A self-described ‘reluctant’ academic, Sabyn Javeri talks to the Global Asia Podcast about her recently released book, ‘Ways of Being: Creative Non-Fiction by Pakistani Women’ (Women Unlimited). In this episode, we asked Sabyn about her unconventional journey into academia, her approach to teaching, as well as her research project, GLOCAL: Thinking Globally, Teaching Locally, convened under NYU Abu Dhabi’s Research Kitchens umbrella. 

Sabyn Javeri Jillani is a Senior Lecturer of Writing, Literature & Creative Writing and the Program Head of Undergraduate Writing. Her books include 'Hijabistan' (Harper Collins: 2019) 'Nobody Killed Her' (Harper Collins: 2017) two multilingual anthologies of student writing titled, 'The Arzu Anthology of Student Voices' (Vol I & II. HUP: 2019, 2018) and the recently published,  'Ways of Being'- an anthology of creative non-fiction by Pakistani women writers (Women Unlimited, 2023). Her writing has been published in the South Asian Review, London Magazine, Litro, Bookends Review, Journal of Commonwealth Literature, Wasafiri and Trespass, amongst other publications.  Her short story, ‘The Letter’, won the Oxonian Review Award and her translation of Khalida Hussein's work, ‘A Busy Woman’ won the runner up prize for The 2022 - 2023 Jawad Memorial Translation prize. She has a Masters from the University of Oxford and a doctorate from the University of Leicester. Her research interests include postcolonial feminism, literary translations and creative writing.

1.4 On Fluctuating Identities and Pedagogy. With Sabyn Javeri.

The Global Asia Podcast is back!

This episode features Harshana Rambukwella, a sociolinguist and literary scholar with a topical focus on democracy and its cultural life. We talked to Harshana about his journey as a scholar of Asia, as well as his recent research project. Harshana shared his personal experience in the 2022 aragayala (people’s struggle) that took place in Sri Lanka, how the popular protests came to be, as well as his thoughts on the resilience of Sri Lankan democracy. We also discussed Harshana’s upcoming plans and courses.

Harshana Rambukwella is a comparative literature and cultural studies scholar with an interest in the intersections between literature, history, aesthetics, and nationalism in South Asia. He is also a sociolinguist with interest in critical sociolinguistics and discourse analysis. Harshana is the author of the Politics and Poetics of Authenticity (UCL Press 2018) and has published in journals such as boundary 2 and the Journal of Asian Studies and Interventions and is an Associate Editor of the Journal of Sociolinguistics and serves on the editorial board of the International Journal of the Sociology of Language. Harshana is currently working on a project on the 'cultural life of democracy,' looking at democracy in 'everyday life' as expressed in cultural and aesthetic artifacts. This work is partly funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation, and he also serves as a Project Fellow on the Reversing the Gaze team -- an interdisciplinary multi-sited project attempting to interrogate how insights from the postcolonial world can be usefully employed in the analysis of populism and anti-democratic thinking in Europe.

1.6 From the Model Colony to the Aragayala. With Harshana Rambukwella.

Rethinking Research and Teaching about Asia since 2017

1.6 From the Model Colony to the Aragayala. With Harshana Rambukwella.

Global Asia Initiative

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