Vinay Dharwadker

EDUCATION

Ph.D., University of Chicago, 1989
M.Sc., University of Delhi, 1976
B.Sc., St Stephen’s College, University of Delhi, 1974

PREVIOUS POSITIONS

• University of Georgia, Department of English: Assistant Professor, 1989–91
• University of Oklahoma, Department of English and Program in World Cultures:
  • Assistant Professor (1991–95) and Associate Professor (1995–2001)
• University of Wisconsin–Madison
  • Department of Languages and Cultures of Asia:
    • Associate Professor (2001–05) and Professor (2005–14)
  • Department of Comparative Literature and Folklore Studies:
    • Professor (2014–19)

My teaching, research and publications, and professional activities cover several literatures: modern and contemporary British literature, planetary Anglophone literature, and world literature in English and in translation, as well as literatures in several non-Europhone languages, in the original. They also range over various fields in literary studies, the interdisciplinary study of societies and cultures, and studies in history and theory, from classical to modern.

Current and prospective students who are looking for specific resources to fit their intellectual goals and programs of study may find it useful to explore the details provided under Research Interests; Teaching Interests; Select Publications; and Dissertations, Theses, and Undergraduate Research. In addition to these categories, professional colleagues and others may also wish to explore Professional Service and Honors, which lists a different range of projects and initiatives.

RESEARCH INTERESTS

My research and scholarly writing focus on the following fields. The list of topics in each field draws on my publications, the courses I have taught and plan to teach, the graduate research I have mentored and directed, my public presentations, and my workshops for faculty development and faculty and graduate student research at various institutions.

1.  British Literature since 1900
Modernism and modernist studies. Poetry and poetic movements: Imagists and modernists; World War I poets; the Auden generation; the post-war Movement (1950–75); poets and poetry since 1975. The novel and short fiction, before and after 1945. Multicultural Britain: immigrant and diasporic writers. Women writers: fiction and poetry. Prose genres, theory and criticism.

2. Theory and Interdisciplinary Studies
Modern and contemporary theory. Theory across the humanities and social sciences. Research and writing across disciplines (methods). Topics in theoretical studies: Modernity, modernism, modernization. Structuralism, poststructuralism. Derrida and deconstruction. Nation, nation-state, nationalism. Migration, diaspora, globalization. Kant, Habermas, and the public sphere. Cosmopolitanism, cosmopolitics. Theories of world literature. Theories of narrative, the novel. Realism, magical realism. Theories of emotion and affect. Ecology and the Anthropocene.

3. Anglophone Literatures, Colonialism and Postcolonialism
Colonial and postcolonial studies (across arts, disciplines). Indian-English literature, South Asian literatures in English (Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka). Anglophone poetry, fiction, and prose: Canada, Australia and New Zealand, South and Southeast Asia, sub-Saharan Africa, the Caribbean. History of the British empire. Social and political histories of English.

4. World Literature, Comparative Studies, and Translation Studies
World literature in English and in translation (various genres, languages, periods). Poetry and poetics, theory and practice of the lyric. The novel, the modern short story (global studies). Writers and movements in world literature. Migration of texts, forms, and genres (all periods). Comparative poetics and classical studies. Multilingualism. Literary translation: poetry, narrative literature, drama, and prose. Translation studies, theories of translation.

5. South Asian Studies
Hindi, Marathi, Sanskrit, Urdu, and Punjabi: languages, literatures, cultures. Indian poetry and poetics (various periods, languages, genres). Sanskrit literature: epic, lyric, narrative, drama, poetics, performance theory. Modern fiction and prose: print culture, the novel, the short story. Women writers in South Asia (various periods, languages, genres, movements). Dalit literatures: Marathi and Hindi (all genres). South Asian religions: Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Islam, Sikhism. Modernity, modernization, and modernism in India and South Asia.

TEACHING INTERESTS

My teaching interests, which are closely connected to my research interests, may be identified as follows.

Undergraduate Level

My undergraduate courses cover areas and topics for English majors, for non-majors, and for students pursuing Honors credit or Honors research:

• British Literature since 1900 (poetry, fiction, prose; literary movements, genres)
• Modern Poetry (British and Anglophone; world poetry, in English and in translation)
• The Modern Short Story (global; in English and in translation)
• World Literature (poetry, fiction, drama, and prose; various periods, genres, languages)
• Modernism and Modernist Movements (poetry, fiction; British, Anglophone)
• Lyric Poetry (forms and genres, history, theory; British, Anglophone, global)
• Postcolonial Fiction (novels, novellas, short stories; Anglophone, World Literature)
• Literary Theory and Criticism (various levels, 1900–present; Anglo-American, European)
• Theories of Narrative (1900–present; general; theories of the novel, the short story)
• Modern Indian and South Asian Literatures (various genres, languages; 1800–present)

Graduate Level

My graduate seminars, courses for graduate credit, and directed research for student dissertations cover the five broad fields mentioned earlier:

• British Literature since 1900 (including modernism, and poetry, fiction, and prose)
• Theory and Interdisciplinary Studies (modern theory across the humanities)
• Anglophone Literatures, Colonialism and Postcolonialism
• World Literature, Comparative Studies, and Translation Studies
• South Asian Studies (languages, literatures, and cultures of India and South Asia)

My course topics draw on the themes, issues, movements, genres, and periods specified under my Research Interests. Some of my scholarly contributions to these fields and topics may be sampled in the following works.

SELECT PUBLICATIONS

Books

The Oxford History of Poetry in English. Patrick Cheney, General Editor. Contributing Editors: Vinay Dharwadker, Robert R. Edwards, and others. 14 vols. Oxford University Press, forthcoming (2022–23). [I serve as Editor, vols. 13–14, Anglophone poetry other than British, Anglo-Irish, and American.]

The Norton Anthology of World Literature. H. Martin Puchner, General Editor. Editors: Suzanne Akbari, Wiebke Denecke, Vinay Dharwadker, Barbara Fuchs, Caroline Levine, Pericles Lewis, and Emily Wilson. 6 vols. W.W. Norton. 4th ed., 2018. 3rd ed., 2012. [I serve as Editor for South Asia, and contribute 17 units and 3 clusters of authors and texts to vols. A–C and E–F.]

Vinay Dharwadker. Kalidasa: Abhijnanashakuntalam. The Recognition of Shakuntala. Translated from the Sanskrit and Prakrit, with an Afterword and Notes. Penguin Classics, 2016. 383 pages. ISBN 978 0 670 08746 4. Penguin Classics Boxed Set, Penguin India, 2017.

Aparna Dharwadker and Vinay Dharwadker. Mohan Rakesh: One Day in the Season of Rain. Translated from Hindi, with an Introduction, an Afterword, and Notes. Penguin Modern Classics, 2014. 287 pages. ISBN 978 0 670 08802 2. EISBN 978 9 352 14012 1.

Vinay Dharwadker. Kabir: The Weaver’s Songs. Translated and with an Introduction and Notes. Penguin Classics, 2003, 2005. 322 pages. ISBN 0 14 302968 1. [Winner, 2007 Translation Prize in English, Sahitya Akademi (India’s national academy of letters), New Delhi.]

Vinay Dharwadker, ed. Cosmopolitan Geographies: New Locations in Literature and Culture. Essays from the English Institute. Routledge, 2001, 2004. 239 pages. ISBN 0 415 92506 1.

Vinay Dharwadker, gen. ed. The Collected Essays of A.K. Ramanujan. Oxford University Press, 1999, 2004. 656 pages. ISBN 0 19 563937 5.

Vinay Dharwadker and A. K. Ramanujan, eds. The Oxford Anthology of Modern Indian Poetry. Oxford University Press, 1994. 285 pages. ISBN 0 19 563917 0.

Vinay Dharwadker. Sunday at the Lodi Gardens. Poems. Viking, 1994. 96 pages. ISBN 0 670 85759 9.

Essays and Articles

Forthcoming. “Translation of Secular Indian Poetry in the Twentieth Century.” In The Oxford History of Literary Translation in English. Peter France and Stuart Gillespie, General Editors. 5 vols. Volume 5: 1901 –2000. Edited by Lawrence Venuti. Oxford University Press.

2017. “Mumbai’s Marathi Modernists: A Memoir from the Margins.” Journal of Postcolonial Writing, vol. 53, nos. 1–2, pp. 88–107. [Essay, accompanied by portfolio of translations of sixteen poems by six major poets in Marathi.]

2015. “Emotion in Motion: The Natyashastra, Darwin, and Affect Theory.” PMLA, vol. 130, no. 5 (October), pp. 1381–1404.

2015. “Afterword: The Poetry of the Mahabharata.” In Mahabharata: A Modern Retelling by Carole Satyamurti. Foreword by Wendy Doniger, Afterword by Vinay Dharwadker. W. W. Norton. Pp. 845–63. [Book awarded the first Roehampton Poetry Prize, U.K., 2015.]

2015. “The Modernist Novel in India: Paradigms and Practices.” In A History of the Indian Novel in English. Edited by Ulka Anjaria. Cambridge University Press. Pp. 103–18.

2015. “Modernism and Its Four Phases: Literature in South Asia.” In The Modernist World. Edited by Stephen Ross and Allana C. Lindgren. Routledge. Pp. 127–35.

2012. “Censoring the Ramayana.” Invited Guest Column. PMLA, vol. 127, no. 3 (May), pp. 433–50.

2012. “Constructions of World Literature in Colonial and Postcolonial India.” In The Routledge Companion to World Literature. Edited by Theo D’haen, David Damrosch, and Djelal Kadir. Routledge. Pp. 476–86.

2011. “Diaspora and Cosmopolitanism.” In The Ashgate Research Companion to Cosmopolitanism. Edited by Maria Rovisco and Magdalena Nowicka. Ashgate. Pp. 125–44.

2003. “The Historical Formation of Indian-English Literature.” In Literary Cultures in History: Reconstructions from South Asia. Edited by Sheldon Pollock. University of California Press. Pp. 199–267.

2002. “English in India and Indian-English Literature: The Early History, 1579–1834.” Comparative Literature Studies, vol. 39, no. 2 pp. 93–119.

1999. “A.K. Ramanujan’s Theory and Practice of Translation.” In Post-Colonial Translation: Theory and Practice. Edited by Susan Bassnett and Harish Trivedi. Routledge. Pp. 114–40.

1997. “Print Culture and Literary Markets in Colonial India.” In Language Machines: Technologies of Literary and Cultural Production. Edited by Jeffrey Masten, Peter Stallybrass, and Nancy Vickers. Routledge. Pp. 108–33.

1993. “Orientalism and the Study of Indian Literatures.” In Orientalism and the Postcolonial Predicament: Perspectives on South Asia. Edited by Carol A. Breckenridge and Peter van der Veer. University of Pennsylvania Press. Pp. 158–85.

1992. “Critical Multiculturalism.” By the Chicago Cultural Studies Group [Lauren Berlant, Vinay Dharwadker, Dilip Gaonkar, Benjamin Lee, Katie Trumpener, Michael Warner, and others]. Critical Inquiry, vol. 18, no. 3, pp. 530–55.

Translations

Translations of full-length plays:

• Kalidasa’s The Recognition of Shakuntala (Penguin Classics, 2016; classical Sanskrit);
• Mohan Rakesh’s One Day in the Season of Rain (Penguin Modern Classics, 2014; modern Hindi; co-translated with Aparna Dharwadker).

Translations of prose from modern Marathi, Hindi, and Urdu:

• Twelve translated essays, in A Poetics of Modernity: Indian Theatre Theory, 1850 to the Present, ed. Aparna Dharwadker (Oxford University Press, 2019). [As sole translator and as co-translator.]

Translations of poetry from Hindi, Marathi, Urdu, Punjabi, and Sanskrit:

My translations of about 550 lyric and medium-length poems, by more than 40 poets in 5 Indian and South Asian languages (classical to contemporary), are in print. Select sources:

• Anthologies: The Norton Anthology of World Literature, 3rd and 4th eds. (2012, 2018); Banaras and Other Poems by Kedarnath Singh (Sahitya Akademi, 2015); Language for a New Century (Norton, 2007); Bedford Introduction to Literature (2001); It’s a Woman’s World (Dutton, 2000); World Poetry (Norton, 1998); The Oxford Anthology of Modern Indian Poetry (1994); Penguin New Writing in India (1994).
• Periodicals: Journal of Postcolonial Writing, World Literature Today, Chicago Review, Public Culture, Daedalus, New England Review and Bread Loaf Quarterly, Translation, the minnesota review, London Magazine, Indian Literature. Book-length selection of modern Hindi and Marathi poems, with commentary, in Tri-Quarterly 77 (1989–90).

Poetry

About sixty of my poems in English are currently in print. Select sources:

• Anthologies: Indivisible: An Anthology of Contemporary South Asian American Poetry (2010); Both Sides of the Sky (2009); Bloodaxe Book of Contemporary Indian Poets (2008); 60 Indian Poets (2008); Confronting Love (Penguin, 2005); The Oxford Anthology of Modern Indian Poetry (1994); Anthology of Magazine Verse and Yearbook of American Poetry (1984).
• Literary magazines: The Kenyon Review, The Hudson Review, Cumberland Poetry Review, Fulcrum (U.S.A.); London Magazine (U.K.); Ariel, Toronto South Asia Review (Canada); World Literature Written in English (Singapore); Indian Literature, New Quest, The Illustrated Weekly of India (India).

PROFESSIONAL SERVICE AND HONORS

The following information highlights select items from my national and international honors and professional-service activities.

Workshops for Faculty Development and Graduate Student Research

2020–21. Workshop on “Redesigning Modernities: Why Does the Modern World Look So Different in Various Places Around the Globe?” The Pennsylvania State University, University Strategic Plan, 2016–2025; Office of the Provost, Advancing the Arts and Humanities initiative.

External Workshop Facilitators, Summer 2020 (June 8–12): Aparna Dharwadker and Vinay Dharwadker, University of Wisconsin–Madison.

Interdisciplinary workshop for faculty and students from ten departments on Penn State’s flagship campus and five satellite campuses (University Park; Altoona, Beaver, Eerie-Behrend, Greater Allegheny, Schuylkill): “Spanning curriculum and research collaborations, this project will connect current arts and humanities scholarship on globalization and modern cultures with courses offered across the University. Faculty and students will collaborate in two summer workshops and follow-on activities including journal publication, open-resource instructional materials, and curriculum development.”

2018. Seminar on “Shakuntala: Comparison and Critical Revaluation in the 21st Century.” Center for South Asia, University of Wisconsin–Madison. (For faculty, students, and general public; February 23)

2016. Seminar on “Emotion in Motion: The Natyashastra, Darwin, and Affect Theory” (PMLA article, 2015). Mellon-Sawyer Seminars, Department of Gender and Sexuality Studies, Emory University. (For faculty and students across disciplines; attended by 29 graduate students with research projects on theories of emotion and affect; October 27)

2005–07. Faculty Coordinator, Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Interdisciplinary Workshop in the Humanities on “Cosmopolitan Cultures, Cosmopolitan Histories,” Center for the Humanities, University of Wisconsin–Madison. (For UW faculty and graduate students, across disciplines)

2006–07 organizers. Faculty: Vinay Dharwadker, Deborah Jenson (French and Italian), B. Venkat Mani (German). Graduate students: Adam Woodis (German); Aarthi Vadde, Mark Estante (both English). 2005–06 organizers. Faculty: Vinay Dharwadker, B. Venkat Mani (German). Graduate students: Lucienne Loh, Aarthi Vadde (both English), M.A. Mohammad (Asian studies).

1996. Multilingual seminar on translating Indian poetry, Sahitya Akademi, New Delhi. (For writers, translators, scholars, and general public; December 11–13)

1991. National Endowment for the Humanities Faculty Seminar on Indian literatures, Clark Atlanta University, Atlanta. (Seminar leader, two-week session, July 8–19)

1990. National Endowment for the Humanities Faculty Seminar on the Ramayana in India, The Epic Roots of Non-Western Literature, Oregon State University, Corvallis. (Seminar leader, two-week session, July 16–27)

Keynote and Plenary Lectures

2018. Plenary speaker, Central University of English and Foreign Languages, Hyderabad, India.
International conference on “Indian Literature as World Literature: Past, Present, and Future.” January 18–20. Lecture: “India Incorporated in the Canons of World Literature.”

2010. Keynote speaker, University of Kent at Canterbury, U.K. International conference on “The South Asian Short Story.” September 9–11. Lecture: “Modernism, Realism, and Experimentalism: The Short Story and Social Transformation in South Asia.”

2010. Keynote speaker, Stanford University. International conference on “Nation and Nation-building in South Asia.” April 27–28. Lecture: “Nations, Modernisms, Anti-Nations: Five Theses on South Asian Arts and Cultures.”

2009. Keynote speaker, O Museu Temporario and Office of the Mayor of Lisbon, Portugal. International conference on “Lisbon: Transcultural Platform for the 21st Century?” May. Lecture: “Creativity, Culture, and the Cosmopolitan City.” [Conference on the role of the arts in contemporary urban renewal.]

2008. Keynote speaker, Sahitya Akademi, New Delhi. National Translation Competition Awards Ceremony. April 7. Lecture: “Translating the Millennium: Indian Literature in the Global Market.”

2001. Plenary paper, Conference on “Globalizing English: Writing as Translation.” Department of English and Center for South Asian Studies, University of Virginia. February 2. Lecture: “Writing in the Postcolony: Hybridity versus Translation.”

1995. Plenary paper, 54th Session of The English Institute, Harvard University, on “Language Machines: Technologies of Literary and Cultural Production.” August 24–26. Lecture: “The Fine Print of Poetry in Modern Indian Culture.”

Awards and Fellowships

2015. First Roehampton Poetry Prize, London, U.K. Awarded to Carole Satyamurti, Mahabharata: A Modern Retelling. Foreword by Wendy Doniger, Afterword by Vinay Dharwadker. New York: W.W. Norton.

2008. Translation Prize in English for 2007, Sahitya Akademi, New Delhi. August. For Kabir: The Weaver’s Songs (2003, 2005). [Awarded by India’s national academy of letters.]

2008. Ray and Pat Browne Award, Best Reference Work or Primary Source Work on Popular Culture published in 2007, Popular Culture Association and American Culture Association. April. For The Greenwood Encyclopedia of World Popular Culture. Gary Hoppenstand, General Editor. Volume 6: Asia and Pacific Oceania, edited by Gary Xu and Vinay Dharwadker.

Organization of Conferences

2007. Principal organizer and coordinator, national conference on “Cosmopolitan Cultures, Cosmopolitan Histories” (Spring), University of Wisconsin–Madison. Organized for Mellon Workshop, 2005–07.

2002–04. Supervisor, Annual South Asia Conference, Center for South Asia, University of Wisconsin–Madison. [Premier international conference on South Asia, with about 500 registrants annually. Supervisor, 31st–33rd Conferences (October 2002, 2003, 2004).

1997. Principal organizer, 57th Session of The English Institute, Harvard University, on “Cosmopolitan Geographies.” Co-organizers: K. Anthony Appiah (Harvard), Karen Newman (Brown). Selected by the Institute’s Board of Supervisors and Trustees.

Committees, Boards, and Reports

2018–. Member, Nomination Committee for Honorary Fellows, Modern Language Association of America, New York.

2006–07. James Russell Lowell Prize Selection Committee, Modern Language Association of  America, New York. Chair, 2007. Committee member, 2006 and 2007. [Annual prize for outstanding book by member of MLA.]

1998. Commissioned report, The Swedish Academy for the Nobel Prize in Literature, Stockholm. [Report on 34 living Indian writers in various languages.]

1995–98. Member, Board of Supervisors and Trustees, English Institute, Harvard University.

Institutes and Institutional Grants

2002–04. Founding Director, South Asia Summer Language Institute (SASLI). Director, SASLI 2003 and 2004. [Premier institute in North America for South Asian languages; organized by the Center for South Asia for the Consortium of South Asia National Resource Centers.]

2002–04. Principal Investigator and Project Director, Title VI Grant for 2003–06, U.S. Department of Education, awarded to the Center for South Asia, University of Wisconsin–Madison, as a Comprehensive National Resource Center. [Multi-year grant]

2002–03. Principal Investigator, Fulbright-Hayes Group Projects Abroad Grant, U.S. Department of Education, awarded to the Center for South Asia.

Project: Development of curriculum modules on South Asia for K–12 schools in Wisconsin; team of 14 teachers, with travel, training, and fieldwork in India, June–August 2003. Project Coordinator: Rachel Weiss, Center for South Asia.

1995–98. Member, research project on “Literary Cultures in History.” Multi-year Interpretive Research Grant, National Endowment for the Humanities. (Sheldon Pollock, principal investigator, University of Chicago) [Multi-year team grant]

Project meetings (15 members): Chicago, May 1996; New Delhi, India, January 1997; Bellagio, Italy, June 1998.

PUBLIC EVENTS

Theater Productions

2019. One Day in the Season of Rain: Mohan Rakesh’s Ashadh ka Ek Din. A Staged Reading by Students in Interdisciplinary Theater Studies and the Department of Theater and Drama, University of Wisconsin–Madison. Directed by Joshua Thomas Kelly. October 19. Play Circle Theater, Wisconsin Memorial Union. Featured arts event, 48th Annual South Asia South Asia Conference, Madison.

2010–11. Theater production of Mohan Rakesh, One Day in the Season of Rain. Translation of Ashadh ka Ek Din (Hindi) by Aparna Dharwadker and Vinay Dharwadker. Directed by Neil Scharnick. Department of Theater, Carthage College, Kenosha, Wisconsin. Six performances. (March 19–27)

Selected for the Kennedy Center National College Theater Competition 2011–12. Midwest regional competition performance at Michigan State University. (January 2011)

Exhibition Catalogs

2014. “Of Bodies and Time and Melancholy” (26 December 2013). Foreword to Katabasis / Home Coming: Nurettin Erkan Solo. Exhibition Catalog. Contemporary Art Space, Istanbul, 29 January–1 March 2014. Turkish translation by Nalan Erbil-Erkan: “Beden ve Zaman ve Melankoliye Dair.”

2003. “How the Eye Forgets: On Looking at Lewis Koch’s Pictures.” Afterword to Notes from the Stone-Paved Path: Meditations on North India by Lewis Koch. Catalog for an Exhibition of photographs at Department of Special Collections, Memorial Library, University of Wisconsin–Madison, 22 September–7 November 2003. Parallel Press.

Poetry Readings and Literary Festivals

Readings at: Sahitya Akademi, New Delhi (national academy of letters, 2008); Prithvi Theater, Mumbai (2008); MSA4 (Fourth Annual Conference, Modernist Studies Association, 2002); National Library of Canada, Ottawa (in celebration of five decades of Indian independence, 1997); India International Centre, New Delhi (1995).

2003. Kedarnath Singh, India, Translated by Vinay Dharwadker. Biographical note by Annette van der Hoek, translated from Dutch by Ko Kooman. 34th Poetry International Festival, Rotterdam, The Netherlands. June 14–20. Pamphlet. Bilingual edition, 39 pp. [Commissioned English translations, for featured public reading by the poet and distribution at the festival.]

DISSERTATIONS, THESES, AND UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH

Prospective and current students may find the following list useful, which annotates doctoral dissertations, master’s theses, and recent undergraduate projects for which I have served as a supervisor or committee member, in various departments and fields on this and other campuses.

At the University of Wisconsin-Madison

1.English

Doctoral Dissertations

• Reader, Fall 2018. Lauren Hawley, “Altered States of Consciousness in High Modernism.” (American modernist poets; T.S. Eliot, Mina Loy, William Carlos Williams)
• Reader, Fall 2012. Sara Elizabeth Phillips, “The Poetics of the Archive: Twentieth and Twenty-first Century American Poems Including History.” (Contemporary American poetry and poetics; experimental genres, the historical poem, the archival poem, women’s literature)
• Reader, Spring 2012. Mukoma Ngugi, “Chirality and the Politics of Authorized and Unauthorized English in John Clare and Amos Tutuola.” (Eighteenth century studies, romanticism, African and colonial literature)
• Reader, Fall 2005–Spring 2007. Lucienne Loh, “Beyond English Fields: New Critical Terrains of Empire in Twentieth-century Creative Non-fiction.” (Modern British literature, imperialism and postcolonialism, prose genres)

2.Comparative Literature

Doctoral Dissertations

• Reader, Fall 2016–Spring 2018. Anwesha Maity, “Imaginary Science and Cultural Signs: Mapping Postcolonial Bangla (Bengali) Science Fiction.” (India; modern Bengali and Indian literatures; comparative studies of science fiction and its genres; modern theory, classical Indian poetics)
• Reader, Fall 2011–Spring 2013. Reem Hilal, “Tracing a Narrative of Muslim Self after 9/11.” (Contemporary novels in the U.S., Great Britain, and France; Islam, Muslim women novelists; theories of identity, gender, race; literature and politics).
• Reader, Fall 2008–Spring 2012. Ziad Suidan, “The Poetry of Mahmoud Darwish.” (Arabic poetry and poetics after 1948; contemporary Palestinian poetry).

Recent Undergraduate Research Projects

• Supervisor of research paper, Fall 2016. Alison Sharpless, “Birds of a Feather: Relationships through the Memory Writing of Nineteenth-century China’s Zhang Family Siblings.” Department of Asian Languages and Cultures (double major).
• Thesis supervisor, Summer 2013–Spring 2014. Jordynn Peter, “The Children of Budhwar Peth: Adoption among Sex Workers in Pune’s Red-light District.” Senior thesis, with fieldwork in Pune, India, under the Study Abroad program. Department of Languages and Cultures of Asia.

3.Humanities, Social Sciences, and Interdisciplinary Studies

Doctoral Dissertations

• Reader, Spring 2015–Fall 2017. Katherine Lieder, “Performing Nirbhaya (Fearlessness): Reframing Sexual Violence Discourse in Modern Urban India.” Program in Interdisciplinary Theater Studies. (India; December 2012 Delhi gang-rape case; protest theater and performance, gender and sexuality, contemporary women’s movements).
• Reader, Spring 2014. Jacob Krch, “Nietzsche’s Account of Human Excellence.” Department of Philosophy. (German; European philosophy, nineteenth century)
• Reader, Fall 2013–Spring 2014. Carmen McCain, “The Politics of Exposure: Hausa Film and Literature.” Department of African Languages and Literatures. (Nigeria; Hausa language; contemporary popular culture, media studies).
• Reader, Spring 2005. Christopher Chekuri, “Literary Culture in the Vijayanagara Empire.” Department of History. (India; Telugu literature, sixteenth century).

4.Languages and Cultures of Asia (Asian Languages and Cultures)

Doctoral Dissertations

• Chair, Fall 2012–Summer 2019. Sandeep Kindo, “Recognition, Identity, Justice: Oraon Custom in the Law Courts of Modern India.” (India; the Oraon community of indigenous people; comparative law, critical legal theory, analysis of major court cases)
• Chair, Fall 2015–Spring 2019. Nkoyo Edoho-Eket, “Imaging the Goddess-woman: Shakti in Contemporary South Asian Visual Culture.” (India and Indian diaspora; religious studies and visual cultures: contemporary Hinduism, digital media, interdisciplinary theory, women’s movements)
• Chair, Fall 2013–Spring 2019. Ian Atalla, “Messianic Modernism: Adunis’ Vision of Revolutionary Arab Poetics.” (West Asia; Syria and Syrian poetry; major but controversial contemporary Arab poet Adunis; Arabic poetics, modernity, and modernism; comparative history and theory, colonial and postcolonial politics, Middle Eastern political parties, social transformation)
• Chair, Fall 2013–Summer 2018. Nalan Erbil. “The Writer and the Nation-state: Language, Aesthetics, Ideology, and Power in Turkish Literature, 1927–2015.” (West Asia; modern and contemporary Turkey; nation, state-ideology, language, literature, film, resistance; fiction, poetry, women writers and film-makers)
• Chair, Fall 2001–Summer 2005. Sung-ok Hong. “On Subject and Indirect Subject Constructions in Hindi.” (India; modern Hindi language, linguistics)
• Reader, Summer 2012. Sangeeta Desai, “Contemporary Vaishnava Katha Rituals.” (India; religious studies: contemporary Hinduism)
• Reader, Spring 2006–Spring 2010. Christian Haskett, “Scripture and Commentary in Theravada Buddhism.” (India and Tibet; religious studies: Buddhism)
• Reader, Summer 2004. Rajagopala Vakulabharanam, “Self and Society in Transition: A Study of the Modern Autobiographical Tradition in Telugu.” (India; Telugu literature; modern prose, autobiography)
• Reader, Fall 2001. Frank Morales, “The Epistemology of Jiva Goswamin in the Context of Vaidika Philosophy.” (India; Bengal, Bengali literature; religious studies, philosophy: Hinduism, Vaishnavism, Vedic traditions)

Master’s Theses

• Chair, Fall 2013–Spring 2015. Jordan Turner, “Origins of Tantra in Hinduism and Buddhism.” (India and Tibet; religious studies: Hinduism and Buddhism)
• Chair, Fall 2008–Spring 2011. Meagan Vail, “Images of Holi in Indian Cinema.” (India; religious studies: Hinduism and popular culture)
• Chair, Spring 2007–Fall 2010. Ian Atalla, “Pre-Islamic Oral Poetry in Arabic.” (West Asia; Arabic, classical poetics, oral traditions)
• Chair, Fall 2006–Fall 2009. Mike Kruse, “The Kabir Tradition in the Twentieth Century.” (India; religious studies: Bhakti and Nirguna poetry)
• Chair, Fall 2008–Summer 2009. Elizabeth Lhost, “The Colonial Public Sphere in India.” (India; colonialism, the Bombay Presidency)
• Chair, Fall 2003–Summer 2004. R. Schuyler Selden. “Women in the Oral Folktales of Banarasi Kayasthas.” (India; Hinduism; caste, folklore)
• Reader, Spring 2014–Fall 2016. Andrew Bennet, “Devotion to Stupas at Sanchi and Gandhara.” (India; religious studies: Buddhism)
• Reader, Fall 2011–Summer 2012. Nalan Erbil, “Orhan Pamuk and the Contemporary Turkish Novel.” (West Asia; modern fiction)
• Reader, Fall 2008–Spring 2009. John Stavrellis, “Dalit Politics and Cultural History.” (India; Dalit literature, contemporary Buddhism)
• Reader, Spring 2007. Tristin Klappauf, “The Kala Bhairava Statue in Kathmandu, Nepal.” (Nepal; religious studies: Hinduism)
• Reader, Spring 2007. Rae Daschille, “Tibetan Buddhist Medical Texts.” (Tibet; religious studies: Buddhism, history of medicine)
• Reader, Spring 2004. Shenghai Lee, “A Study of the Canonical Chinese Translations of the Vajrachhedika.” (India, Tibet, China; Buddhism, philosophy)
• Reader, Spring 2004. Sangeeta Desai, “Transformational Techniques in the Shri Satyanarayana Katha.” (India; religious studies: Hinduism, Vaishnavism; caste)
• Reader, Spring 2004. Amelia Liwe, “Women’s Writing in Indonesia.” (Southeast Asia; gender studies, women’s literature)

5.At Other Universities

Doctoral Dissertations

• Reader, Fall 2002–Spring 2004. Rashmi K. Rai, “Thresholds of Change: Modernity in the Postcolonial City.” Department of English, Northwestern University, Evanston. (India and Indian-English literature; postcolonial theory; Mumbai, urban literary studies)
• Chair, 1998–2000. Nyla Ali Khan, “Hybridity, Identity, and Migration in Postcolonial Fiction and Criticism.” Department of English, University of Oklahoma. (Anglophone literature)
• Reader, 1998–2001. Ashwani Kumar, “Caste-wars in Bihar.” Department of Political Science, University of Oklahoma. (India; contemporary politics; caste, violence in the 1970s and 1980s)

Master’s Theses

Department of English, University of Oklahoma:

• Chair, 1993–95. Lyn F. Gattis, “The Ideologies of Victorian School Fiction.” [Winner, OU Graduate School annual award for best M.A. thesis, Spring 1995.]
• Reader, 1998–2000. Henry Franklin Griffy, “Chaucer’s New Tomb: The House of Fame.”
• Reader, 1994–95. Michael David Geurin, “Letters Never Sent” (Poems; M.A. in Creative Writing).
• Reader, 1993–96. R. Scott Lamascus, “From Babel to Pentecost: The Rhetoric of Missions in American, Evangelical Autobiography of the Nineteenth Century.” (American studies; religion and literature; evangelical churches, nineteenth century)

University of Georgia:

• Chair, 1990–91. Bradley Greenberg, “Deleuze’s Theory of the Differend.” Department of Political Science. (Poststructuralism, theory, politics of identity)