2020 Conference Program
South Asia in the Academy: Classroom Practices, Professional Citizenship, and Intellectual Agency
You can download the 2020 Conference Program here as a PDF file. You can also download the Conference Abstracts PDF and the participant Biographies PDF.
Keynote Address: R. Radhakrishnan, University of California, Irvine
TUESDAY, JANUARY 7, 2020
5:00-7:30 PM: Executive Committee Meeting (meal to follow)
Flybaby
DAY 1: WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 8, 2020
7:30 AM: REGISTRATION DESK OPENS
8:00-8:45 AM: BREAKFAST
The Nest
8:45-9:00 AM: CONFERENCE COMMENCEMENT
Blackbird
- Cynthia Leenerts, SALA President
- Statement from Conference Co-chairs Quazi, Ticen, and Mukhopadhyay
SESSION 1: 9:15-10:15 AM
1A Grasshopper
South Asia and Alternative Pedagogies
Chair: John Hawley, Santa Clara University
- Prabhjot Parmar, University of the Fraser Valley, “‘particular problems’ and ‘startling opportunities’ of Teaching South Asian and Postcolonial literature”
- Surojit Kayal, University of California, Santa Barbara, “In Search of a South Asian Education: Visva-Bharati University and the Pedagogical Philosophy of Rabindranath Tagore”
- Jason Sandhar, Western University, “‘If Bones Are Not More Than Bones, What Are They Good For?’ Radicalizing Edward H. Aitken’s Animals”
1B Dreamliner
Teaching with a Difference
Chair: Masood Raja, University of North Texas
- Josna Rege, Worcester State University, “Teaching about Caste Differently: Githa Hariharan’s I Have Become the Tide”
- Summer Pervez, University Canada West, “On the Pedagogical Value of Pakistani ‘New’ Cinema: Questions of Nationalism, Gender, and Class”
- Feroza Jussawalla, University of New Mexico, “South Asian Literatures in the Academy: A Personal Journey”
SESSION 2: 10:30 -11:30 AM
2A Grasshopper
Teaching the Vernacular
Chair: Amritjit Singh, Ohio University
- Matthew Nelson, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, “Teaching Translation as Vehicle of Cultural Memory: The Case of Bhakti”
- Arka Chattopadhyay, Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar, “Travelling on: Bengali and English Literatures of Worlding”
- Sumera Saleem, Sargodha University, Pakistan, “Intercultural Pedagogy outside the Classroom and Cultural Shock: Demythologizing the idea of a Pure Pakistani Nation in Pakistani Fiction in English”
2B Dreamliner
Transnational Pedagogies
Chair: Cynthia A. Leenerts, East Stroudsburg University of Pennsylvania
- Abdollah Zahiri, Seneca College, Toronto, “Teaching Intersectionality: Southasian/Postcolonial Possibilities”
- Waseem Anwar, Forman Christian College, “Teaching Transnational Poetics Interactively through the South Asian National Poets”
- Cynthia A. Leenerts, East Stroudsburg University of Pennsylvania, “A Question of Audience: Teaching South Asian and Chinese Texts in Two Universities”
11:30 AM-1 PM–LUNCH
The Nest
SESSION 3: 1:00-2:15 PM
3A Grasshopper
Workshop 1: Teaching South Asia NOW
Chair: Pallavi Rastogi, Louisiana State University
3B Dreamliner
Workshop 2: Strategies for Engagement: Time Travel and the Art of Reading
Chair: Moumin Quazi, Tarleton State University
3C Blackbird
Workshop 3: Writing for the Job: Strategies for the Cover Letter and CV
Chair: Meghan Gorman-Darif, San Jose State University, and Aniruddha Mukhopadhyay, Texas A&M University-Kingsville
SESSION 4: 2:30-3:45 PM
4A Grasshopper
Teaching South Asia in Precarious Times
Chair: Masood Raja, University of North Texas
- Rahul K. Gairola, Murdoch University, “Teaching Amidst Terrorism: Hermeneutical Tensions in the Expository Writing Classroom During the ‘New War’”
- Masood Raja, University of North Texas, “Teaching Precarity in the era of Neoliberal Globalization”
- Asma Sayed, Kwantlen Polytechnic University, “Teaching South Asia in an Interdisciplinary Social Justice Context”
- Upasana Dutta, University of Chicago, “The Ethics of Reading Crises: Working on Kashmir after the Abrogation of Article 370”
4B Dreamliner
The Diverse Desi: Readings in Poetry and Memoir
Chair: Samina Najmi, California State University, Fresno
- Dilruba Ahmed, Author
- Kazim Ali, Author
- Shadab Zeest Hashmi, Author
- Prageeta Sharma, Author
4C Blackbird
Challenging the Canon
Chair: Pennie Ticen, Virginia Military Institute
- Pratusha Bhowmik, Bodoland University, “Teaching Contemporary South Asian Fiction: Classroom as a Site of Contention”
- Amrita Mishra, University of Texas at Austin, “‘Leave South Asia to South Asianists:’ Epistemic Violence and the Preservation of Global North Canons”
- Pennie Ticen, Virginia Military Institute, “Trained in Post-Coloniality, Hired in World Literature, Revised into Cultural Rhetorics: Situating South Asian Literature within a Changing Curriculum”
- Sreerupa Sengupta, University of Central Missouri, “Underrepresented!: Promoting South Asian Literature in Undergraduate and Graduate Courses”
SESSION 5: 4:00-5:00 PM
5A Blackbird
Explorations of New Pedagogical Possibilities
Chair: Waseem Anwar, Forman Christian College
- Zulfqar Hyder Awan, University College of the North, Thompson, Manitoba, “Creative Literature, Literary Criticism, and Religious Extremism: Debates in Postgraduate Literature Seminars in Pakistan”
- Nagalapalli Nagaraju, Central University of Karnataka, India, “Classroom Dynamics and Pedagogical Possibilities: An Analysis of Two South Asian Fictional Texts”
- Payel Chattopadhyay Mukherjee, Indian Institute of Information Technology Delhi, and Kara Loy, Thompson Rivers University, “At Home with the Other: Exploring Intercultural Empathy through Critical Literacies”
5B Dreamliner
Pedagogies of Migration
Chair: Cynthia A. Leenerts, East Stroudsburg University of Pennsylvania
- Sara Ali, University of Waikato, New Zealand, “Representations of Diasporic Pakistani-Muslim Masculinities in Maps for Lost Lovers”
- Shazia Hafiz Ramji, Fairleigh Dickinson University, “The Door of No Return: Mimicry and Heterotopia in the Classroom”
5:00-6:00 PM: GENERAL BUSINESS MEETING, Blackbird
6:00-8:00 PM: DINNER ON YOUR OWN
8:00-10:00 PM: HAMARA MUSHAIRA
Blackbird
Chair: Amritjit Singh, Ohio University
Invited Guest Speakers: Charles Johnson and Bharti Kirchner
DAY 2: THURSDAY, JANUARY 9, 2020
7:30 AM: REGISTRATION DESK OPENS
8:00-8:45 AM: BREAKFAST
The Nest
PLENARY SESSION 6: 9:00-10:15 AM
Blackbird
Approaches to Teaching the Works of Amitav Ghosh (Roundtable)
Opening Remarks: Nalini Iyer, Seattle University
- Gaurav Desai, University of Michigan
- John Hawley, Santa Clara University
- Pallavi Rastogi, Louisiana State University
Discussant/Respondent: Ambreen Hai, Smith College
SESSION 7: 10:30-11:30 AM
7A Grasshopper
Teaching South Asia and Feminism
Chair: Meghan Gorman-DaRif, San Jose State University
- Debali Mookerjea-Leonard, James Madison University, “Woman-Speak: Poetic Ventriloquism, and the Quest for the Authentic Feminine”
- Hena Ahmad, Truman State University, “Teaching South Asian Literature and Third World Feminism in Undergraduate and Graduate American Classes”
- Sabyn Javeri-Jillani, New York University, Abu Dhabi, “Teaching Feminist Fiction in the Postcolonial Classroom”
7B Dreamliner
Teaching Caste
Chair: S. Charusheela, University of Washington-Bothell
- S. Shankar, University of Hawai`i at Mānoa, “Teaching Caste in the USA”
- Satyanarayana, English and Foreign Language University, Hyderabad, “Teaching Caste and Dalit Studies”
- Charu Gupta, University of Delhi, “Teaching Gender-Caste in India: Perils and Pleasures”
7C Blackbird
South Asian in the Writing Classroom
Chair: Sukanya Gupta, University of Southern Indiana
- Sukanya Gupta, University of Southern Indiana, “Incorporating South Asian Literatures in the Composition Classroom”
- Manju Dhariwal, The LNM Institute of Information Technology, Jaipur, “Teaching Indian Literature to Engineering Students: Challenges and Opportunities”
- Palak Taneja, Emory University, “Teaching South Asian FYW Courses: Approaches and Considerations”
11:30 AM-1 PM–LUNCH
The Nest
SESSION 8: 1:00-2:15 PM
8A Grasshopper
Graduate Professionalization Panel (Roundtable)
Chair: Aniruddha Mukhopadhyay, Texas A&M University-Kingsville; Moumin Quazi, Tarleton State University
- Cynthia Leenerts, East Stroudsburg University
- Pennie Ticen, Virginia Military Institute
- Meghan Gorman-Darif, San Jose State University
8B Dreamliner
Mid-career Faculty Professionalization Panel: Tenure, Promotion, and Post-tenure (Roundtable)
Chair: Feroza Jussawalla, University of New Mexico
- Nalini Iyer, Seattle University
- Prabhjot Parmar, University of the Fraser Valley
- Feroza Jussawalla, University of New Mexico
- Hena Ahmad, Truman State University
SESSION 9: 2:30- 3:45 PM
9A Grasshopper
Home in the World: A Transdisciplinary Approach to Teaching Courses on South Asia
Chair: Sayanti Mondal, Illinois State University
- Binod Paudyal, Northern Arizona University, “Teaching South Asia and its Diaspora in Ethnic Studies Courses”
- Asif Iqbal, Michigan State University, “Teaching ‘South Asia’ in the Classroom”
- Titas De Sarkar, University of Chicago, “Provincializing Youth Culture: Teaching Students about Themselves”
- Sayanti Mondal, Illinois State University, “Picturing Literary Concepts: Pedagogical Engagement of South Asian Picturebooks in an American Classroom”
9B Dreamliner
The Diverse Desi: Readings by Three Creative Writers
Chair: Samina Najmi, California State University, Fresno
- Steve Adisasmito-Smith, California State University, Fresno
- Samina Najmi, California State University, Fresno
- SJ Sindu, University of Toronto, Canada
9C Grasshopper
Pedagogical Meditations: Teaching Contemporary South Asian Literature in the American College Classroom
Chair: Sean A. Weaver, Louisiana State University
- Sean A. Weaver, Louisiana State University, “Teaching The City of Devi: Challenging the Apathetic Audience”
- Colleen Lutz Clemens, Kutztown University, “Teaching Sri Lankan Literature Under the Shadow of the Easter Bombings”
- Zachary Bordas, Louisiana State University, “Literature and Undergraduate Composition: Sajad’s Munnu, a Proposal of Purpose”
- Gisele Cardoso de Lemos, Texas A&M University, “South Asian Literature and the Expansion of Disability Studies”
4:00-5:00 PM Blackbird
Graduate Student Caucus
5:00-6:30 PM: CONFERENCE KEYNOTE & AWARDS CEREMONY
2nd Floor
● R. Radhakrishnan, University of California, Irvine. “Coexistence: Towards an Exilic Humanism”
6:30- 8:00 PM RECEPTION
The Nest
SPECIAL THANKS TO
Dr. Dolores Guerrero, Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, Texas A&M University-Kingsville
Virginia Military Institute, Lexington, VA
Tarleton State University, Stephenville, TX
FOR THEIR SUPPORT OF THE CONFERENCE.