Comparative research is useful for identifying meaningful variations across groups, contexts and settings, and is especially important for complicating the monolithic assumptions drawn about gender inequality and the lives of South Asian women. I utilize two case studies from my longstanding collaborative work on gender, crime and justice to illustrate the import of such work: a comparative assessment of patterns of intimate partner violence across South Asia, and a study of Indian and Sri Lankan women’s narratives of their pathways to incarceration and gendered patterns of incarceration. These cases demonstrate the multi-layered ways in which comparative work can provide locally grounded insights for theory and intervention, while also bringing us closer to identifying shared causes, patterns and consequences of crime, victimization and (in)justice.

About the speaker:

Jody Miller (she/her) is Distinguished Professor in the School of Criminal Justice at Rutgers University and a Fellow of the American Society of Criminology. She studies how gender inequalities shape risks for crime and victimization, with concentrations in the United States and South Asia. Most recently, her work has turned to conservation education, including the 2024 publication of Shyamala and the Sloth Bears, a children’s picture book published in English, Sinhala and Tamil with Dilmah Conservation in Sri Lanka.

Departmental Seminar: Doing Comparative Research on Gender, Crime and Justice: Case Studies from South Asia

Date: 1 April 2025

Time: 6:30pm - 7:45pm

Venue: CPD-LG.07

Speaker: Professor Jody Miller

Registration: For HKU members / For non-HKU members