College of Arts and Sciences

Education:

• BA, Economics, Lady Shri Ram College, New Delhi, India, 1972
• MA, Anthropology, Utkal University, Bhubaneswar, Orissa, 1987
• PhD, Anthropology, University of Chicago, 1995

Research Interests:

• Hindu society and civilization
• Goddess worship
• Family dynamics
• Gender relations
• Morality
• Concepts of the self
• Women’s well-being

Bio:

Usha Menon grew up in India, receiving a BA (Hons.) degree in Economics in 1972 from Lady Shri Ram College for Women, New Delhi. In 1987, she completed her Masters in Anthropology from Utkal University, in Bhubaneswar, Orissa, and in 1995, she earned a PhD with Honors in Human Development from the University of Chicago. From 1995 through 1997, she was a Visiting Assistant Professor of Anthropology at Pitzer College, in Claremont, California. She has taught at Drexel University since September 1997.

Selected Publications:

• Menon, U. (forthcoming). The Three Selves of Adulthood. In Concepts of Self and Identity in Cross-Cultural Perspective edited by Girishwar Misra, Delhi: Centre for Study on Civilizations.
• The Hindu Child. The Chicago Companion to the Child. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2009.
• The Hindu Concept of Rasa and the Cultural Psychology of the Emotions. Psychological Studies, Delhi: NAOP, 2009.
• Menon, U. Forecasting Iraq’s Future: Democracy à la Islam or Is It Déjà Vu All Over Again? In A. Shostak (ed.) America: Moving Ahead, Volume 2, in a 4-book series entitled Tackling Tomorrow Today. Broomall, PA: Chelsea House Publishers, 2005.