Dr Megha Sharma
The ANU Australian Studies Institute (AuSI) is delighted to introduce one of our first Visiting Fellows for this year, from our 2025 Visiting Fellowship Program, Dr Megha Sharma.
Dr Megha Sharma's current research undertakes a historical analysis of the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) and its long-standing engagement with India. It examines how scientific exchanges have shaped resource dependencies, labour relations, and industrial restructuring, reconfiguring global knowledge networks over time. The project highlights the notion of ‘traditional’ knowledge and its intersections with social identities, exploring how these dimensions interact with institutional interventions. By tracing these dynamics, the study contributes to understanding the intersectionality of national and transnational narratives of progress, challenging the universalist notions of development and rationality that such collaborations have historically promoted.
During her Fellowship, Dr Megha Sharma plans to contextualise ACIAR’s engagements within broader histories of Australia’s scientific diplomacy and agricultural collaboration in Asia. She will draw on archival resources at ANU and work closely with scholars across the different schools at ANU and the Australian Studies Institute to develop comparative insights into postcolonial knowledge production. She aims to build interdisciplinary dialogue on the circulation of scientific ideas, institutional practices, and their social implications, while contributing to ongoing conversations on Australia’s regional and transnational connections.
“This fellowship reflects the collaborative spirit and rich multidisciplinary exchange that distinguish ANU. Being part of such a collegial and intellectually vibrant community offers an invaluable opportunity to broaden my research and engage in shared conversations on Australia’s place within global histories of knowledge and development, for which I thank the Australian Studies Institute for seamlessly facilitating this opportunity.”
- Dr Megha Sharma, Visiting Fellow, ANU Australian Studies Institute
Dr Megha Sharma holds a PhD in History from Jawaharlal Nehru University, where her research examined labour jurisprudence in post-independence India. Her thesis studies how the newly formed Indian state channelled growing labour unrest to the labour courts and tribunals. Drawing on case proceedings from the 1950s, her work examines how workers contested statist definitions of labour, development, and justice, and how they mobilised the courtrooms to articulate their demands from the democratic nation state.
Her research interests include gender relations and informal economy, and the global history of law and labour relations. Her recent publications examine the everyday worlds of domestic work and the informal economy, the politics and practice of digital archives, and pedagogical experiments within global history. She is currently working on a monograph on labour jurisprudence in post-independence India (1947–70) and co-editing a volume on legal consciousness in South Asia.