Raka Ray

Raka Ray (born 28 July 1962) is an American sociologist and academic.

She is a full-time professor at the University of California, Berkeley in the departments of Sociology and Southeast Asian Studies.

For her Bachelor of Arts, she studied Sociology at Bryn Mawr College in 1985.

She then proceeded to earn an M.S. and PhD in 1987 and 1993, respectively, at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Ray believes in her greater utility as an academic, rather than an activist, in investigating systematic inequalities.

When discussing obstacles in her education and career, as a woman of color, Ray highlights that this was not something she experienced (in India) until she moved to the United States.

Ray explains that her focus on gender in South Asia was ‘consistently seen as marginal to mainstream Sociology’ and that she had to battle with ‘constant particularizing’ of her work and the ‘universalizing of work on the US’.

As well as teaching at the University of Berkeley, Ray has also given several conferences, organized panels, published articles and books.

In 2018, she co-published The Social Life of Gender with Jennifer Carlson and Abigail Andrews.

Ray notably focuses on postcolonial sociology and its relation to modern feminist discourse.

She has highlighted the lack of critique of postcolonial theory, due to ‘sociology’s attachment to its own modernist foundations and to universalism’.

Ray argues that the ‘founding fathers of sociology’ (Marx, Weber, Durkheim) have overlooked the importance of colonialism in the making of European modernity.

This focus on a self-sufficient Europe has transcended into American sociology too—what Julian Go refers to as metrocentrism.

Ray notes the parallel between defining Europe and America as the norm and the rest as the difference, similar to how men are treated as the norm and women, the difference.

Assessing the effects of colonialism on women, Ray states that " [British, French, Dutch and German] colonialism fundamentally (though not uniformly) transformed gender in the countries they colonized".

In the colonies, women's economic and social rights have been denied and at times suppressed—through the suppression of land property rights, the introduction of the male figure as the breadwinner and the introduction of family laws.

Colonialism, according to Ray, has created large gaps in society and has opened the door to nationalism.

This struggle between North-South impacts the idea of ‘global sisterhood’ and creates social and economic divides between former colonies and former colonizers.

Ray believes that in order to understand the modern world and the feminist discourse associated with it, it is crucial to look at other regions of the world, especially those that have been affected the most by colonialism.

"Those who live in England and think they understand British culture/history/politics or even sports without knowing about colonialism are simply wrong, for today’s England is as much created by British colonialism as was India or South America," she noted.

She continues, "colonialist representations shape contemporary understandings in Europe and North America about gender relations in postcolonial countries".

Ray asserts that these images misrepresent the women and men of postcolonial countries because they are rooted in a fundamental misunderstanding of gender in these parts of the world.

She identifies this misunderstanding as a source of tension between women's movements around the world; "White feminists from Europe and North America still imagine women in other countries to be poor, uneducated, and oppressed, while envisioning themselves as liberated, educated, and middle class. They continue to echo colonial relations by positioning white Europeans and North American women as saviors and third world women as victims in need of rescue, as did the colonial civilizing mission".

Ray believes that Western feminist discourse would be enhanced by studying and incorporating a more global perspective.

Ray's decision to enter academia was influenced by her mother, who was a historian and university professor.

She reiterates that while he had a privileged childhood in India, she was aware of the inequalities ‘of class, and especially gender’ around her.

Both her personal life and later professional specializations have been influenced by political events such as ‘violence, social movements that inspire, the rise of the Right’.

Ray has cited Marxist and Feminist theories as crucial to her intellectual formation.

Specifically, these perspectives offered her a platform to explore postcolonialism in greater detail.

Ray cites many people as having inspired and influenced her work.

"Intellectual work is never solo, it builds on the shoulders of so many who have gone before".

More specifically, she cites Karl Marx, Antonio Gramsci, Pierre Bourdieu, and Nancy Fraser as having had a profound influence on her work, as well has her teachers, students, colleagues such as Michael Burawoy and the late Saba Mahmood.

Additionally, the people she has interviewed through her many projects have also inspired her.

Ray's initial area of academic focus was the region of South Asia, where she was raised.

The region remains relevant to her work due to its strong feminist movement as well as the continuing legacy of colonialism, whose effects can still be seen in everything from laws to the backlash against feminist movements.

She became the Dean of Social Sciences at UC-Berkeley in January 2020.

Ray's research interests include gender and feminist theory, postcolonial sociology, emerging middle classes, South Asia, inequality, qualitative research methods, and social movements.

Her current project explores changes in the meanings and relations of servitude in India.

Ray is also an editor of the publication Feminist Studies.

Ray was originally a History major and later decided to specialize in sociology due to her interest in issues of unequal power and her desire to solve social inequalities.