Areas of Expertise
Colonial and postcolonial literature and theory; science and literature; Gothic novel and horror; disease narratives; comparative literature (French, Urdu); poetics and poetry; gender and sexuality; literary and critical theory; globalization and sovereignty
Previous courses include
Legacies of the Gothic: Feminism and Terror in the Atlantic World
Impossible India: Introduction to South Asian Literature in English
The Orientalist Sublime and the Politics of Horror
Fanon: Anticolonialism and Revolution
Postcolonial Theory and the World Literature Debates (tutorial)
On Sabbatical 2016-17
Scholarship/Creative Work
I am currently working on an academic book and a set of articles about terrorism and the epidemic imaginary in colonial letters and a poetry collection called Janaab-e Shikva (Watchqueen) after the Urdu poet Iqbal. I am also writing a number of pieces about the life sciences in the colonies, and an essay/garden project on the cruising, queer form, and the social and design history of the Central Park Ramble. I have published work on literature, science, popular music, fashion, art, and politics. You can find my writing in The Boston Review, Fence, The Bennington Review, Poetry, Syndicate Lit, Reality Beach, Discourse, The Los Angeles Review of Books, BookForum, Guernica, and more.
Awards, Fellowships & Grants
Edward W. Said Fellow, Heyman Center for the Humanities, Columbia University, 2018
Visiting Professor in Women’s Studies, City College New York, 2018
Hellman Fellow, 2017-18
Triple Canopy and New York Public Library Commission, 2015
Columbia University Cohen Dissertation Prize, 2015
Columbia University Meyerson Award, 2012
Columbia University Presidential Award for Outstanding Teaching, 2012
I currently chair the Dively Committee for Human Sexuality and Diversity and serve on the English department’s program committee. I was previously elected to and served on the College Steering Committee.
Megamenu Social