Snehal Sharma | University of Kentucky College of Arts & Sciences

Snehal Sharma

PhD Candidate

Gender and Women's Studies

Instructor in Gender and Women's Studies Department

Contact Information

snehal.sharma@uky.edu

111 Breckinridge Hall

(859)257-1895

Research Interests

Right-Wing Movements
Hindu Nationalism
Gender and Nationalism
Online Affect
Charismatic Leadership
Demagoguery and Populism
Political Affect

Affiliations

Gender and Women's Studies

Curriculum Vitae (CV)

Selected Publications

Selected Publications:

Sharma, S. (2021, October). Anti- Love Jihad Law: An Analysis of Women’s Religious and Marital Rights. explorations: E-journal of the Indian Sociological Society, 5(2), 183-207. http://app.insoso.org/ISS_journal/Repository/Snehal_Sharma.pdf 

Abstract: In November 2020, Uttar Pradesh government enacted an ordinance – ‘Prohibition of Unlawful Religious Conversion Ordinance, 2020’. Since the ordinance has made the process of religious conversion and interfaith marriage complicated and prolonged in the state, it is commonly known as ‘anti- love jihad law’. This paper analyses and lays out the potential impact of this ordinance on inter-religious marriages, and how it conflicts with women’s religious, marital, and bodily autonomy. Here the author discusses the procedures of anti-conversion ordinance along with the Special Marriage Act (1954) and personal laws related to marriage to assess their impact on inter-religious couples and their prospect of getting married. The paper focuses on ‘opindia.com’, a self-proclaimed liberal right news portal that publishes news, current affairs, and opinion pieces from Hindu right-wing perspective, and it is frequently cited on social media by groups and people who believe in the conspiracy of love jihad in order to understand the discourse on love jihad and demand for anti-conversion law in various Indian states.