune University, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in 1994 and a master’s degree in 1996. She later completed her PhD in 2007 at the University of Warwick.
In 2005, Paik first came to the U.S. through a fellowship from Emory University. She is currently a professor at the University of Cincinnati, where she holds the title of Charles Phelps Taft Distinguished Research Professor of History.

About Shailaja Paik Author Biography
Shailaja Paik was born in 1973 in Pohegaon, Maharashtra, India. She is 51 years old as of 2024. Shailaja grew up as one of four daughters in her family. They moved to Pune, where she spent her childhood living in a one-room house in a slum area in Yerawada.
Her parents, especially her father, strongly encouraged her and her sisters to get a good education. Her mother’s name is Sarita and her father’s name is Devram. There is no information available about her marital status.
Brief About Shailaja’s Author Journey
Shailaja has had teaching roles at different universities. From 2008 to 2010, she was a visiting assistant professor of history at Union College. Then, from 2012 to 2013, she worked at Yale University as a postdoctoral associate and visiting assistant professor, focusing on South Asian history. Since 2010, Paik has been working at the University of Cincinnati.
In her research, Shailaja focuses on highlighting the experiences and views of Dalits. Besides using sources in English, Marathi, and Hindi, she is also building a new collection of materials based on interviews and fieldwork she has done with modern Dalit women.
Shailaja Paik’s first book, Dalit Women’s Education in Modern India: Double Discrimination (2014), talks about the struggles Dalit women faced to get an education and assert their independence in both colonial times and modern-day Maharashtra.
In her latest book, The Vulgarity of Caste: Dalits, Se***ality, and Humanity in Modern India (2022), Paik explores the lives of women performers in Tamasha, a lively folk theater tradition in Maharashtra that has mostly been practiced by Dalits for centuries. The book looks at the conflicts between the state, anti-caste activists, and Dalit women’s fight for agency.
Attribute | Details |
---|---|
Full Name | Shailaja Paik |
New Name | Shailaja |
Profession | Indian Author |
Date of Birth | 1973 |
Age (as of 2024) | 51 Years Old |
Family |
Father: Mr. Devram Paik |
Mother: Mrs. Sarita Paik | |
Siblings: N/A | |
Marital Status | Married |
Husband Name | Update Soon |
Children | N/A |
Religion | Hindu |
Educational Qualification | Graduate |
School | High School in Pune |
College | Savitribai Phule Pune University University of Warwick Emory University |
Hobbies | Writing & Read Books |
Birth Place | Pohegaon, Maharashtra, India |
Hometown | Pohegaon, Maharashtra, India |
Current City | United States |
Nationality | Indian |
Net Worth | $1 million Approximately |
Social Media |
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