Prof. Ashish Nandy Prof. Ashish Nandy is renowned sociologist and clinical psychologist, a bold and respected scholary voice. He is the senior fellow at the centre for the Study of Developing Societies, New Delhi. He was awarded PhD in Psychology from Gujrat University, Ahmedabad. He has visited Kathmandu a number of occassions and in one of his visits he has conducted workshops on South Asian Cultural Studies at Institute of Advanced Communication, Education, and Research (IACER). Prof Nandy is a prolific writer. Among is many books, some are Alternative Sciences, The Tao of Cricket, Time Warps, Time Treks.
Prof. Syed Manzoorul Islam He is professor of English at Dhaka University and is a novelist and critic. He received Bangla Academy award in 1996 for his literary contribution. He completed his doctorate from Queen’s University, Kingston, Canada in 1981. Prof. Islam’s areas of academic interest are Literary Theory, Cultural Studies, Postcolonial Theory and Criticism, and Art Criticism. Among many of his writings, two of the recent ones are The Merman’s Prayer and other Stories (2013) and Dinratriguli (2013).
Prof. Dipesh Chakrabarty He is professor of History. He holds a PhD degree in history from the Australian National University. He is a founding member of the editorial collective of Subaltern Studies and is one of the leading thinkers of postcolonial discourses, South Asian studies, and contemporary theory. He is currently the Lawrence A. Kimpton Distinguished Service Professor in History, The University of Chicago. Among his multiple writings, some of the popular ones are: Subaltern Studies Vol. 9 editor, with Shahid Amin (1997), Provincializing Europe: Postcolonial Thought and Historical Difference (2000), and Habitations of Modernity: Essays in the Wake of Subaltern Studies (2002)
Dr. Herman T. Salton He holds a Ph.D. degree in Law (Auckland). He works at the intersection of international law and international relations, specializing in human rights and international organization, particularly the United Nations. He has law degrees from the University of Trento (Italy) and Auckland (New Zealand), as well as international relations degrees from the University of Oxford and Wales. He is the author of Veiled Threats: Islam, Headscarves and Religious Freedom in America and France (2008) and Arctic Host, Icy Visit: The Chinese President Comes to Iceland (2010). Herman has published widely on the United Nations, human rights, comparative law and international history, and is currently finalizing a third book on the role of the UN in the Rwandan genocide. He is fluent in English, French, Italian and Spanish.
Dr. Varuni Ganepola She is an Associate Professor of Psychology at the Asian University for Women (AUW). She received her degrees in psychology and sociology at Australia’s Monash University and the University of Wales Swansea, UK. She began her teaching career in the UK and has also taught in Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Australia. Her research interests include conflict and coping with displacement and refugeehood; distress, vulnerability, and resilience; and understanding lives of former child soldiers. More recently, she has undertaken research on domestic violence and suicide in South and Southeast Asia including Nepal; and Muslim women’s empowerment in South Asia. She also does sessional teaching in psychology at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia.
Dr. Carol C Davis She is Associate Professor of Theatre at Franklin and Marshall College in Pennsylvania, teaching World Theatre, Asian Theatre, Shakespeare, Directing, Acting, and Theatre for Social Change, and directing students in theatre productions. Carol holds a PhD in Dramatic Arts from University of California, Berkeley. She has acted and directed at major California theatres, and in film and TV in California, Korea, and Malaysia. She is the founding artistic director of the Nepal Health Project, an educational and charitable theatre troupe that performed for over half a million villagers in rural Nepal, teaches workshops on emergency first aid throughout the country, creative dramatics in the orphanages of Kathmandu, and sponsors girls’ education. For her work in Nepal, Carol received the Half the Sky prize from The New York Times and author/journalist Nicholas Kristof. Carol was a Fulbright Senior Research Fellow and served on the Fulbright South and Central Asia Peer Review Committee. Her articles have appeared in Asian Theatre Journal, Theatre Symposium, Mime Journal, Education About Asia, Journal of South Asia Women Studies, The Encyclopedia of Asian Theatre, World Encyclopedia of Puppetry Arts, Not For Sale: Feminists Resisting Prostitution and Pornography, Mapping South Asia Through Theatre, and Routledge Handbook of Asian Theatre.
Prof. Fakrul Alam He is professor of English at University of Dhaka. A writer and translator, Dr. Alam has taught in Bangladesh and abroad. At present is the Pro-Vice Chancellor of East West University, Dhaka He edited Unfinished Memories (Penguin 2012), an unfinished autobiography of Bangladesh revolutionary leader Sheikh Mujubur Rahman. He edited The Essential Tagore (Visva-Bharati and Harvard University Press, 2011) in collaboration with Radha Charabarty. He received SAARC Literary Award in 2012 and Bangla Academy Award in 2013.
Prof. Kaiser Hamidul Haq Kaiser Haq began teaching English Literature at Dhaka University in 1975, and is currently on LPR from that institution. He has at various times taught part-time at NSU, BRAC, East West, ULAB, Eastern and a number of other universities. Between 2011 and 2015 he was a full-time professor at ULAB. He was a Commonwealth Scholar at Warwick University, a Senior Fulbright Scholar and Vilas Fellow at the University of Wisconsin –Milwaukee (1986-87), a Royal Literary Fund Fellow at SOAS, London University (2002-2003). In the latter capacity he gave writing tutorials to interested students. In the summer of 2003 he was the resident poet (“Café Poet”) at the Poetry Café of the Poetry Society of Great Britain. He was on the panel of judges for the Commonwealth Writers Prize for three years, one year of which he was the chairperson for the Eurasian region. As a poet and translator he has had the pleasure of seeing his work included in the curricula of schools and universities at home and abroad. His recent publication is The Triumph of the Snake Goddess (Harvard University Press, 2015).
Prof. Leonard Schwartz Leonard Schwartz is a poet and writer based in Washington and New York. His books include The New Babel: Toward A Poetics Of The Mid-East Crises (University of Arkansas Press),Salamander: A Bestiary (Chax Press), IF (Talisman House), and Benjamin Fondane: Cinepoems and Others (New York Review Books/Poets). He is Professor of Literary Arts at The Evergreen State College and has been a Visiting Professor in Columbia University’s MFA Program, at Naropa Institute, and at Bard College. In addition Schwartz hosts and produces the radio program Cross Cultural Poetics. About his work Mohja Kahf writes “A highly original voice engaged in a creatively subversive way with the issues of our day.” Schwartz is interested in the relationship between religious language, myth, and ecological thinking in the South Asian context.
Prof. Mahalakshmi Ramakrishnan Prof. Mahalakshmi’s area of interest and specialization are Evolution of state structures in the early medieval period in south India; Tamil influences in early historical and early medieval Sri Lanka; interrogating gender and patriarchy in early India; growth and transformation of brahmanical religious traditions and institutions in the early medieval period in India; the development of brahmanical and Buddhist art and architecture in South and Southeast Asia; and tribal histories of South Asia, particularly the Brahmanical/ Buddhist-tribal interactions in the pre-modern period. At present she teaches at Center for Historical Studies, JNU, India. Her recent publication are The Making of the Goddess: Korravai-Durga in the Tamil Traditions (Penguin, 2011, The Book of Lakshmi (Penguin, 2009).
Prof. Mohit Ul Alam Prof. Alam is the former Vice-Chancellor of Jatiya Kabi Kazi Nazrul Islam University, Mymensingh, Bangladesh. He, at present, is the Dean of Arts and Social Sciences at Premier University, Chattogram, Bangladesh. Prof. Alam is professor of English. He is a renowned novelist and poet. He regularly contributes articles on cricket and soccer in the leading Bangladesh English dailies. He has been the editor of academic journal Crossings: ULAB Journal of English Studies.
Prof. Rajagopalan Radhakrishnan Prof. Radhakrishnan is Chancellor’s Professor, English, Comparative Literature at University of California, Irvin, USA. His research interests are Critical Theory, Postcoloniality, Poststructuralism, Postmodernism, Cultural Critique, Nationalisms and Diasporas, Globalization, Ethnicity and Minority Discourse, Gender and Feminisms. His major works are: Edward W. Said: A Critical Dictionary, forthcoming (Blackwell, 2010), Theory After Derrida, Dco-edited with Kailash Baral, (Routledge, 2009). Colonialism, Modernity, Theory, Co-edited with CT Indira, et al, (Pencraft, 2009), History, the Human, and The World Between (Duke U P, 2008), Transnational South Asian and the Making of A Neo-Diaspora, Co-edited with Susan Koshy, (Oxford U P, 2008), Theory as Variation (ed.) (Pencraft, 2007), Between Identity and Location: The Politics of Theory (Orient Longman, 2007), Theory in an Uneven World (Blackwell, 2003), Diasporic Mediations: Between Home and Location (U of Minnesota P, 1996).
Dr. Rakesh Batabyal Dr. Batabyal is the faculty of Jawaharlal Nehru University. As Deputy Director of the UGC-Academic Staff College (2000-2016), he has trained thousands of teachers from across India, as well as Sri Lanka. For his in-depth understanding in matters both of society and communication, he was requested to contribute to the newly created Centre for Media Studies in JNU, where he has since been teaching and researching. His major works are: Communalism in Bengal from Famine to Noakhali, 1943-47 (Sage Pubications, 2005), Penguin Book of Modern Indian Speeches (Penguin, 2007), and JNU: The Making of a University (HarperCollins, 2014). He has several research articles published in various reputed journals such as Studies in History, Studies in People’s History, International Studies. His monographs on Media in Modern India, and Nationalism in India are due for publication in 2018.
Mr. Pankaj Bharadwaj
Pankaj Bhardwaj is a publishing professional with over 20 years of experience in publishing industry. He has worked with leading international publishing houses and is currently working with Taylor and Francis Group, a leading international academic publishing house, as General Manager. He looks after the Humanities and Social Science publishing business of the company across South Asia region under the company’s flagship brand ‘Routledge’. He is a postgraduate in Economics from Pune University ( Fergussion College) and has also pursued ‘Master of Business Management’ from Maharshtra Institute of Management, Pune.
SAFAR Officials
Academic Staff Prof. Dr. Sangita Rayamajhi: Director Research Prof. Dr. Arun Gupto: Director, Comparative South Asian Studies Mr. Ajay Bhadra Khanal: Chief Research Advisor
Administrative Staff Mrs. Soma Gupta: Chief of Administration and Finance Mr. Prakash Maharjan: Consultant Director of Ethics (from CASSA)
PEOPLE
Senior Advisory Council
Prof. Ashish Nandy
Prof. Ashish Nandy is renowned sociologist and clinical psychologist, a bold and respected scholary voice. He is the senior fellow at the centre for the Study of Developing Societies, New Delhi. He was awarded PhD in Psychology from Gujrat University, Ahmedabad. He has visited Kathmandu a number of occassions and in one of his visits he has conducted workshops on South Asian Cultural Studies at Institute of Advanced Communication, Education, and Research (IACER). Prof Nandy is a prolific writer. Among is many books, some are Alternative Sciences, The Tao of Cricket, Time Warps, Time Treks.
Prof. Syed Manzoorul Islam
He is professor of English at Dhaka University and is a novelist and critic. He received Bangla Academy award in 1996 for his literary contribution. He completed his doctorate from Queen’s University, Kingston, Canada in 1981. Prof. Islam’s areas of academic interest are Literary Theory, Cultural Studies, Postcolonial Theory and Criticism, and Art Criticism. Among many of his writings, two of the recent ones are The Merman’s Prayer and other Stories (2013) and Dinratriguli (2013).
Prof. Dipesh Chakrabarty
He is professor of History. He holds a PhD degree in history from the Australian National University. He is a founding member of the editorial collective of Subaltern Studies and is one of the leading thinkers of postcolonial discourses, South Asian studies, and contemporary theory. He is currently the Lawrence A. Kimpton Distinguished Service Professor in History, The University of Chicago. Among his multiple writings, some of the popular ones are: Subaltern Studies Vol. 9 editor, with Shahid Amin (1997), Provincializing Europe: Postcolonial Thought and Historical Difference (2000), and Habitations of Modernity: Essays in the Wake of Subaltern Studies (2002)
Dr. Herman T. Salton
He holds a Ph.D. degree in Law (Auckland). He works at the intersection of international law and international relations, specializing in human rights and international organization, particularly the United Nations. He has law degrees from the University of Trento (Italy) and Auckland (New Zealand), as well as international relations degrees from the University of Oxford and Wales. He is the author of Veiled Threats: Islam, Headscarves and Religious Freedom in America and France (2008) and Arctic Host, Icy Visit: The Chinese President Comes to Iceland (2010). Herman has published widely on the United Nations, human rights, comparative law and international history, and is currently finalizing a third book on the role of the UN in the Rwandan genocide. He is fluent in English, French, Italian and Spanish.
Dr. Varuni Ganepola
She is an Associate Professor of Psychology at the Asian University for Women (AUW). She received her degrees in psychology and sociology at Australia’s Monash University and the University of Wales Swansea, UK. She began her teaching career in the UK and has also taught in Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Australia. Her research interests include conflict and coping with displacement and refugeehood; distress, vulnerability, and resilience; and understanding lives of former child soldiers. More recently, she has undertaken research on domestic violence and suicide in South and Southeast Asia including Nepal; and Muslim women’s empowerment in South Asia. She also does sessional teaching in psychology at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia.
Dr. Carol C Davis
She is Associate Professor of Theatre at Franklin and Marshall College in Pennsylvania, teaching World Theatre, Asian Theatre, Shakespeare, Directing, Acting, and Theatre for Social Change, and directing students in theatre productions. Carol holds a PhD in Dramatic Arts from University of California, Berkeley. She has acted and directed at major California theatres, and in film and TV in California, Korea, and Malaysia. She is the founding artistic director of the Nepal Health Project, an educational and charitable theatre troupe that performed for over half a million villagers in rural Nepal, teaches workshops on emergency first aid throughout the country, creative dramatics in the orphanages of Kathmandu, and sponsors girls’ education. For her work in Nepal, Carol received the Half the Sky prize from The New York Times and author/journalist Nicholas Kristof. Carol was a Fulbright Senior Research Fellow and served on the Fulbright South and Central Asia Peer Review Committee. Her articles have appeared in Asian Theatre Journal, Theatre Symposium, Mime Journal, Education About Asia, Journal of South Asia Women Studies, The Encyclopedia of Asian Theatre, World Encyclopedia of Puppetry Arts, Not For Sale: Feminists Resisting Prostitution and Pornography, Mapping South Asia Through Theatre, and Routledge Handbook of Asian Theatre.
Prof. Fakrul Alam
He is professor of English at University of Dhaka. A writer and translator, Dr. Alam has taught in Bangladesh and abroad. At present is the Pro-Vice Chancellor of East West University, Dhaka He edited Unfinished Memories (Penguin 2012), an unfinished autobiography of Bangladesh revolutionary leader Sheikh Mujubur Rahman. He edited The Essential Tagore (Visva-Bharati and Harvard University Press, 2011) in collaboration with Radha Charabarty. He received SAARC Literary Award in 2012 and Bangla Academy Award in 2013.
Prof. Kaiser Hamidul Haq
Kaiser Haq began teaching English Literature at Dhaka University in 1975, and is currently on LPR from that institution. He has at various times taught part-time at NSU, BRAC, East West, ULAB, Eastern and a number of other universities. Between 2011 and 2015 he was a full-time professor at ULAB. He was a Commonwealth Scholar at Warwick University, a Senior Fulbright Scholar and Vilas Fellow at the University of Wisconsin –Milwaukee (1986-87), a Royal Literary Fund Fellow at SOAS, London University (2002-2003). In the latter capacity he gave writing tutorials to interested students. In the summer of 2003 he was the resident poet (“Café Poet”) at the Poetry Café of the Poetry Society of Great Britain. He was on the panel of judges for the Commonwealth Writers Prize for three years, one year of which he was the chairperson for the Eurasian region. As a poet and translator he has had the pleasure of seeing his work included in the curricula of schools and universities at home and abroad. His recent publication is The Triumph of the Snake Goddess (Harvard University Press, 2015).
Prof. Leonard Schwartz
Leonard Schwartz is a poet and writer based in Washington and New York. His books include The New Babel: Toward A Poetics Of The Mid-East Crises (University of Arkansas Press), Salamander: A Bestiary (Chax Press), IF (Talisman House), and Benjamin Fondane: Cinepoems and Others (New York Review Books/Poets). He is Professor of Literary Arts at The Evergreen State College and has been a Visiting Professor in Columbia University’s MFA Program, at Naropa Institute, and at Bard College. In addition Schwartz hosts and produces the radio program Cross Cultural Poetics. About his work Mohja Kahf writes “A highly original voice engaged in a creatively subversive way with the issues of our day.” Schwartz is interested in the relationship between religious language, myth, and ecological thinking in the South Asian context.
Prof. Mahalakshmi Ramakrishnan
Prof. Mahalakshmi’s area of interest and specialization are Evolution of state structures in the early medieval period in south India; Tamil influences in early historical and early medieval Sri Lanka; interrogating gender and patriarchy in early India; growth and transformation of brahmanical religious traditions and institutions in the early medieval period in India; the development of brahmanical and Buddhist art and architecture in South and Southeast Asia; and tribal histories of South Asia, particularly the Brahmanical/ Buddhist-tribal interactions in the pre-modern period. At present she teaches at Center for Historical Studies, JNU, India. Her recent publication are The Making of the Goddess: Korravai-Durga in the Tamil Traditions (Penguin, 2011, The Book of Lakshmi (Penguin, 2009).
Prof. Mohit Ul Alam
Prof. Alam is the former Vice-Chancellor of Jatiya Kabi Kazi Nazrul Islam University, Mymensingh, Bangladesh. He, at present, is the Dean of Arts and Social Sciences at Premier University, Chattogram, Bangladesh. Prof. Alam is professor of English. He is a renowned novelist and poet. He regularly contributes articles on cricket and soccer in the leading Bangladesh English dailies. He has been the editor of academic journal Crossings: ULAB Journal of English Studies.
Prof. Rajagopalan Radhakrishnan
Prof. Radhakrishnan is Chancellor’s Professor, English, Comparative Literature at University of California, Irvin, USA. His research interests are Critical Theory, Postcoloniality, Poststructuralism, Postmodernism, Cultural Critique, Nationalisms and Diasporas, Globalization, Ethnicity and Minority Discourse, Gender and Feminisms. His major works are: Edward W. Said: A Critical Dictionary, forthcoming (Blackwell, 2010), Theory After Derrida, Dco-edited with Kailash Baral, (Routledge, 2009). Colonialism, Modernity, Theory, Co-edited with CT Indira, et al, (Pencraft, 2009), History, the Human, and The World Between (Duke U P, 2008), Transnational South Asian and the Making of A Neo-Diaspora, Co-edited with Susan Koshy, (Oxford U P, 2008), Theory as Variation (ed.) (Pencraft, 2007), Between Identity and Location: The Politics of Theory (Orient Longman, 2007), Theory in an Uneven World (Blackwell, 2003), Diasporic Mediations: Between Home and Location (U of Minnesota P, 1996).
Dr. Rakesh Batabyal
Dr. Batabyal is the faculty of Jawaharlal Nehru University. As Deputy Director of the UGC-Academic Staff College (2000-2016), he has trained thousands of teachers from across India, as well as Sri Lanka. For his in-depth understanding in matters both of society and communication, he was requested to contribute to the newly created Centre for Media Studies in JNU, where he has since been teaching and researching. His major works are: Communalism in Bengal from Famine to Noakhali, 1943-47 (Sage Pubications, 2005), Penguin Book of Modern Indian Speeches (Penguin, 2007), and JNU: The Making of a University (HarperCollins, 2014). He has several research articles published in various reputed journals such as Studies in History, Studies in People’s History, International Studies. His monographs on Media in Modern India, and Nationalism in India are due for publication in 2018.
Mr. Pankaj Bharadwaj
Pankaj Bhardwaj is a publishing professional with over 20 years of experience in publishing industry. He has worked with leading international publishing houses and is currently working with Taylor and Francis Group, a leading international academic publishing house, as General Manager. He looks after the Humanities and Social Science publishing business of the company across South Asia region under the company’s flagship brand ‘Routledge’. He is a postgraduate in Economics from Pune University ( Fergussion College) and has also pursued ‘Master of Business Management’ from Maharshtra Institute of Management, Pune.
SAFAR Officials
Academic Staff
Prof. Dr. Sangita Rayamajhi: Director Research
Prof. Dr. Arun Gupto: Director, Comparative South Asian Studies
Mr. Ajay Bhadra Khanal: Chief Research Advisor
Administrative Staff
Mrs. Soma Gupta: Chief of Administration and Finance
Mr. Prakash Maharjan: Consultant Director of Ethics (from CASSA)
Academic Counsellors
Khagendra Prasad Nepal (Nepal)
Sedunath Dhakal (Nepal)
Sangita Sigdel (from CASSA)
Shankar Paudel (USA)
Communication Officer
Renuka Khatiwada (USA)
SAFAR- US Group
Menuka Gurung (PhD Student, The University of Texas at El Paso)
Renuka Khatiwada (PhD Student, The University of Texas at El Paso)
Shankar Paudel (PhD Student, The University of Texas at El Paso)
Chief Editorial Staff:
Prof. Dr. Arun Gupto (Director, Comparative South Asian Studies, SAFAR, Kathmandu)
Prof. Dr. Sangita Rayamajhi (Director Research, SAFAR, Kathmandu)
Dr. Pallabi Gupta (Department of English, University of Illinois, Urbana Champagne)
Mr. Ujjwal Prasai (Institute of Advanced Communication, Education, and Research, Kathmandu)
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