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Nalini Iyer, PhD
Professor
English
Internationally recognized expert in South Asian literatures and cultures, her research focuses on: the hegemony of Anglophone writing, diaspora studies, and Partition Studies.
Biography
Dr. Iyer received her Ph.D. in English from Purdue University. She specializes in postcolonial literatures with a focus on South Asia, Africa, and the South Asian and African diasporas. Courses she teaches include Literature of India, African Literature, Writing Resistance: Women in Non-Western Cultures; Asian American Literatures; Literatures of Resistance (University Honors). She is a widely published, internationally recognized scholar. She is the Editor of South Asian Review, a Taylor & Francis journal published by the South Asian Literary Association. She is the first woman editor of the journal. She also has served in leadership roles with the Modern Language Association and the South Asian Literary Association. She has held the Wismer Professorship and also the Theiline Pigott-McCone Endowed Chair in the Humanities.
Education
- Stella Maris College, University of Madras, B.A.
- Purdue University, M.A. and Ph.D.
Courses Taught
- Asian American Literatures
- Literature of India
- African Literature
- Writing Resistance: Women in Non-Western Cultures
- Postcolonial Literature and Theory
- Encountering British Literature
- Encountering Intercultural Literature
Publications
Selected Publications:
Nalini Iyer & Bonnie Zare, Eds. Other Tongues: Rethinking The Language Debates in Indian Literature. Amsterdam: Rodopi, 2009.
Amy Bhatt & Nalini Iyer. Roots and Reflections: South Asians in the Pacific Northwest. Seattle, WA: University of Washington Press, 2013.
Amritjit Singh, Nalini Iyer, Rahul.K. Gairola, eds. Rethinking India’s Partition: Memory, Culture, Politics. Lanham, MD; Lexington Books, under contract.
Nalini Iyer & Pallavi Rastogi, editors. Teaching Anglophone South Asian Diasporic Literature (MLA, 2024)
Nalini Iyer “Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni: Critical Biography”
Nalini Iyer.” Rewriting the American Narrative of Muslim Men:Ayad Akhtar’s Depiction of Race, Gender, and Masculinity. Literature and the War on Terror: Nation, Democracy, and Liberalisation. Ed. Sk Sagir Ali, Routledge, 2023, 32.45.
Nalini Iyer. “Trauma, Gender, and Caste: Vernacular Postcolonial Feminism and the Writing of Perumal Murugan.” Narratives of Trauma in South Asian Literature. Ed. Goutam Karmakar and Zeenat Khan. Routledge, 2022. 23-30