Nandi Bhatia

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CURRICULUM VITAE

 

EMPLOYMENT

2002-Present Associate Professor, Department of English and Program in Comparative Literature, The University of Western Ontario

1997-2002 Assistant Professor, Department of English and Program in Comparative Literature, The University of Western Ontario

1996-1997 Visiting Assistant Professor of English, Michigan State University

1994-1995 Assistant Instructor of English, University of Texas at Austin

1991-1994 Assistant Instructor of Hindi, University of Texas at Austin

 

EDUCATION

1996 Ph.D. in Comparative Literature, University of Texas at Austin

1993 Ph.D. in English, Panjab University, Chandigarh

1993 M.A. in Comparative Literature, University of Texas at Austin

1985 M.A. in English, Panjab University, Chandigarh

1983 B.A. (Honours) in Economics, Panjab University, Chadigarh

 

ACADEMIC HONOURS

  • The John Charles Polanyi Prize for Literature, 1999
  • University Continuing Fellowship, University of Texas, 1995-1996
  • Outstanding Dissertation Nominee, University of Texas, 1996
  • B.A. Merit List, Panjab University, 1983

 

LANGAUGES

  • Hindi (Read, write, speak)
  • Panjabi (speak), Urdu (speak), Sanskrit (Read)

 

RESEARCH/ TRAVEL GRANTS

  • SSHRC Standard Research Grant, 2007-2010. “Women, Theatre and the Politics of Performance in India.” $61,450.00
  • International Curriculum Development Competition, UWO, April 1, 2006-March 31, 2007. $5000. “Gender, Migration and the Politics of Postcolonial Performance.”
  • International Curriculum Development Competition, UWO, April 1, 2005-March 31, 2006. $5000. “Postcolonial Theatres: International Perspectives on Drama, Theatre and Performance.”
  • “The Actress in Colonial India.” International Research Award. 2006-07. Approx. $6700.
  • International Conference Grant, UWO, 2006. $2991. “From Hari to Himmat Ali: Reconstructing Partition Narratives” For “Testimony and Witness: From the Local to the Transnational.” Conference, Australia National University, February 14-16, 2006.
  • Dean’s Travel Funds, 2005-06. $ 1500, 2006-07, $1600.
  • Vice-President’s International Research Grant, January 1, 2005 –December 31, 2005, $6,943 : Project Title: “Modern Drama and Cultural Politics in India.”
  • SSHRC Standard Research Grant, 2000 – 2004 ($45,000)
  • SSHRC Research Initiative Fund, 1999 – 2000 ($12,000)
  • UWO International Conference Travel Grant, 2000 – 2001 ($2000)
  • UWO Research Grant 1999 – 2000, ($4000)
  • UWO International Conference Travel Grant, 1999 – 2000 ($2000)
  • UWO Vice President Research Grant, 1998 – 1999 ($4500)
  • Department of English Research Grant, 1997 – 1998 ($2000)

 

RESEARCH and PUBLICATIONS

Books

  • Acts of Authority/ Acts of Resistance: Theatre and Politics in Colonial and Postcolonial India, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2004. (Republished by Oxford University Press, 2004)
  • Women, Theatre and the Politics of Performance in India. (In Progress; funded by SSHRC Standard Research Grant, 2007-2010)

 

Edited Journals

  • Guest Editor, “Postcolonial Theatres: Special Issue of Feminist Review.” Vol. 84. December 2006.
  • Co-editor (with Nirmal Puwar). “Fashion and Orientalism,” Special Double Issue of Fashion Theory. The Journal of Dress, Body & Culture. 7.3/4 (September/December 2003): 249-434.

 

Edited Books

  • Partitioned Lives. Narratives of Home, Displacement and Relocation , (with Anjali Gera-Roy). India: Pearson-Longman, 2007.
  • Theatre in India: Colonial Encounters, Contested Histories, and Intercultural Formations ( Oxford University Press, Forthcoming)

 

Articles in Refereed Journals

  • Different Othello(s) and Contentious Spectators: Changing Responses in India.” Gramma. (Forthcoming)
  • Editorial, “Postcolonial Theatres.” Special Issue of Feminist Review . Vol. 84, 2006, 5-9.
  • “Postcolonialism’s Possibilities for Intercultural British Theatre and Practice.” Literary Research/ Recherche littéraire 21.41-42 (2004): 39-44.
  • “Are There Places Anymore?”: Performing the Indian Subcontinent in Britain” Modern Drama, XLVI. 4 (Winter 2003): 629-645.
  • “Fashioning Women in Colonial India.” Fashion Theory. The Journal of Dress, Body & Culture. 7.3/4 (September/December 2003): 327-344.
  • “Imperialistic Representations and Spectatorial Reception in Shakespeare Wallah,” Modern Drama 1.XLV (Spring 2002): 61-75.
  • “Staging the 1857 Mutiny as ‘the Great Rebellion’: Colonial History and Post-Colonial Interventions in Utpal Dutt’s Mahavidroh.” Theatre Journal 51 (May 1999): 167-184.
  • “Anger, Nostalgia, and the End of Empire. John Osborne’s Look Back in Anger.” Modern Drama, 42.3 (Fall 1999): 391-400.
  • “Women, Homelands, and the Indian Diaspora.” Centennial Review, 42. 3 (Fall 1998): 511-526.
  • “Shakespeare and the Codes of Empire in India.” Alif: Journal of Comparative Poetics. 19 (1998): 96-126.
  • “Kipling’s Burden: Representing Colonial Authority and Constructing the ‘Other’ through Kimball O’Hara and Babu Hurree Chander in Kim.” South Asia Graduate Research Journal 1.1 (1994): 1-13.

 

Refereed Articles in Edited Books

  • “The Actress in Colonial India.” (for a book on “Gender and Theatre in India.” Book under review)
  • “ ‘Indian Shakespeare’ and the Politics of Language in Colonial India.” The Vulgar Tongue: Medieval and Postmedieval Vernacularity. Eds. Fiona Somerset and Nicholas Watson. University Park: Penn State University Press. 2003. 198-219.
  • “Romantic Transgressions in the Colonial Zone: Reading Mircea Eliade’s Bengal Nights and Maitreyi Devi’s It Does Not Die.” South Asian Women in the Diaspora. Eds. Nirmal Puwar and Parvati Raghuram. UK: Berg, 2003. 99-116
  • “ ‘How Long Does Lahore Burn?’ History, Memory, and Literary Representations of the Partition.” Pangs of Partition. The Cultural Dimension. Eds. Indira Gupta and Settar. Delhi: Manohar, 2002. 191-208.
  • “Robert Sherwood.” 20 th Century American Drama in DLB, Ed. Christopher Wheatley. Bruccoli Clark Layman, Inc., 2001.
  • “Staging Resistance: The Indian People’s Theatre Association.” The Politics of Culture in the Shadow of Capital. Eds. Lisa Lowe and David Lloyd. Duke University Press, 1997. 432-460.
  • “Whither the Colonial Question? Jean Renoir’s The River.” Cinema, Colonialism, Postcolonialism. Perspectives from the French and Francophone Worlds. Ed. Dina Sherzer. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1996. 51-64.
  • “Twentieth Century Hindi Literature.” Handbook of Twentieth-Century Literatures of India. Ed. Nalini Natarajan. Westport: Greenwood, 1996. 134-159.
 
Short Articles and Reviews
  • Review Article. “Reassessing the ‘National’ in Modern Indian Theatre.” Journal of Asian Studies (Forthcoming)
  • Review of Woman and Indian Modernity: Readings of Colonial and Postcolonial Novels by Nalini Natarajan. University Press of the South, New Orleans, 2002. Feminist Review 2 (2006):
  • Review of Aryans, Jews, Brahmins: Theorizing Authority through Myths of Identity by Dorothy M. Figueira. The Comparatist 28 (May 2005): 159-160.
  • Review of Contemporary Black and Asian Women Playwrights in Britain by Gabriele Griffin. Modern Drama: world drama from 1850 to the present, Volume 48, Number 1 (Spring 2005): 206-208 .
  • Review of Modern Women Modernizing Men: The Changing Missions of Three Professional Women in Asia and Africa, 1902-69 by Ruth Compton Brouwer. Vancouver and Toronto: University of British Columbia Press, 2002. University of Toronto Quarterly 74: 1 (Winter 2004/2005):491-493.
  • Review of En-Gendering India by Sangeeta Ray. Durham: Duke University Press, 2000. Feminist Review 74 (2003): 113-114.
  • Review of Pandita Ramabai: Through her Own Words. Compiled and edited with an introduction by Meera Kosambi. Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2000. Feminist Review 74 (2003): 115-116.
  • “Young South Asians Speak: Culture, Communalism and Identity.” SAMAR 2 (Summer 1993): 41-44.
  • “The 1992 U.S. Anti-India Bill: Playing Politics With Human Rights.” SAMAR 1 (Fall 1992): 19-20.
  • "Indo-Anglian Writing" Himal. South Asian Monthly. August 1999: 10-13.
  • “Nanak.” Great Thinkers of the Eastern World. Ed. Ian P. McGreal. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, Inc., 1995. 240-243.
  • Review of Siting Translation: History, Post-Structuralism and the Colonial Context , Tejaswini Niranjana. Committee for South Asian Women’s Bulletin, 9 (1-4) Fall 1994: 40-41. (With Purnima Bose).

 

Papers in Refereed Conference Proceedings

  • “Mythological Drama and the Politics of Nationalism inColonial India.” South Asian Review. The Journal of the South Asia Literary Association. 21 (2000): 90-91.

 

Papers Presented at Conferences

  • “Postcolonial Theatres: International Perspectives on Drama, Theatre and Performance.” Fall Perspectives on Teaching Conference, August 30, 2007 (Invited)
  • Performing History/ Questioning the Nation: Gender Politics in Tripurari Sharma’s Aziz-un-Nisa: San Sattavan ka Qissa (Azizun Nisa: The Story of 1857). Performance Studies International Conference. November 8-11, New York University. (Invited)
  • “Staging History/ Recovering a Dance Tradition.” Paper presentation for Panel “Reaching Past the Myths of 1857, 150 Years Later.” Association for Commonwealth Literatures and Languages, Vancouver, August 2007.
  • “From Hari to Himmat Ali: Reconstructing Partition Narratives.” Testimony and Witness. From the Local to the Transnational. Humanities Research Centre, Australian National University, 14-16 February, 2006
  • “Imperial Histories and the Languages of Indian Theatre.” Midnight’s Grandparents. First Wave South Asian Writing in English. A Century Later.” University of Toronto, March 5, 2005. (Invited)
  • “Remembering the 1947 Partition in Britain.” Nation and Imagination: The Changing Commonwealth.” Association for Commonwealth Literature and Language Studies 13 th Triennial Conference, Hyderabad, India. August 4-9, 2004

  • “Sahibs, Subalterns and Imperial Adventures in Kipling’s ‘The Man Who Would be King’.” Going Global- The Futures of Comparative Literature. Southern Comparative Literature Association University of Texas at Austin, September 18-20, 2003.

  • “Remembering Home: Performing the Indian Subcontinent in the Diaspora.” Memory, Representation and Performance: Gendering the South Asian Diaspora. British Sociological Association of Race and Ethnicity Group and Birbeck College, October 25, 2003.

  • “Fashioning a National Identity.” Seeing Things. University of Western Ontario . May 2003.

  • “Cultural Identity and the Indian Diaspora .” British Association of South Asian Studies. Oxford University, April 7-9, 2003.

  • “The Politics of Home and the Ethics of Empire in Tom Stoppard’s Indian Ink. Modern Languages Association Annual Meeting, New Orleans, December 27-30, 2001.

  • “Mythological Drama and the Politics of Nationalism in Colonial India.” South Asia Literary Association, Washington D.C. December 27-30, 2000.

  • “From Vagrants to Sahibs: Rudyard Kipling’s The Man Who Would be King.” Crossroads Cultural Studies Conference, Birmingham, June 21-25, 2000.

  • “Romantic Transgressions in the Colonial Zone: Reading Mircea Eliade’s Bengal Nights and Maitreyi Devi’s It Does Not Die. 2000 South Asian Women’s Conference, May 6-7, 2000, LA, California.

  • “`[T]he Illustration to Some Oriental Tale’”: Romantic Transgressions in the Forbidden Zone.” MLA Session, “Eastern Romances,” Modern Languages Association Annual Meeting, Chicago, December 27-10, 1999.

  • “Shakespeare, Popular Culture, and the Politics of Imperialism in India,” South Asia Popular Culture Conference, University of Victoria, April 21-24, 1999.

  • “ India, Africa, and the Cultural Politics of `Home’ in Mississippi Masala,” African Literature Association, Fes, Morocco, March 10-13, 1999.

  • “`Indian Shakespeare and the Politics of Language in Colonial India,” Vernacularity. The Politics of Language and Style. University of Western Ontario, March 4-7, 1999

  • “Indigo Plantations, Censorship, and Resistance Theatre in Colonial India.” American Comparative Literature Association, Austin, Texas, March 26-28, 1998.

  • “Women, Homelands, and the Indian Diaspora.” (Paper on Gurinder Chadha's film Bhaji on the Beach) Locations of Culture Conference, Michigan State University, October 8-10, 1997.

  • “Great Expectations: Transcending Boundaries in an International Classroom.” Conference on College Composition and Communication, Milwaukee, March 27-30, 1996.

  • “The Church, Indigo and the Emergence of Nationalist Drama in India.” Conference on Culture and Colonialism, University College, Galway, Ireland, June 22-25, 1995.

  • “Staging Human Rights Under Colonial Rule: The Indian People’s Theatre.” 3rd Annual Conference on Commonwealth and Post-Colonial Studies, Georgia Southern University, Statesboro, Georgia. April 22-23, 1994.

  • “The Politics of Colonial Representation: Shakespeare in India.” Southern Comparative Literature Association Conference, University of North Florida, Jacksonville, Florida, October 1993.

  • “Subaltern Resistance as Popular Culture: The Indian People’s Theatre.” American Popular Culture Association Meeting, New Orleans, Louisiana, April 1993.

  • “Kipling’s Burden: Representing Authority and Constructing the `Other’ through Kimball O’Hara and Babu Huree Chander in Kim.” American Comparative Literature Association, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana, March 1993.

 

Presentations at professional meetings/workshops:

  • Invited speaker . “Women and Theatre in India” Association of Indian Women in Canada, September 21, 2002
  • Keynote Speaker. “Subaltern Resistance Through Popular Culture.”. “Culture, Community, Identity: Interdisciplinary Investigations.” Graduate Student Conference. University of Western Ontario, January 30-31, 1998.
  • Invited speaker . “Staging a Change: The Indian People’s Theatre and Colonialism.” India Studies Lecture Series, Indiana University, Bloomington, October 11, 1994.
  • Invited Speaker . “Staging Resistance: The Indian People’s Theatre Association.” Colloquium for Other Circuits: Intersections and Exchanges in World Theory and Practice. Humanities Research Institute, University of California at Irvine, California, July 14-16, 1994.
  • Invited Speaker . “Anger, Nostalgia, and the End of Empire: John Osborne’s Look Back in Anger.” Modern British Drama 1956-1996: Shouting in the Evening. Flair Conference at the Harry Ransom Center, University of Texas, Austin, October 9, 1996.

 

Chair/Moderator Respondent

  • Session Chair, "From Corporate Colonialism to Global Transnationalism." MLA, San Francisco, CA, December 27-30, 1998.
  • Moderator, “Postcolonial Reflections: Before and After.” The Histories of Theory International Conference. Center for the Study of Theory and Criticism, The University of Western Ontario, April 16-19, 1998.
  • Chair, “Transnational Transgressions.” American Comparative Literature Association, Austin, Texas, March 26-29, 1998.
  • Chair, “Urban Diasporas: Representations and Resistance.” Locations of Culture Conference, Michigan State University, October 8-10, 1997
  • Respondent to Leela Gandhi. “The Circulations and Limits of Gandhian Ahimsa.” Colloquium on Other Circuits: Intersections and Exchanges in World Theory and Practice. Humanities Research Institute, University of California at Irvine, July 13-16, 1994.

 

PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES

External

  • “Member of Adjudication Committee” for Conference on “Women and Social Change” organized by the Shastri Indo-Canadian Institute, May 2007, Montreal
  • Chair, Shastri Indo-Canadian Institute India Studies Committee, 206-07. Meeting held at Ryerson University, Toronto, December 1-2. Reviewed 47 applications in the following categories. Faculty research and training, Language training, Arts, doctoral and post-doctoral and adjudicating the evaluation process, and adjudicated final decision process for sending fellows to India. Also reviewed 14 essays for the Shastri Indo-Canadian Essay contest for Best Undergraduate and Graduate essay, 2006.
  • Member, Ontario Graduate Scholarship Selection Panel for 2004-2005 OGS Program Competition. (Reviewed 63 files)
  • Chair, Shastri Indo-Canadian Institute India Studies Committee, 2005-06 (Reviewed fellowship applications from across Canada in the following categories: Faculty research and training, Language training, Arts, doctoral and post-doctoral and adjudicating the evaluation process. Reviewed 61 filesand deliberated on policies, planning and evaluation processes on November 11-12, 2005 at Ryerson University in Toronto)
  • Chair and Evaluator for Canada-wide “Lal Bahadur Shastri Essay Contest, 2005” for best essay on India-Canada relationships held by Shastri Indo-Canadian Institute
  • Chair and Member, Shastri Indo-Canadian Institute India Studies Executive Committee, 2004-2006. (Reviewed fellowship applications from across Canada in a the following categories: Faculty research and training, Language training, Arts, doctoral and post-doctoral and adjudicating the evaluation process. Reviewed 70 applications; Met with the committee in Toronto in November, 2004. Also included other kinds of evaluation and decision-making throughout the year )
  • Member, Shastri Indo-Canadian Institute India Studies Executive Committee, 2002 –2004 (same as above; meeting held in Vancouver in November 2003, Calgary 2002)
  • Member of the Editorial Board, South Asia Graduate Research Journal, 1994 – present
  • Member of the Editorial Board, Journal of South Asian Popular Culture, 1998-present
  • SSHRC Standard Research Grant Evaluator
  • Conference Committee, American Comparative Literature Association, 1997-1998
  • Evaluator, Shastri Indo-Canadian Institute India Studies Fellowship Competition, 1997- present
  • Translator--Hindi-English and English-Hindi
  • Manuscript Referee for Modern Drama, Tulsa Studies in Women’s Literature , Sagar,Women’s Studies Journal, University of Western Ontario, Canadian Review of Comparative Literature , Theory, Culture and Society, Postcolonial Text, Broadview Press, Studies in the Novel

 

Internal/University of Western Ontario

  • Graduate Chair, Department of English, 2007-08.
  • Film Studies, Promotion and Tenure Committee, 2007-2009
  • Department of English Chair Selection Committee, 2006-07
  • Philosophy Department Chair Selection Committee, 2006-07
  • Member, Committee on Graduate Studies, 2006-2008
  • Session for Graduate Students, “Demystifying the Thesis Process.” February 10, 2005
  • Member, Annual Performance Evaluation (APE) Committee, 2004-05
  • Member, Committee on Graduate Studies, 2002-03, 2004-05
  • Departmental Planning Meeting, May 22, 2002: Dialogue on Curriculum and Hiring
  • Chair, English 200 Course Committee, 2001-02, English 201, Department of English, UWO, 2002-2003, Postcolonial Studies, 2004-05
  • Committee on Women’s Studies and Feminist Research, UWO 1998-2002, 2001-03
  • Chair, Postcolonial Exam Committee, Department of English, UWO 2000-2001, 2004-05
  • Film Program Committee, Department of English, University of Western Ontario, 1997-June 1999
  • Postcolonial Exam Committee, Department of English, University of Western Ontario English
  • Department Representative for Comparative Literature, 1999-2000
  • Appointments Sub-committee for Theory Position in English, 2002

 

TEACHING

Graduate Courses

  • Postcolonial Migrations and Cultural Representations
  • Theatre and Imperialism
  • Culture and Colonialism: The British Empire and India
  • After Empire: Performing Britain at Home and Abroad
  • Reading Course on Indian Literature
  • Twentieth Century British and Postcolonial Drama

 

Undergraduate Courses

  • Imperialism and Migration
  • Postcolonial Literatures
  • Women’s Voices from South Asia and Africa
  • Colonial Discourses and Cultural Representations of South Asia
  • Postcolonial Literature and Theory
  • Women and Literature and the Post-Colonial Condition
  • Third World Feminisms
  • Colonialism and Cinema
  • Rhetoric and Composition
  • Introduction to Hindi

 

Graduate Supervision

Ph.D

  • Robin Crozier, “Fast or Famine: The Shared Legacy of Ireland and India under British Imperial Rule.” In-Progress (Chief Supervisor. English)
  • Alia Somani. The Komagatamaru and the Air India Tragedy (Chief Supervisor, English. In Progress)
  • Suvadip Sinha. Bengali Journals and the 19 th century Public Sphere (Chief Supervisor, English, In Progress)
  • Nida Sajid. Nationalism and the Cultural Sphere in Late 19 th Century India. In-Progress. (Chief Supervisor, Comparative Literature)
  • Amber Riaz, Representations of the Muslim Veil in Literature. In-Progress. (Chief Supervisor, English)
  • Prabhjot Parmar, “ Divided Land, Divided Bodies: Representations of Nationalism and Violence in Literature and Films on the Partition of India” (Co-Supervisor, English; completed August 2007)
  • Helene Strauss, “Hesitating At the Intersection:  Trans-Cultural Encounters in the Post-1994.” South African Literary and Cultural. (Second Reader, English; completed May 2006).

MA

  • Laurel Ryan. Constructing “Home”: Eros, Thanatos, and Migration in the Novels of Anita Rau Badami. . Independent Research Report. English. (Completed August 2007).
  • Asta Matharu. “An Analysis of Detachment in V.S. Naipaul’s The Mimic Men and Arundhati Roy’s The God of Small Things.” Comparative Literature, May 2006. (Chief Supervisor)
  • Amber Riaz, “Women’s Narratives of the 1947 Partition.” Comparative Literature, 2002 (Chief Supervisor)
  • Deepa Parakh, “Translation of Text and Context: The Politics of Language and the Role of Translation in Indian Literature in English.” Comparative Literature, 2000 (Chief Supervisor)
  • Srdjan Simonovic, “Magic Realism and the Fantastic in Salman Rushdie’s The Moor’s Last Sigh.” English, 1999 (Chief Supervisor)

 

Undergraduate Supervision  

  • Erin Smith, "Performing Identity: Language and Reality in Salman Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children." (Completed April 2007)
  • Brendan Flattery, “An Empty Jar: Rushdie, Midnight’s Children and a Work in Progress.” (Completed April 2006)
  • Donya El-Tag-Din,“Nawal El-Saadawi: Agency and Empowerment in Woman at Point Zero.” (Completed, April 2006)

 

Theses Examiner at University of Western Ontario

  • Nigel Joseph. Discipline Into Repression:  Contractualism, Self, and Empire in Locke, Austen and the Victorian Novel. December 6, 2006.
  • Heather Snell. Exotic Places to Read:  Desire, Resistance, and the Postcolonial. September 25, 2006.
  • Gang Liu, “The Macrocosmic and the Microcosmic: A Study of Two Contending Perspectives in Perceiving and Understanding Modern China (1894-1949). M.A. Comparative Literature, July 7, 2005
  • Saikat Maitra, “Narrating Famines: An Insight Into Modernity and Nationalist Myths.” (M.A. Comparative Literature, August 2004)
  • Susan He, “Representation and Self-Representation in Ding-Ling’s Works.” (M.A. Comparative Literature, 2002).
  • Chris Ivic "Mapping the Celtic Fringe in Early Modern Britain." (Ph.D. English. 1998)
  • Ljliana Coklin, On Nostalgia and Home. (Ph.D. English)
  • Mariam McMormack, On Angela Carter (Ph.D English 2003)
  • Siobahn Corr, “Thinking the Globe: Toward a New ‘New World” (M.A. Theory Centre)
  • One M.A. Nationalism in E.M. Forster.
  • Karen Sumner, "Whiteness and Women's Writing in the Caribbean." (Ph.D., English, 1997)

 

Thesis Examiner in India

* Soma Sarkar, “Psychoanalytic Perspective in Indian Cultural Studies: A Study of Ashis Nandy and Sudhir Kakar. PhD, Central Institute of English and Foreign Languages, Hyderabad, 2005