EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

Ph.D., Centre for Linguistics & English, Jawaharlal Nehru University(JNU)
Professor, Department of English
Email: nc8@hawaii.edu

I teach genre-based courses on popular culture and literature to sophomores, as well as foundational, theory based-classes for graduate students and advanced undergraduates, using pop-culture to teach theory and theory to understand popular forms and everyday life. I am currently in the process of completing two manuscripts: Superfluous Life:Vinod Kumar Shukla’s Surplus Population and Literary Lumpens: Lumpenism and Lumpen-Aesthetics in North India. My areas of interest include Marxism, Critical Theory, Popular Culture, Literary Modernism, Gender Studies, Comics and Graphic Novels, Childhood Studies, South Asian Film and Literature.

Ph.D., Urban Planning, University of California, Los Angeles
Associate Professor, Urban and Regional Planning, UH Mānoa
Email: priyam@hawaii.edu

Dr. Das studies water governance in the global South, particularly the barriers to extending water and wastewater infrastructure and services to settlements outside so-called formal planning systems. Broadly framed by two key questions – to what extent are such barriers related to issues of governance and how do strategies deployed by different actors to improve access to such services inform planning and policy – her research sharpens focus on problems of inequality, poverty, and disenfranchisement.

Ph.D. in Sociology, Brandeis University
Professor, Ethnic Studies & Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies
Email: dasgupta@hawaii.edu

Research

I study migrant-led movements for social justice. I approach this subject from a feminist and critical ethnic studies framework. My research methods are qualitative. It has contributed to developing transnational feminist approaches to migration. I specialize in the South Asian diaspora in the United States, and, over time, my research interests in movements for labor, racial and gender justice have expanded to my working with many other ethnic groups. All my research is closely tied to community-based organizing. I involve graduate and advanced undergraduate students in my research. My current research project focuses on anti-deportation organizing in the United States.

Community Engagement

I am deeply committed to labor and migrant rights. I am involved with UNITE HERE! Local 5, the labor union which organizes the immigrant-majority workers in the hotel industry. Since 2010, I have worked closely with the Hawaiʻi Coalition for Immigrant Rights to educate our communities on the issues our migrant communities face and their needs. I have strong ties with several immigrant rights organizations in the Los Angeles area, and maintain connections with the organizations on the continent about which I write. It has been very rewarding to build these crucial bridges between the academy, and our communities.

Ph.D. in English, University of Hawai’i at Mānoa
Chair of the Asia Collection & South Asia Studies Librarian
Email: monicag@hawaii.edu

Monica Ghosh is the Chair of the Asia Collection and South Asia Studies Librarian. She has built a career as an academic Librarian, holding a Master’s in Information and Library Studies from the University of Michigan, and both a Master’s and PhD in English from the University of Hawai'i at Mānoa (UHM). She started her professional journey in library instruction and general reference at Michigan State University, later moving to UHM as a reference librarian. Her role expanded to area studies when she was appointed the South Asia Studies Librarian. During her tenure at UHM, she has twice served as Director of the Center for South Asian Studies, and in the Library has held numerous leadership positions, including Division Head, Chair of the renowned Asia Collection, and three interim Executive/Management positions – twice as Associate University Librarian and once as University Librarian. Her professional associations include the Committee on South Asia Libraries and Documentation (CONSALD) and the Association for Asian Studies (AAS)–she has presented her scholarship at the annual meeting of AAS and at the Annual South Asia Conference in Madison, Wisconsin. Her research interests include South Asians writing in English; literature of the South Asian diaspora; representations of South Asians in U.S. popular culture; and the Anglo-Indian and Chinese communities of India. 

MA in Anthropology and MLISc, University of Hawai’i at Mānoa
Hawaiian and Pacific Collections Archivist / Russian Studies Librarian
Email: kkadohir@hawaii.edu

Karen Kadohiro Lauer has been an academic librarian and archivist since 2015. She is a graduate of the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa Master of Library Information Sciences and Anthropology programs. She has conducted research on collections from Tonga, India, and Russia, as well as on archival collections related to Hawaiʻi and the Pacific. Her primary interests lie in exploring new ways to improve access to the extensive Asia and Pacific collections of Hamilton Library.  Her research interests include the cultural geography of South Asia and the impact of culture on human biology.  Her professional associations include the Association of Asian Studies (AAS), American Library Association (ALA), Society of American Archivists (SAA), Association of Hawaiʻi Archivists (AHA), and the Hawaiʻi Library Association (HLA).

Ph.D. South Asian Languages and Civilizations, University of Chicago, May 2009
Professor, Department of Indo-Pacific Languages & Literatures
Email: jknutson@hawaii.edu

Sanskrit literature and literary theory, ancient and early medieval history and literary history of South Asia, Early Middle Bengali poetry, comparative premodern poetry and poetics.

Ph.D Candidate in Performance Studies, Department of Theatre and Dance, UH Mānoa
Coordinator, Center for South Asian Studies
Email: mm2046@hawaii.edu

Mari Martinez is currently a second year PhD in Performance Studies in Theater and Dance. She received her BFA from the University of Michigan in Performing Arts Technology and her MA in Performance Studies from the University of Hawaii at Manoa. As part of her MA Thesis she created an educational website (blackbox.academy) covering topics ranging from racial bias, surveillance and mis and disinformation in technology. Her dissertation research focuses on the intersectionality of performance, political science and death. She has done live performances ranging from a live interactive 3D performance with assistance from the University of Hawaii at Manoa’s LAVA lab, and live avant garde politically charged performances dealing with racism, and disparity. Her wide range of research includes Butoh, technology’s impact on eastern and South Asian religions, and artificial intelligence. She studies Hindi, Bollywood dance and film with a deep love for Lata Mangeskar, and Shah Rukh Khan.