Her research focuses on South Asian and world history, with special attention to labor, migration and gender. Her teaching interests at Duke Kunshan include global China studies, global history and South Asian history.
Chakraborty has a B.A. and M.A. in history from Jadavpur University, India, and an M.A. and Ph.D. in history from the University of Pittsburgh. Previously, she was a visiting assistant professor at Oberlin College and a postdoctoral research fellow at the Institute for Historical Studies, University of Texas, Austin.