USHA THAKKAR is President, Mani Bhavan Gandhi Sangrahalaya, Mumbai. She retired as Professor and Head, Department of Political Science, SNDT Women's University, Mumbai. She has done her postdoctoral research at the University of Chicago on a Fulbright Fellowship; at Cornell University on a Senior Fulbright Fellowship; and at York University on a WID Fellowship from the Shastri Indo-Canadian Institute. She was also a visiting fellow at Sheffield City Polytechnic, UK. The Asiatic Society of Mumbai has conferred an honorary fellowship on her. She has been vice-president, Asiatic Society of Mumbai, and also of Banasthali Vidyapith, Rajasthan.

Her research areas include Gandhian Studies, Women's Studies, and Indian Politics. Her publications (authored/co-authored/co-edited) include Gandhi in Bombay: Towards Swaraj; Understanding Gandhi: Gandhians in Conversation with Fred J. Blum; William Erskine; Women in Indian Society; Zero Point Bombay: In and Around Horniman Circle; Culture and the Making of Identity in Contemporary India;
Pushpanjali: Essays on Gandhian themes in honour of Dr. Usha Mehta; and Ghunghat Ka Pat Khol (a collection of short stories by women writers in Gujarati). She has contributed to many prestigious journals and has also presented papers at many national and international conferences.