Dr. Swathi Krishna S Assistant Professor
School of Humanities, Social Sciences & Management

Research Interests

Contemporary American Literature
  • Women’s Literature
  • Road Narratives
  • Feminist Theory
  • Gender Studies
  • Gender-based Violence

Contact Details

  • swathi@iitbbs.ac.in

Other Profile Link(s)

Education

 Degree Discipline Year School
  PhD English 2018 Department of Liberal Arts, Indian Institute of Technology Hyderabad
  MA English 2013 Department of English, School of Humanities, University of Hyderabad
  BA English 2011 Mar Ivanios College, Kerala University
 

Biosketch

 Swathi Krishna S. is Assistant Professor of English in the School of Humanities, Social Sciences, and Management at IIT Bhubaneswar. Her research interests include contemporary American literature, women’s literature, road narratives, feminist theory, gender studies and gender-based violence. Her essays have appeared in journals such as Critique: Studies in Contemporary Fiction, LIT: Literature Interpretation TheoryJournal of Graphic Novels and Comics, and The Explicator, among others. Her recent works include a co-edited volume entitled Gendered Violence in Public Spaces: Women’s Narratives of Travel in Neoliberal India from Lexington Books, USA.

Teaching

Undergraduate Courses (Teaching/Taught):
 
Speaking and Presentation
Fiction and Social Change
Tales of Travel and Adventure
English Language Skills 
Preparatory English 
 
Postgraduate Courses:
 
Literature and Gender Theory
Literary Theory
 

Projects

Principal Investigator. “Mapping Feminist Geographies: Performance Activism, Embodied Politics, and the Feminist Fourth Wave in India.” IIT Bhubaneswar. Total Budget: 19.13 Lakhs. (Ongoing)

Recent Publications (International Journals)

1“Violence and Taoist Ethics in Ursula K. Le Guin's The Word for World is Forest." UKL: The Journal of Ursula K. Le Guin Studies.(Forthcoming, 2024) (with Aleena A. Paul) (Research Note)
2“Roads, Misogyny, and the Rape Culture in Joyce Carol Oates’ Rape: A Love Story and Cara Hoffman’s So Much Pretty.” LIT: Literature Interpretation Theory, vol. 34, no. 3, Nov. 2023, pp. 196-219, Taylor & Francis Online, DOI: 10.1080/10436928.2023.2239697. (with Srirupa Chatterjee)
3"Rainbow in Gethen: Queer Utopia and Community Collectivism in Ursula K. Le Guin’s 'Coming of Age in Karhide.'" Literature Compass, October 2023, Wiley, doi: https://doi.org/10.1111/lic3.12746. (with Aleena A. Paul)
4"Traversing Ruins: Kristen Radtke’s Post-Apocalyptic Dark Tours in Imagine Wanting Only This." Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics, August 2023, Taylor & Francis Online, DOI:https://doi.org/10.1080/21504857.2023.2249537. (with Namitha Soman)
5"Louisa May Alcott." Women Who Changed the World: Their Lives, Challenges, and Accomplishments through History. Vol. 1. Cardice Goucher (Ed.). Santa Barbara, USA: ABC-CLIO Press, 2022, pp. 32-38, publisher.abc-clio.com/9781440868252. (Book Chapter)
6"Between Maternity and Autonomy: Radical Mothering in Mona Simpson's Anywhere but Here". Critique: Studies in Contemporary Fiction, vol. 63, no.2, Aug. 2021, pp. 232-246. Taylor & Francis Online, DOI: doi.org/10.1080/00111619.2021.1959291 (with Srirupa Chatterjee).
7"The Politics of Fear: Female Horror, Male Violence, and Space in Contemporary Hindi Cinema." Ghosts, Monsters, and Occult: The Politics of Popular Culture in India. Dibyakusum Ray and Riksundar Banerjee (Eds.). Cardiff, Wales: University of Wales Press. (Invited Chapter, Forthcoming) (with Mahima Raj C.)
8"From Controversy to Credence: Discredit, Blasphemy, and Counterculture Sexuality in John Updike's Couples." Global Literatures since World War II: Critical Perspectives from India, edited by Srirupa Chatterjee and Sharada Chigurupati. London: Palgrave Macmillan. (Forthcoming) (with Srirupa Chatterjee) (Book Chapter)
9“No Longer Innocent: Male Gaze, Violence, and Female Kinship in Kishwar Desai’s The Sea of Innocence.” Gendered Violence in Public Spaces: Women’s Narratives of Travel in Neoliberal India, edited by Swathi Krishna S., and Srirupa Chatterjee. Maryland, USA: Lexington Books, 2023, pp. 19-31. (with Srirupa Chatterjee) (Book Chapter)
10"Apocalyptic Imagery in Marilynne Robinson's Housekeeping." The Explicator, vol. 75, no. 4, Dec. 2017, pp. 234-238, Taylor & Francis Online, doi: 10.1080/00144940.2017.1379464. (with Srirupa Chatterjee)
11"Mina Loy's PARTURITION and L’Écriture Féminine." The Explicator, vol.73, no. 4, Nov. 2015, pp. 257-261, Taylor & Francis Online, doi: 10.1080/00144940.2015.1087377. (with Srirupa Chatterjee)
12Wages for Housework Campaign. Women in American History: A Social, Political, and Cultural Encyclopedia and Document Collection, edited by Peg A. Lamphier and Rosanne Welch, ABC-CLIO Press, 2017. (Encyclopedia Entry)
13Dreams. Miracles: An Encyclopedia of People, Places, and Supernatural Events from Antiquity to the Present, edited by Patrick J. Hayes, ABC- CLIO Press, 2016. (Encyclopedia Entry)

Recent Publications (National Journals)

1"Negotiating Feminine Autonomy and Identity: Diasporic Anxieties in Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni's The Mistress of Spices". The IUP Journal of English Studies, vol. 9, no.3, Sept.2014, pp. 7-16, IUP Publications Online.

Conferences (International)

1The Difficult Road: Migration Crisis and Diego Quemada Diez’s The Golden Dream”. Webinar entitled “Theorizing Humanities in the Times of Crisis” organized by the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, IIT Ropar, India from 21-23 September 2020.
2“Feminist Mythos: Revisionist Mythmaking in Meena Kandasamy’s Ms Militancy.” International Conference on “Globalization: Prospects and Challenges.” Osmania University Centre for International Programmes, Osmania University, Hyderabad, India. March 03-05, 2020.
3“Reclaiming the Road: The Resilient Female Traveler in Joyce Carol Oates’s Rape: A Love Story.” The 50th Northeast Modern Language Association Convention. Washington, DC, USA. March 21-24, 2019.
4“Pragmatism and the Working-Class Woman in Barbara Kingsolver’s The Bean Trees and Pigs in Heaven.” The 47th Annual Northeast Modern Language Association Convention. Hartford, Connecticut, USA. March 17- 20, 2016.
5“Dismantling the ‘Sacred Maternal’: Motherhood in Mona Simpson’s Anywhere but Here.” Conference titled “Grappling with the Sacred.” Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, IIT Madras, India. January 21_24, 2016.
6“Eros and Blasphemy in John Updike’s Couples.” The14th MELUS-India/ MELOW-International conference titled “Damn the Book, Gag the Voice: Literature and Censorship.” Chandigarh, India. February 20- 22, 2015.
7“Negotiating Female Autonomy and Identity: Diasporic Anxieties in Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni’s The Mistress of Spices.” Conference titled “‘Building Bridges’: Contemporary Research in Gender Studies.” Centre for Women’s Studies, University of Hyderabad, India. March 24– 26, 2014.

Conferences (National)

1“Female Adventurer and the Counterculture in Erica Jong’s Fear of Flying.” National Seminar on “Themes and Narratives in Postwar American Fiction.” Osmania University Centre for International Programmes, Osmania University, Hyderabad, India. December 27- 28, 2016.
 

Academic Honors & Awards

  • Research Excellence Certificate. Indian Institute of Technology Hyderabad. March, 2016.
  • Research Excellence Certificate. Indian Institute of Technology Hyderabad. March, 2015.
  • Qualified for the National Eligibility Test (NET) under the University Grants Commission in October 2013.
 

Research Scholar

Aleena Achamma Paul: Refashioning Quests: Heroism, Gender, and Identity in Ursula K. Le Guin’s Hainish Cycle. (Ongoing)
Namitha Soman: Graphic Journeys: Dark Tourism, Trauma, and Memory in the War Comics of Joe Sacco. (Ongoing)
Varsha Shaji: [Under Progress]
 

Professional Experience

1. Assistant Professor of English at Indian Institute of Technology Bhubaneswar, India since December 2022.     2. Assistant Professor of English at Indian Institute of Technology Ropar, India from May 2018 to December 2022.  3. Lecturer of English at National Institute of Technology Calicut, India from December 2017 to May 2018.  

Invited Talks

 

 Lecture titled “The Question of Travel: Diverse Visions” at the International Conference on ‘Humanities through Literature, Film and Media’ at the School of Social Sciences and Languages, Vellore Institute of Technology, Chennai, India on 18th August 2022.
 
 Lecture titled “‘Pallidly Neat’ and ‘Incurably Forlorn’: Melville’s Adam and the Failing Dream in ‘Bartleby, the Scrivener’” at the Department of English, CMS College, Kottayam, Kerala, India on 7th November 2020.
 
 Lecture titled “Women on the Road: Literary Representation, Possibilities, and Dangers” at the online Faculty Development Programme on “Gender Sensitization” organized by Barabazar Bikram Tudu Memorial College, West Bengal, India from 25th to 31st July 2020. 

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