Nisha Shanmugaraj, an assistant professor with a joint appointment in the Program for Writing and Rhetoric and the English Department at CU Boulder, spoke on Apr. 9 about her ongoing research into the everyday communication of Indian American women. Shanmugaraj is currently working on a book titled “Bootstrapping Identity: Indian American Women and the Rhetorics of Internalized Racism,” which is under advance contract with The Ohio State University Press.
The topic matters as it explores how identity, belonging, and communication intersect for diasporic women of color. Shanmugaraj said her work aims to help these communities feel more seen and supported while also empowering them as agents of social change.
Shanmugaraj described how her interest in language led to a master’s degree in English from Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) in 2013, followed by five years as associate director of the CMU writing center. She said, “Writing center work is where I first fell in love with the art and science of teaching.” After completing her doctorate at CMU, she joined CU Boulder’s Program for Writing and Rhetoric because it has focused expertise in cultural rhetorics.
Discussing her current project, Shanmugaraj explained that it examines how Indian American women have engaged with conversations about unlearning internalized racism after the Black Lives Matter protests of 2020-2021. “This idea of unlearning… seemed to suggest that these women were deconstructing or undoing negative beliefs about themselves and other Black and Brown racial groups,” she said. Her methodology includes what she calls “intimate interviewing”—a process informed by her own proximity to the community being studied.
She noted that young Indian American women often face microaggressions such as being asked where they are really from but are now responding creatively rather than internalizing those questions. For example, some participants ask back where their interrogator is really from to highlight underlying biases. “To me, this is just such a funny and inspiring response from younger folks in my community because it decenters old-school notions of civility…and instead insists that the affective needs of women of color also matter,” Shanmugaraj said.
Looking ahead, Shanmugaraj hopes her work will influence broader conversations about belonging, identity, and power both on campus and beyond. She said she wants all readers to better understand how personal identities are shaped by systemic forces: “With a greater awareness of how power works in our everyday lives, we can more intentionally and ethically move through the world.”
