2021 Feminist Manuscript Award Recipients
The Feminist Manuscript selected this year had several authors. The title of the winning manuscript is "I Am Almost a Breadwinner for My Family:" Exploring the Manifestation of Agency in Sex Workers' Personal and Professional Contexts.
Sharvari Karandikar, PhD, is an associate professor at the College of Social Work, The Ohio State University. Sharvari began her career practicing as a social worker for sex workers and victims of sex trafficking in Mumbai, India. During her PhD program in social work at University of Utah, and through her work at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences in Mumbai and later at The Ohio State University, she has focused her research efforts on issues related to the female victims of sex trafficking, particularly on gender-based violence, and health and mental health issues. Dr. Karandikar’s current research relates to sex work and sex trafficking in Asia, egg donation, international surrogacy, and medical tourism and its impact on women.
Kaitlin Casassa, LISW-S, MSW, is a PhD student in the College of Social Work at The Ohio State University. Kaitlin received her bachelor and master’s in social work from The Ohio State University, and she is a licensed independent social worker with 3 years post-MSW practice experience. Throughout her time in school and practice she has been actively involved in antitrafficking efforts in Columbus, OH, partnering with the Salvation Army, She Has a Name, Gracehaven, CATCH Court, Amethyst, and other organizations. Her research focuses on gender-based violence, particularly sex trafficking, and she is committed to exploring the understudied phenomenon of trauma bonding.
Logan Knight, MSW, MA, is a PhD student in the College of Social Work at The Ohio State University. Her area of research is human trafficking, with focusing on relationships and hope and resilience experienced before, during, and after trafficking experiences.
Megan España is a PhD student at The Ohio State University College of Social Work. She obtained her BSW from Shippensburg University and her MSW from the University of Pittsburgh. Megan’s research interests include migration, human trafficking, sex work, and human rights in a global context. She is particularly interested in the human rights of migrants from Venezuela, specifically those in Colombia. Megan has worked as a graduate research associate since 2018 and has presented research in the United States, Colombia, and Indonesia. Megan has also taught an international service-learning course for undergraduate students preparing to study abroad.
Njeri Kagotho, PhD, is an associate professor at the College of Social Work, The Ohio State University. Dr. Kagotho’s research—which is deeply influenced by her international practice—explores the incontestable link between a family’s wealth holdings and the physical and mental health well-being of its members. Her work has focused on (a) the impact of chronic illness on wealth creation and wealth preservation, (b) the mechanisms through which wealth moderates health behaviors, and (c) the effect of HIV and AIDS on the intergenerational transmission of human capital. Currently Dr. Kagotho is examining best practices in working with low-income HIV-affected households as they attempt to navigate sociocultural and legal constraints to economic security.