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Dr. Durba Mitra will discuss the current state of gender history as a field of study, covering, as well, key themes from her new book, The Future That Was: A History of Third World Feminism Against Authoritarianism (Princeton University Press, 2026). The Future That Was offers a pathbreaking history of women from former colonies in South Asia, Africa, the Caribbean, and beyond who wrote Third World feminism into being, catalyzing a momentous expansion of knowledge about women, gender, and sexuality that has transformed emancipatory politics across the globe. As part of her research, Mitra curated a multimedia exhibit, "Solidarity! Transnational Feminisms Then and Now," at the Poorvu Gallery at the Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America.

Dr. Mitra is Richard B. Wolf Associate Professor in Studies of Women, Gender, and Sexuality at Harvard University. Her scholarship brings together feminist political thought, sexuality studies, and global intellectual history. Mitra's first book was Indian Sex Life: Sexuality and the Colonial Origins of Modern Social Thought, published by Princeton University Press in 2020. She has, in addition, several ongoing book projects, including a book on social and political theories of mutual aid, a book on the rise of global feminist environmentalism, and a curation of interviews with global feminist thinkers.

Mitra's scholarship has been recognized with the 2021 Walter Channing Cabot Fellow Award for "distinguished accomplishments in the fields of literature, history, or art" from Harvard University. She is the recipient of numerous fellowships and prizes recognizing excellence in both scholarship and instruction.

** Light dinner will be included. Please RSVP to: duke.is/Mitra **

The Anne Firor Scott Lecture in Women's and Gender History honors one of É«½äÖ±²¥'s most committed teachers and renowned scholars. Dr. Scott was the W. K. Boyd Professor Emeritus of History at É«½äÖ±²¥, where she taught from 1961 to 1991. She was a pioneer in the expanding field of women's history, and she served as president of the Southern Historical Association and the Organization of American Historians.