Education

Ph.D., English Language & Literature, University of Washington (in progress)

Dissertation: “Militant Bodies: Policing Race, Religion, and Violence in the U.S. Sikh Diaspora”

Chair: Chandan Reddy; Committee Members: Alys Weinbaum, Habiba Ibrahim; Graduate Student Representative: Moon-Ho Jung (History)

M.A., English Language & Literature, University of Washington

B.A. (hons), Special Studies: Postcolonial Studies & Comparative Literature, SUNY Buffalo.

Visiting Appointment

Harvard University, Program in American Studies, Visiting Fellow

Publications

Work-in-progress essay. Solicited for publication in edited book volume, Sikhism and Critical Theory. Ed. Arvind Pal S. Mandair. Forthcoming, late 2015. 

2014      “Threat Perception: Sikhs, Muslims, and the U.S. Logics of Social Death.” Accepted for publication in Amerasia, Special Issue on Asian American Religions in a Globalized World. Eds. Sylvia Chan-Malik & Khyati Joshi. Forthcoming, Fall 2014. 

2013      “On the Limits of Charhdi Kala: Oak Creek and Sikh Philosophy in an Age of Terror.” Sikh Formations: Religion, Culture, Theory. Special Issue on Oak Creek. Eds. Arvind-Pal S. Mandair & Rita Verma. Taylor & Francis. Fall 2013.

Recent Awards & Fellowships

2014    Critical Ethnic Studies Association, Summer Institute, Fellowship and Travel Grant  

            UW Department of English, Andrew R. Hilen Dissertation Fellowship

2013     American Studies Association, Annette K. Baxter Travel Grant

            UW Center for the Study of the Pacific Northwest, Research Fellowship for Study in Vancouver, BC

            UW Department of English, Research Fellowship for Study in Berkeley, CA

2012     UW Graduate School Fund for Excellence and Innovation (GSFEI), Conference Travel Grant

2011     UW Simpson Center for the Humanities, Certificate in Public Scholarship, Public Scholarship Fellow

2010     UW Simpson Center, Interdisciplinary Dissertation Prospectus Workshop, American Studies Fellow

            Forum on Contemporary Theory, University of Baroda, Pune, India, Summer Workshop Fellow

2009     National Sexuality Resource Center, Summer Workshop on Race, Gender, and Sexuality, Minority Fellow

Invited Presentations

“Minor Icons in Death: Sikh Martyrdom Against Necropower.” Conference “Deconstructing the Myth of Violence and Religion in South Asia and Beyond.” Carleton University, Religion Program, College of the Humanities. Ottawa, Canada. October 19, 2014.

"The Body Politic: Race, Religion, and Militancy in the U.S. Sikh Diaspora." Presented at the American Studies Workshop. Harvard University. Fellows Presentation. May 12, 2014.

“The Body in Peril: Minor Politics and the U.S. Sikh Diaspora.” Asian American Studies Speaker Series. Sponsored by Comparative Ethnic Studies and Hmong Diaspora Studies Programs. University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee. March 26, 2014. 

Recent and Upcoming Paper Presentations

“The Body in Peril: Minor Politics and the U.S. Sikh Diaspora.” Panel: “Becoming-Minor in American Studies: Solidarities in Vulnerable Times.” To be presented at American Studies Association, “The Fun and the Fury.” Los Angeles, CA. November 2014. Panelist and session organizer. 

"Militant Bodies: Policing Race, Religion, and Violence in the U.S. Sikh Diaspora."  Presented at the Graduate Consortium in Women Studies Dissertation Workshop. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. May 2014. Work-in-progress presentation.

“Calculated Violence: Sikhs, Muslims, and Racial Logics.” Panel: “White Supremacist Cultures.” Presented at American Studies Association, “Beyond the Logic of Debt, Toward an Ethics of Collective Dissent.” Washington, DC. November 2013. Panelist. 

“Facing Terror, Effacing Empire: Race and Recognition in the Work of Daisy Rockwell.” Panel: “Troubling Visions: Racial Politics in Contemporary U.S. Visual Art.” Presented at Critical Ethnic Studies Association, “Decolonizing Future Intellectual Legacies and Activist Practices.” University of Illinois, Chicago. September 2013. Chair & Panelist.

“On the Limits of Charhdi Kala: Oak Creek and Sikh Philosophy in an Age of Terror.” Panel: “Cultures of Terror.”  Presented at Association for Asian American Studies, “The Afterlives of Empire.” Seattle, WA. April 2013. Panelist.

“Racial Logics: Sikhs and Muslims at the Limits of Violence.” Presented at the Berkeley Islamophobia Conference, “From Theorizing Islamophobia to Systematic Documentation.” UC Berkeley, Boalt Law School. April 2013. Panelist.

“Racial Logics: Sikhs at the Limits of Violence.” Presented at Sikh Scholars Fourth Annual Conference. Stanford University, Center for South Asia. February 2013. Panelist. 

Principle Academic & Pedagogical Interests

Minority literature, critique, philosophy, and politics

Postcolonial literature and theory

Critical ethnic studies, American studies

Sikh, Muslim, South Asian and Arab diasporas

Race, religion, and empire in the U.S.

Theories of violence and mourning

Affective politics and feminist critique

Languages

English (fluent)

Punjabi (fluent)

French (advanced reading, writing, and speaking)

Arabic (intermediate reading and writing, beginner speaking) 

Professional Memberships

Modern Language Association (MLA)

American Studies Association (ASA)

Critical Ethnic Studies Association (CESA)

Association for Asian American Studies (AAAS)

Phi Beta Kappa (PBK)