Kate Kaura

Kate Kaura is a Ph.D Candidate in the Department of Comparative Studies. Her academic and professional career centers on gender, religion, and social justice in South Asia, shaped by her undergraduate and master’s degrees in Comparative Studies at Ohio State University, language study in Hindi and Sanskrit, and years of living, researching, and volunteering across India. She completed a Master of Social Work at OSU, focusing on international social work, gender-based violence, and critical trauma studies. 

Her dissertation research examines how Hindu goddess imagery in digital spaces is mobilized, and at times, articulates competing visions of femininity, gender equality, and power. Despite India’s rich traditions of goddess worship, ongoing gender inequality reveals stark contradictions that drive the project. Through feminist theory, ethnographic interviews, and digital visual analysis, her research shows that the “digital goddess” is a contested and strategic site where essentialized femininity becomes a tool for activism against gender-based violence, political/national messaging, and the renegotiation of gender in contemporary India.

Kate is also researching and writing an article on American spirituality and holistic forms of healing, with intersections in wellness culture, trauma-informed yoga/somatic practices, and psychedelic-assisted therapy. Interviews with spiritual practitioners in Columbus, Ohio, will contribute to the ethnographic research