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"Domination
is a practical decision"

“Aristocratic Inclusion elegantly analyzes how elite brokers create and maintain inequality. prabhdeep singh kehal’s innovative empirical framework is necessary, clarifying, and motivating, especially for scholars whose navigation and reconciliation of their academic ‘double consciousness’ is an enduring challenge. This book is a critical read for anyone committed to educational justice inside and beyond the ivory tower.” 

Carla Shedd, author of Unequal City: Race, Place, and Perceptions of Injustice

“Asking ‘what makes someone hireable in an exclusive and prestigious sphere of work?,’ prabhdeep kehal offers a critically engaged and deeply intersectional analysis of tenure-track academic hiring decisions. No scholar to date has approached the topic of employment decision-making from this theoretically sophisticated, innovative perspective—as labor and as cultural evaluation in racialized and gendered workplaces. This is an ambitious and ground-breaking book that advances sociology topically, empirically, and theoretically.”

Ellen Berrey, author of Rights on Trial: How Employment Discrimination Law Perpetuates Inequality
READ THE INTRODUCTION

About dr. prabhdeep singh kehal

writer
educator
community scholar

prabhdeep singh kehal is a sociologist and an equity educator in public healthcare. They founded the Sikh LGBTQIA+ Oral History Project, and she manages it from Minnesota. 

Dr. kehal received her PhD (sociology) from Brown University, masters degrees from the University of Michigan (MPP, MA), and a bachelors from UC Berkeley (Applied Mathematics & Rhetoric). They use they and she as English pronouns and ਭੈਣ and ਮਾਸੀ as the start for Panjabi relations. 

A few ways to connect with dr. kehal

Channeling her established expertise in racism, colonialism, and cisheterosexism, dr. kehal’s current writing, research, speaking, and mentoring addresses how gender and sexually marginalized people of faith use storytelling practices to imagine liberatory futures within the US Sikh diaspora.

They are happy to collaborate or partner with you. Feel free to reach out about any of the following opportunities through the link or contact form below.

Click here to email dr. kehal

research

How do cultural organizations contribute to social inequality and social justice? 

I look at knowledge institutions, like universities and archives.

consulting & advisory boards

Have large quantitative or qualitative data to analyze and inform decision-making? 

I offer contract-based research and consulting services at hourly and project-based rates. I also serve on advisory boards for organizations. Prior clients included Google.org, the Sikh Coalition and the Poetic Justice Foundation. I have been on advisory boards for Kaur Life, Safar, Sikh Research Journal, and Royal Ontario Museum.

equity training

How can workplaces and cultural organizations become more inclusive in practice? 

I offer trainings on institutional racism and cisheterosexism in the form of workshops and lectures. Prior clients included the USDA, Peel School District, and SALDEF.

public engagement

How does a queer transfemme Sikh move through this world?

I write on my experiences with racism, colonialism, gender, sexuality, and Sikhi from an research-informed perspective.

sikh lgbtqia+ archive

How do LGBTQIA+ Sikhs come to think there are none of us?

I founded and manage a public, digital, community-based, oral history archive to steward the sakhis of queer and trans Sikhs.

becoming boundless

How do LGBTQIA+ Sikhs navigate their Sikhi, gender, and sexuality?

Read the first-ever report on LGBTQIA+ Sikhs.