Sujata Mody

Bio

Sujata S. Mody is an Associate Professor in the Department of Languages and Literatures at North Carolina State University, where she teaches courses on Hindi/Urdu language and literature and South Asian literature and culture. She received her PhD in South and Southeast Asian Studies with an emphasis on Modern Hindi literature from the University of California, Berkeley.

Responsibilities

• Section coordinator, Hindi-Urdu Studies at NC State
• Major Adviser, Asian Language Concentration (Hindi-Urdu track)
• Hindi-Urdu Minor Adviser

Projects

My research focuses on the project of modernization taken up by Mahavir Prasad Dwivedi (1864-1938) as editor of the prominent Hindi literary journal ‘Sarasvati’ and the journal’s contributions to the formation of a literary-nationalist Hindi public sphere in the early 20th century.

Office Hours

• Tue: 1:30 p.m. – 2:30 p.m.
• Thu: 1:30 p.m. – 2:30 p.m.

Website

Research Publications

The Making of Modern Hindi: Literary Authority in Colonial North India. Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2018.

Prasad, Jaishankar. “The Place of Drama in Hindi.” Trans. with Aparna Dharwadker. A Poetics of Modernity: Indian Theatre Theory, 1860 to the Present. Ed. Aparna Dharwadker. Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2018.

“Visual Strategies for Literary Authority in Modern Hindi.” South Asia : Journal of South Asian Studies September 2014. Vol. 37(3): 474-490.

“Literary Self-determination and the Disciplinary Boundaries of Hindi Literature in the Early Twentieth Century.” South Asia Research November 2012. Vol. 32(3): 233–256.

Dwivedi, Mahavir Prasad. “The Present State of Hindi.” Introduction and trans. Nationalism in the Vernacular: Hindi, Urdu, and the Literature of Indian Freedom. Ed. Shobhna Nijhawan. New Delhi: Permanent Black, 2010. 350-370.

Varma, Mahadevi. “Home and the World Outside” and “The Curse of Womanhood.” Trans. Mahadevi Varma: Essays on Women, Culture, and Society. Ed. Anita Anantharam. Amherst, New York: Cambria Press, 2010. 43-62; 63-70.

“Dwivedi, Mahavir Prasad (1864-1938).” Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Online edition. Ed. Lawrence Goldman. October 2008. Oxford University Press.

Presentations

“Regionalism and the New Story Movement in Hindi” invited presenter at The Politics and Poetics of South Asian Modernism: Hindi and Urdu Debates, a symposium at the 47th Annual Conference on South Asia, Madison, WI, October 11-14, 2018.

“Gender Politics in Two Landmark Hindi Short Stories” invited presenter at Literature and Politics, a conference organized by the Program in South Asian Studies at Princeton University, NJ, November 11-12, 2016.

“Self-assessment Techniques,” invited speaker at UNC Language Assembly workshop on Checking for Understanding and Engaging Students through Technology, Chapel Hill, NC, August 10, 2015.

“Literary Self-determination and Narrative Landscape in a Modern Hindi Short Story,” 130th MLA Annual Convention, Vancouver, BC, January 8-11, 2015.

“Teaching through the UNC Language Exchange,” invited panelist for UNC Online webinar, August 2, 2013.

“Historical Contexts & Subtexts in the Short Stories of Vrindavanlal Varma & Jai Shankar Prasad,” panel coorganizer & presenter at the Association for Asian Studies Annual Conference, San Diego, CA, March 21-24, 2013.

“Literary Authority, Contest and Modern Hindi Canon Formation,” invited lecture, Dept. of South & Southeast Asian Studies. Hindi Literature & Cultures Series, University of California, Berkeley, CA, March 14, 2013.

“The UNC Language Assembly’s Hindi-Urdu Pilot Program,” invited panelist at the UNC India-Summit, Chapel Hill, NC, January 31, 2013.

“Historical Contexts & Subtexts in the Short Stories of Vrindavanlal Varma & Jai Shankar Prasad,” panel co-organizer & presenter at the 41st Annual Conference on South Asia, Madison, WI, October 11-14, 2012.

“Engaging Pasts: History in Modern Hindi Short Fiction,” invited lecture for the University of Pennsylvania South Asia Studies Colloquium Series, Philadelphia, PA, September 27, 2012.

“Visual Culture for Literary Production: Ravi Varma & the Rise of Modern Hindi Poetry,” conference co-convener (with Sandria Freitag, NC State & Pamela Lothspeich, UNC-Chapel Hill) & presenter at Visual Culture & Identity-Narratives in the Making of Modern India, Raleigh & Chapel Hill, NC, April 29-30, 2011.

“Visual Aspects of Early 20th Century Literary Production: Raja Ravi Varma & Modern Hindi Poetry,” panel organizer, presenter, & chair at the Joint Conference of the Association for Asian Studies & International Convention of Asia Scholars, Honolulu, HI, March 31-April 3, 2011.

“Literary Self-determination & the Disciplinary Boundaries of Hindi Literature in the Early 20th Century,” presented at the North Carolina Consortium for South Asian Studies Colloquium Series, Chapel Hill, NC, January 27, 2011.

Visual Aspects of Early 20th Century Literary Production: Raja Ravi Varma & Modern Hindi Poetry,” presented at the Southeast Conference of the Association for Asian Studies, Chapel Hill, NC, January 14-16, 2011.

“Contest & Competition: Literary publics in conversation with Mahavir Prasad Dwivedi,” presented at the 39th Annual Conference on South Asia, Madison, WI, October 14-17, 2010.

“National Standards for Foreign Language Learning & the Less Commonly Taught Languages,” Invited Presentation, Special Language Program & African and Middle Eastern Languages Program Winter Quarter Colloquium, Stanford University, CA, February 28, 2008.

“Short Stories, Long Journeys: Traversing the Boundaries of Literature & Nation” presented at the 36th Annual Conference on South Asia, Madison, WI, October 14, 2007.

“Integrating Proficiency Standards in the Less Commonly Taught Languages Classroom,” invited lecture for the Fulbright Language Teaching Assistant Orientation, Stanford University, CA, August 15, 2007.

“Short Stories, Long Journeys: Negotiating National Identity in an Early 20th Century Hindi Journal,” presented at the Center for South Asia Studies, Graduate Student Lecture Series, University of California, Berkeley, CA, February 23, 2006.

“Voices from Home & Abroad: Constructing a Modern Indian Nation & Canon in the pages of the Hindi Literary Journal Sarasvati,” presented at the Association for Asian Studies Annual Meeting, Chicago, IL, March 31- April 3, 2005.

“Representing a Nation: Sarasvati & the Construction of a Modern Hindi Literary Canon,” participant, dissertation writing workshop with Dr. Mieke Bal; Townsend Center, University of California, Berkeley, CA, November, 2004.

“Representing a Nation: Sarasvati & the Construction of a Modern Hindi Literary Canon,” participant, dissertation workshop: “Rewriting South Asian History,” University of California, Berkeley, CA, April 17-20, 2003.

“Women & the Politics of Publication in Early 20th Century North India: Banga Mahila & the Literary Journal Sarasvati,” presented at the 17th Annual South Asia Conference, Berkeley, CA, February, 2002.

Area(s) of Expertise

Modern Hindi literature; Hindi and Urdu literary periodicals; Hindi historical fiction; Visual culture and 20th c. literary production; Gender, nationalism & the public sphere in South Asia