Dr. Wafa Hamid

Recent Publications :

(2024)

  • “Specters of Home in Agha Shahid Ali’s Translations of Faiz Ahmed Faiz and Mahmoud Darwish.” in Isabel C. Gómez & Marlene Hansen Esplin (Eds.), Translating Home in The Global South: Migration, Belonging, and Language Justice (pp. 163-185). New York & Oxon: Routledge, (ISBN: 978-1-032-44913-5)

(2022)

  • “Bodies in Translation/Transition: (Re)Writing Kashmir, Kaschmir, Cashmere in Agha Shahid Ali’s Poetry” in Madhurima Chakraborty (Ed.) Global South Asia: South Asian Literatures and the World, London: Routledge. (ISBN: 9781032160207)
  • “Jessie Reeder, The Forms of Informal Empire: Britain, Latin America, and Nineteenth-Century Literature”. Victoriographies 12.2. July 2022. Edinburgh University Press. Print ISSN: 2044-2416. Online ISSN: 2044-2424.

(2021)

  • “ ‘The Forbidden City’: An Exploration of Wajida Tabassum’s Magazine Fiction” in Haris Qadeer, P. K. Yasser Arafath (Eds.) Sultana’s Sisters: Gender, Genres, and Genealogy in South Asian Muslim Women’s Fiction (pp.133-149). New Delhi: Routledge India. (ISBN: 9780367432508)

(2020)

  • “Bodies in Translation/Transition: (Re)Writing Kashmir, Kaschmir, Cashmere in Agha Shahid Ali’s Poetry”, South Asian Review, Vol 41, Issues 3-4, Sep-Dec 2020 (ISSN: 0275-9527)

Papers Presented in National/International Conferences (in the last 5 years) :

(2023)

  • “Women in The Indian Metropolis: Gender, Violence and The Urban Space” in the virtual panel on Gendered Realities Across South Asia at the 51st Annual Conference on South Asia, held (hybrid) at University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA, 18-21 October, 2023.
  • “Outsiders at Home: (Be)longing, Dislocation and Identity in Annie Zaidi’s Bread, Cement, Cactus” at the Muslim Women’s Popular Fiction (MWPF) AHRC Research Network International Conference, held (hybrid) at University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK, 5-9 September, 2023.
  • “Literary Urbanisms: Women, Violence and the Metropolis in Manjula Padmanabhan’s ‘Lights Out’” at the IACLALS (Indian Association for Commonwealth Language and Literature Studies) International Conference on 26-29 April, 2023.
  • “Precarious Bodies: Gender, Class, and the Grammar of Violence in the Metropolis” at the Third Annual Intersectional Studies Conference at South Carolina State University (hybrid) on 24 March, 2023.

(2022)

  • “Translation, Reparation, Ex-scription: Some Notes and Contexts” at the 23rd Congress of the International Association of Comparative Literature (ICLA) 2022 on Re–Imagining Literatures of The World: Global and Local, Mainstreams and Margins, hybrid (in Georgia) from July 24-29, 2022.
  • “Popular Memory and the Poetic Archive” in the Memory and Representation Area, 2022 Popular Culture Association (PCA/ACA) Annual Meeting, online from April 13-16, 2022.
  • “Lost in Translation: Border, Language and Translation” for the International Conference on “Discours de haine et traduction” (Hate Speech in Translation/Discorso d’odio e traduzione) organized by University of Calabria, The Do.Ri.F. (Documentation and Research Center for French Language Teaching at the Italian Universities), I-Land (Identity, Language, Diversity) Interuniversity Research Centre online from March 10-12, 2022.

(2021)

  • “Postcard from Kashmir: The Beloved Witness of Poetry” for the Second International Conference on “Memory and Past in South Asia” organized by the South Asia Research Center, Soka University, Japan online from November 26-27, 2021.
  • “Affective Geographies: Cultures of Grief and the Spectropoetics of ‘Home’” for the seminar “Translating Home: Migration, Refuge, and Human Rights,” Organized by the ICLA Translation Committee, ACLA 2021 virtual conference, April 8-11, 2021.

(2020)

  • “Material Bodies, Digital Selves: Critical Pedagogies” during the First International Conference, organized by the South Asia Research Center, Soka University, Japan, October 30-31, 2020.
  • “Spectropoetics of home: Translation, language, violence” during the International Workshop on ‘Translating Home: Migration, Refuge, and Human Rights’ organized by the ICLA Translation Committee, June 19-20, 2020.
  • “The Territory of Translation: Errantry, Language and Poetics in Agha Shahid Ali” during the International Conference on ‘Languaging and Translation: Within and Beyond’ organised by IIT Patna, CIL Mysuru, and Yonphula Centenary College Royal University of Bhutan, February 21st-23rd, 2020.

Select Public Lectures / Talks:

(2025)

  • Talk on “The Nazm and the Ghazal in Urdu Poetry,” organized by Jyoti Dalal School of Liberal Arts, NMIMS University, Mumbai, 25 March, 2025.
  • Talk as part of the panel on “Desire in Sufi and Urdu Poetry,” organized by Centre for Studies in Gender and Sexuality, Ashoka University, 26 February, 2025.
  • Talk on “Translating Home in Agha Shahid Ali’s Poetry,” organized by The English Literary Society, St. Stephen’s College, Delhi University, 12 February, 2025.

(2024)

  • Talk on “Forms in Urdu Poetry in English Translation”, organized by Jyoti Dalal School of Liberal Arts, NMIMS University, Mumbai, 19 April, 2024.

(2023)

  • Talk as part of the inaugural panel for the Seminar on “Translating Sexualities”, organized by the Centre for Gender, Culture, and Social Processes, St. Stephen’s College, University of Delhi, 5 – 6 April, 2023.
  • Talk on “African American History, Slave Narratives and Beloved” organized by Jyoti Dalal School of Liberal Arts, NMIMS University, Mumbai, 31 March, 2023.

(2022)

  • Chaired the conference panel on “Memory & Representation: Poetic and Popular Memory” for 2022 Popular Culture Association (PCA/ACA) Annual Meeting, online, April 13-16, 2022.
  • Chaired the conversation and book discussion on City of Incident with the author Annie Zaidi, organized by The Centre for Studies of Plural Societies on 12 March, 2022.
  • Organised and moderated “The Agha Shahid Ali Memorial Event” (Conversation and Panel Discussion) in collaboration with Cambridge University, February 7, 2022.

(2021)

  • Chaired the session on “Cultures of Memory: Media, Representation and Performing the Archive” for the Second International Conference on “Memory and Past in South Asia” organized by the South Asia Research Center, Soka University, Japan from November 26-27, 2021.
  • Talk on “Poetics and Politics: A Talk on Agha Shahid Ali” organized by Jyoti Dalal School of Liberal Arts, NMIMS University, Mumbai, 20 November, 2021.
  • Talk on “Agha Shahid Ali and The Poetics of Memory” organized by the Department of English, Bharata Mata College, Thrikkakara, 20 November 2021.
  • Resource person for “Online mentoring session for the prospective applicants applying for the 2021-2022 Fulbright Foreign Language Teaching Assistant (FLTA) program” organized by the United States-India Educational Foundation on August 13, 2021.
  • Talk on “Textures of Grief in Agha Shahid Ali’s Poetry”, organized by The Postgraduate Research Seminars, Cambridge University, 27 May, 2021.
  • Panelist for Discussion on “Patriarchy, Gender Inequality, and Role of Men”, organized by American Center, 24 March, 2021.
  • Talk on “Challenges of Teaching-Learning in Our Times: A Conversation” organized by the Informal Discussion Group (IDG) and Internal Quality Assurance Cell (IQAC), St. Stephen’s College, Delhi University, 8 February, 2021.

(2020)

  • Talk on “A Trail Beyond Tears: Rescripting American Histories and Literatures” organized by Tetso College in collaboration with the USIEF and US Consulate Kolkata, November, 27, 2020.
  • Lectures on ‘Indian Culture through English Language’ as part of the Soka University- St. Stephen’s College Academic Partnership Programme, 23 February- 16 March 2020, St. Stephen’s College.
  • Chaired the session on Translation in India during the International Conference on ‘Languaging and Translation: Within and Beyond’ organised by IIT Patna, CIL Mysuru, and Yonphula Centenary College Royal University of Bhutan, February 21st-23rd, 2020.

Recognitions / Grants / Awards:

  • Charles Wallace India Trust (CWIT) Research Grant by the Charles Wallace India Trust and British Council, 2022.
  • Bharat Ram Research Grant by The Shri Ram Education Foundation, 2022-23.
  • US Alumni Micro Grants by the American Embassy in partnership with Swechha, 2020.
  • FLAGS (Fund for Lesbian and Gay Studies) Research Awards by the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Studies, WGSS (Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies), Yale University, 2018-19.
  • Fulbright FLTA Fellowship 2018-19, at Yale University, New Haven, U.S.A., 2018-2019.
  • Madonna and Michael Marsden International Grant by the Popular Culture/ American Culture Association, March-April 2018.

Recent Projects/Events Initiated:

(2023)

  • Facilitated and co-designed components for “Language is a Queer Thing 2023,” an India-UK Together Poetry Residency supported by the British Council as part of the ‘India/UK Together Season of Culture’ programme, and designed in partnership with The Queer Muslim Project, VERVE Poetry Birmingham, BBC Contains Strong Language, and Tata Lit Live, 2023.
  • Received the Dr. Bharat Ram Research Grant by The Shri Ram Education Foundation (alongside co-researcher, Dr. Arunima Ray) for the project “Representing Women in the Indian Metropolis: Gender, Violence and the Urban Space,” 2022-23.
  • Facilitated and co-designed components of “The Queer Writers’ Room”, a creative writing and narrative change program by The Queer Muslim Project in partnership with the U.S. Consulate Mumbai for young LGBTQIA+ writers from South Asia, 2023.

(2022)

  • Facilitated and co-designed components for “Language is a Queer Thing,” an India-UK Together Poetry Residency supported by the British Council as part of the ‘India/UK Together Season of Culture’ programme, and designed in partnership with The Queer Muslim Project, VERVE Poetry Birmingham, BBC Contains Strong Language, and Tata Lit Live, 2022.
  • Organised and moderated “The Agha Shahid Ali Memorial Event” (Conversation and Panel Discussion) in collaboration with Cambridge University, February 7, 2022.

(2020)

  • Received the US Almuni Micro Grants for coordinating and conceptualising the project on “LGBTQIA+ Youth Initiative: Wellbeing, Legal Rights, and Knowledge Building” by the US Embassy, India in partnership with Swechha, January 2020- July 2020.