Postdoctoral Fellow, Emory University
Visiting Fellow, Yale Law School

sth322@nyu.edu

Media Studies
Legal Anthropology
AIgorithmic Decision-Making
Databases
Legal Pluralism
Feminist Postcolonial Theory
South Asia

Dr. Salwa Hoque is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow jointly appointed at the Department of English and the AIAI Network, and a Fellow at Yale Law School – Information Society Project.

She works at the intersection of law and technology, specializing in legal pluralism, databases, automation, and women’s rights.

Salwa is currently working on her book – Automating (In)Justice: Law, Gender, and Neocolonial Digitality– which interrogates the racialized, gendered, and neo/colonial logics that underpin data collection, classification, and design of technology, revealing how training datasets and algorithmic features reflect dominant epistemologies and power relations.

She teaches across NYU and Emory University.

EDUCATION

- Department: Media, Culture and Communication
- Dissertation: Digitizing Law: Legal Pluralism and Data-Driven Justice
- Research Areas: Media Studies; Legal Anthropology; Critical Data Studies; Postcolonial Feminist Theory
- Committee: Arvind Rajagopal, Alexander Galloway, Dina Siddiqi, Ishtiaque Ahmed, Wendy Hui Kyong Chun, Brinkley Messick (late), Sally Engle Merry (late)
- Department: South Asia Studies
- Dissertation:“The Complexities of Secularism in Bangladesh.”
- Research Areas: Political Theory; History; Postcolonial Theory
- Committee: Sudipta Kaviraj and Katherine Ewing
- Department: Communication; English (Honors)
- Honors Thesis: “Biopolitics and Neocolonial Power in Postcolonial S.E. Asia”
- Research Area: English; Critical Theory; Postcolonial Theory
- Supervisors: Gillian Harkins and Alys Weinbaum

ACADEMIC EMPLOYMENT

Current: Postdoctoral Research Fellow, AIAI Network | Emory

Director, Yale-Majority World Initiative | Yale Law School

Fellow, Information Society Project | Yale Law School

X / TWITTER FEED

My first peer-reviewed article is finally here! It explores the biases and gaps in digital legal databases and demonstrates how digitizing law is tied to preexisting social biases that are in part related to the legacy of colonialism. Reposts appreciated!https://t.co/XTquQDBVvt pic.twitter.com/vsZksQ22ZL
— Salwa Hoque (@SalwaHoque)October 4, 2023

I've been diving into translation theory, (re)reading Asad, Benjamin, Spivak, Apter, Nida, Baker, Venuti, Bassnett, Sakai, Silverstein, Herzfeld, Rubel & Rosman, and Delisle & Woodsworth. It's been incredibly fun and interesting! Welcome more reading suggestions!
— Salwa Hoque (@SalwaHoque) July 25, 2025

I won the NYU University-Wide Outstanding Dissertation Award! It’s announced a year after graduation as each department/program nominates one candidate from all the schools/divisions across NYU. So incredibly honored to have won in the Social Sciences category, repping @mccNYU
— Salwa Hoque (@SalwaHoque) April 19, 2025

I'm thrilled that the Bangla version of my article on rethinking AI laws in Bangladesh is now available: বাংলাদেশে কৃত্রিম বুদ্ধিমত্তা আইন ও বিধিবিধান সংস্কার: বর্তমান ক্ষতি এবং সম্ভাব্য ভবিষ্যৎhttps://t.co/MfJiuNOjBs https://t.co/ZeCSEVB3i1
— Salwa Hoque (@SalwaHoque) November 11, 2024

On my way to Denver to present my work on the dangers of AI Judge models at the International Communication Association (@icahdq )! So happy to be in a panel with friends!
June 15, Sunday: 9:00am - 10:15am pic.twitter.com/552vJxVDdy
— Salwa Hoque (@SalwaHoque) June 11, 2025

Award Highlights

NYU University-Wide Outstanding Dissertation Award 2025 [Social Sciences]

Distinction: Doctoral Commencement Speaker 2024, NYU Steinhardt

Research and Showcase Competition 2022, First Place; Title: “Digitizing Law: Data and Justice”, NYU Steinhardt

Winner of Robinson Prize Paper-Presentation 2022, Title: “Digital Databases: Colonial Legacies Reinscribed in Technologies”, Society for the History of Technology

Outstanding Teaching Award 2024, NYU

Outstanding Service to the Department Award 2024, NYU

See All Awards & Fellowships