Dr. Sai Bhatawadekar is a Professor in the Department of Indo-Pacific Languages and Literatures and Graduate Faculty in the Departments of Theatre and Dance, Asian Studies, and Philosophy.

In Language Studies her work includes:

• Hindi-Urdu and German language pedagogy
• Creative Project Based Language Learning (writing and performing poetry, plays, and dance, creating art, children’s books, short films, etc.)
• Digital Storytelling ($127,000/- Department of Education Grant 2023-25)
• Publications on pedagogy of care and creativity, poetry writing in second language classroom, language and peace studies
• Interdisciplinary program building (The Ohio State University, University of Hawaii)
• Board of Regents Medal, Innovation and Impact Showcase

In Film Studies and Theatre and Dance her work includes:

• A Midsummer Night’s Bollywood Dream, Kennedy Mainstage Play/Musical, University of Hawaii, 2019 (co-director, choreographer, Hindi lyricist, music supervisor/co-composer, singer, dramaturge, translator, language coach. Awards: John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts American College Theater Festival VII – Meritorious Achievement Award, The Hawaii State Theatre Council’s Po’okela Awards)
• RRegh, choreography and dance performance, 2021, 2024 (choreographer. National selection for the American College Dance Association’s Gala Concert 2022)
• Annual Indian dance concerts and other performances at the Honolulu Museum of Art (producer, director, choreographer, teacher)
• Short films (filmmaker: camera, direction, editing)
• Weimar and New German Cinema, Wim Wenders, Hindi cinema, Hindi film analysis, music, and dance
• Publications on Vijay Tendulkar, Pu. La. Deshpande, Brecht in Marathi, place of Indian playwrights in world literature, transnational Bollywood

In Philosophy her work includes:

• German-Indian comparative/ cross-cultural philosophy, intellectual history, and history of ideas
• G. W. F. Hegel’s and Arthur Schopenhauer’s interpretation of Hinduism
• Decolonial methodologies
• Apophatic discourse and negative theology ($97,520/- Templeton Foundation Grant 2014)
• Publications on Hegel’s interpretation of Islam, Hegel on Hinduism, Schopenhauer on tat tvam asi, “Philo-Selfie” approach to German-Indian Studies, cross-cultural methodologies, philosophy of the unsayable, philosophical retro/introspection on trauma and dance

Professor Bhatawadekar considers it her strength, joy, and privilege to be able to combine scholarly and creative research in fundamentally interdisciplinary ways and bring it to her teaching practice and public humanities. Her “field” therefore is not one or the other, but rather a convergence of it all that lets her explore Indian languages and cultures in global dynamics.

saib@hawaii.edu
(808) 956-3559