Dr. Meenal Shrivastava

Dr. Meenal Shrivastava is Professor and coordinator of Political Economy and Global Studies. Born and raised in India, she earned her degrees in English Literature and Modern Indian History from Rajasthan University, and her M.Phil and Ph.D in International Relations from Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), New Delhi. Prior to joining AU in 2006, Dr. Shrivastava spent nine eventful years teaching in South Africa at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg (2000-2006) and the University of Transkei (1998-1999). Dr. Shrivastava teaches in the areas of Political Economy, Global Studies, and International Relations at Athabasca University. She was Chair of the Centre for Social Sciences from 2017 to 2020 and serves on several editorial and governance boards in Canada and beyond. She has been an invited speaker at various academic and literary events in Canada, India, South Africa, and the United States.

Dr. Shrivastava's research broadly examines the drivers and manifestations of ‘globalization’, and their impact on the institutions and practices of democracy. She sees ‘globalization’ as a contested description, an ideology, as well as a complex process along a historical continuum of global movement of humans, ideas, institutions, commodities and technologies. Consequently, her publications, talks, and courses cover themes as varied as aspects of democracy, public policy, development studies, global history, women/gender studies, and disciplinary building blocks, connected to the central thread of the political economy of our relentlessly globalizing world. Her academic research has so far led to the publication of three books: Write in Power: An Anthology of the Personal and the Political (The Hidden Pen Collective: Bangalore, 2021), Amma’s Daughters: A Memoir (AUP, 2018) and Alberta Oil and the Decline of Democracy in Canada (AUP, 2015). She has also published more than one hundred and fifty articles, book chapters, papers, and opinion pieces.

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Research interests

• Specialization: International Political Economy, International Relations, Global Studies, Development Studies
• Research interest: Dimensions of Globalization, International Trade Relations, Environmental Management and Politics, Regime Theories, Critical Theory, Democracy Studies, Women & Gender Studies, Global History, Contemporary Canada, Sub Saharan Africa, and South Asia

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Educational credentials

• Ph.D. (Jawaharlal Nehru University)
• M.Phil. (Jawaharlal Nehru University)
• M.A. (Rajasthan University)

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