Globalizing Research and Teaching of American Literature

Funder: U.S. Department of State through its Pakistan embassy

Over the last fifty years, the worldwide impact of American literary and cultural production has expanded rapidly, and at the same time it has become increasingly diverse, now encompassing the dynamic multi-racial, multi-ethnic, multi-religious, and gendered character of American life. This three year partnership between ASU and Kinnaird College in Lahore, Pakistan, will create an academic, research, and knowledge exchange that will help to empower Pakistani women in academia and in society. The exchange program will involve faculty and students in English and American literature at ASU and Kinnaird College, and the project’s aims are to globalize research and teaching of American literature and to empower Pakistani women to become leaders and agents of change in academia as well as the larger society. The centerpiece of the project is a scholars-in-residence program, which will bring Kinnaird College faculty and graduate students to ASU for up to a full semester. While at ASU, the Kinnaird scholars will build collaborative relationships with ASU scholars, develop research ideas into publishable papers and shape new courses in American literature.

This partnership will strengthen the structures of both institutions, empower Kinnaird women to become agents for fostering new academic outlooks and standards in Pakistan, and open the door to women to become leaders in Pakistani academia. This advancement would create true change and continue well beyond the life of the grant. The three year project is composed of a series of rotating exchanges that build on each other during the length of the program.

Project Director and Principal Investigator

• Claudia Sadowski-Smith, English professor at Arizona State University

Project Team and Co-PIs

• Nadia Anjum, Director of Post-Graduate Studies, Department of English at Kinnaird College for Women (Lahore)
• Yasmin Saikia, Hardt-Nickachos Chair in Peace Studies and professor of History at Arizona State University
• Neal Lester, English professor at Arizona State University