Deepa Kumar is an Associate Professor of Media Studies and Middle East Studies at Rutgers University.

Her work is driven by an active engagement with the key issues that characterize our era--neoliberalism and imperialism. Her first book, Outside the Box: Corporate Media, Globalization and the UPS Strike (University of Illinois Press, 2007), is about the power of collective struggle in effectively challenging the priorities of neoliberalism. 

If neoliberal globalization characterizes the economic logic of our age, the “war on terror” has come to define its political logic. Kumar began her research into the politics of empire shortly after the tumultuous events of 9/11.

Her second book titled Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire (forthcoming from Haymarket Books, 2012), looks at how the "Muslim enemy" has historically been mobilized to suit the goals of empire.

She is currently working on a third book about Political Islam, U.S. foreign policy and the media.

She has been active in various social movements for peace and justice and has written numerous articles in both scholarly journals and alternative media. You can read her blog at EmpireBytes.com.

She is a much sought after public speaker and has spoken at dozens of university and community forums on a range of topics: Islamophobia, Political Islam, US foreign policy in the Middle East and South Asia, the Arab Spring, women and Islam etc. She has also been interviewed by numerous media outlets including BBC, USA Today, Philadelphia Inquirer etc.

You can contact her at dekumar (at) rutgers.edu