Merin Simi Raj

Associate Professor
Room No: HSB 241B
Tel: +91 44 2257 4524
E-Mail: merin@iitm.ac.in
Education:
- PhD, IIT Bombay (2013): “Literary Historiography of Indian English Fiction: A Critical Examination”
(Received the Institute Award for Best Thesis)
- MPhil, CIEFL Hyderabad (2005): “Caste and Power: A Study of Selected Works of Prose and Fiction”
MA, CIEFL Hyderabad (2003)
- BA, Mar Ivanios College, University of Kerala (2001)
Courses taught at IIT Madras:
- History of English Language and Literature
- Literary Criticism
- Indian Fiction in English
- World Literature
- English Advanced Level
- Feminist Writings
Courses offered through NPTEL:
- History of English Language and Literature
- Postmodernism in Literature
- Introduction to World Literature
- Indian Fiction in English
MA Projects guided:
- 2015: Surej Simon. “Off Beat”: Women and Beat Generation
- 2016: Kevin Fernandes. Constructing the Modern Iran Society Using Iranian English Writings
- 2016: Asmita Ghosh. Reimagining Sita and Surpanakha: A Postcolonial Feminist Analysis
- 2018: Lekshmy U K. Gender and Post-Restoration Coffee Houses in England
- 2018: Merrin Alice Abraham. Women in Pentecostal Churches.
PhD guidance:
- Sruthi Vinayan (2019 completed)
- Anitha Iris
- Rashi Srivastava (Co-guided by Dr Avishek Parui)
- Catherine Shilpa X
Projects:
- 2014-2016: Seed Grant (Rs.500000) sponsored by IC&SR IIT Madras. A Social History of Reading in Kerala
- 2014-2015: New Faculty Initiation Grant sponsored (Rs.500000) by IC&SR IIT Madras. Literary historiography studies in India.
- 2016-2018: Exploratory Research Project (Rs.1000000) awarded by IC&SR IIT Madras. A transnational narrative history of the Anglo-Indian community in India and the Diaspora.
Affiliations and Collaborations:
- Anglo-Ink, Chennai (2017 onwards)
- New Zealand India Research Institute, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand (2017-2018)
Publications:
- The politics of representation and the “ideal Malayalee woman”: Remembering Malayalam women’s magazines of the early 20th-century Kerala, South India. Journal of Postcolonial Writing, Taylor and Francis. Volume 55, 2019. Pages 399-411. https://doi.org/10.1080/17449855.2019.1570966
- Caste in Indian English Fiction. EPW, Vol. 50, Issue No. 21, 23 May, 2015.
- “Re-drawing the Postmodern Lines: Rushdie and Indian English Fiction in the Post-1980s”, Journal of Postcolonial Cultures and Societies (Vol.4, No.3, 2013).
- “Revisiting Nationalist Historiography: Reading Amin’s Narrativisation of Chauri Chaura” in Postcolonial Text (Vol 6, No.4, 2011).
- “(Re)Writing IE fiction in a New YA Page: Celebrating the Birth of the Reader and the Publisher” in Muse India (Issue 39, Sep-Oct 2011).
- “Caste and Modernity: Locating Phule’s Discourse” in 19th Century Maharashtra: A Reassessment ed. Shraddha Kumbojkar. Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2009.
- “Articulations of Caste in Nationalist Historiography” in The Journal of the School of Language, Literature and Culture Studies, JNU (Autumn 2009).
- “Softskills and Syllabus: The Need for Convergence” in Indian Journal of Open Learning (Vol.17, No.2, May 2008).
- “Articulating Caste: Gaps and Silences in Social/Nationalist Historiography” in Littcrit (Vol/34, No.1, June 2008).
- “Reading Written on the Body: Problematising Gender, Identity and Sexuality” in The New Frontier, University of Kerala (May 2008).
Forthcoming:
- 2020: Understanding Anglo-Indian Identity. Co-edited with Robyn Andrews.
Research Interests:
- Literary Historiography Studies
- Indian and Postcolonial Writings
- Anglo-Indian Studies
- Kerala Modernity
Conferences Organized:
- October 2019: Event, Memory and Re-membering: One Hundred Years of Jallianwalla Bagh (forthcoming). Co-convened with Dr Avishek Parui
- August 2018: Second International Conference on Anglo-Indian Studies. Co-convened with Dr Robyn Andrews
- August 2017: First International Conference on Anglo-Indian Studies. Co-convened with Dr Robyn Andrews
Administrative responsibilities:
- MA Project Coordinator, HSS Dept (2015, 2017, 2018).
- Dept Graduate Conference Committee (2017, 2018).
Others:
- June 2018: Attended Summer School on Digital Humanities at University of Oxford, United Kingdom.
- 2018 onwards: Member, Editorial Board, International Journal of Anglo-Indian Studies.