Nolte Hall

Jigna Desai

612-624-0363
Women's Studies 415 Ford Hall

Department Affiliations


Specialties

  • Asian American literature and cultural studies
  • feminist theory
  • postcolonial studies
  • queer/sexuality studies
  • South Asian diasporas
  • Immigration and media

Educational Background

  • Ph.D.: English, Feminist Studies Minor, University of Minnesota.

Publications

  • Rajinder Dudrah. Bollywood: A Reader. Open University/McGraw Hill, 2008.
  • Desai, Jigna. "Bollywood, USA: Diasporas, Nations, and the State of Cinema." Transnational South Asians: The Making of a Neo-Diaspora Susan Koshy and R. Radhakrishnan, eds (2008)
  • Pamela Butler. "Manolos Marriage and Mantras: Chick Lit Criticism and Transnational Feminism." Meridians: Feminism, Race, and Transnationalism 8.2 (Nov. 2008): 1-31.
  • Amy Brandzel. "Masculinity, Violence, and Terror: The Cultural Defensibility of Heteronormative Citizenship in the Virginia Tech Massacre and the Don Imus Affair." Journal of Asian American Studies 11.1 (Feb. 2008): 61-85.
  • Desai, Jigna. Beyond Bollywood: The Cultural Politics of South Asian Diasporic Film. New York : Routledge, 2004.
  • Desai, Jigna. "Bollywood Abroad: South Asian Diasporic Cosmopolitanism and Indian Cinema." South Asian American Cosmopolitanism Gita Rajan and Shailja Sharma, eds. (2006): 115-137.
  • Rajinder Dudrah, and Amit Rai. South Asian Popular Culture. Special Issue -- Bollywood Audiences. , October 2005.
  • Bouchard, Danielle. "There's Nothing More Debilitating Than Travel:' Locating US Empire in Todd Haynes' Safe." Quarterly Review of Film and Video 22.4 (Oct.-Dec 2005): 359-370.
  • Desai, Jigna, Shilpa Dave, LeiLani Nishime, and Tasha Oren, eds.. "Planet Bollywood: Indian Cinema in Asian America." East Main Street: Asian American Popular Culture (2005): 55-71.

Research Activities

  • South Asian Diasporic Cinema: Study of the gender and sexual politics of South Asian diasporic public cultures, September 1998 - ongoing
  • Globalization of Bollywood: Study the internationalization of Indian cinema, concentrating on their reception and consumption in the US, September 2001 - ongoing
  • Race and migration in Asian American Studies: Examining masculinity, nation-state, and terror, Fall 2007 - ongoing
  • Transnational Feminist and Queer Critique: theorizing transnational feminisms and queer studies, Fall 1998 - ongoing

Creative Activities

  • Performer: Dancing from Shadow, March 2003 - April 2003
  • Poet and Performer: A Wife's Letter, August 2001 - September 2001

Professional Activities

  • Visiting Associate Professor: Harvard University , Spring 2009
  • Director of Asian American Studies Program : 2006 - 2008

Awards

  • President's Award for Outstanding Service, Univ. of MN, 2007
  • Red Motley Undergraduate Teaching Award, Univ. of MN, 2004

Courses Taught

  • GWSS 1002 - Politics of Sex
  • GWSS 4103/5104 - Transnational Feminist Theories
  • GWSS 3409 - Asian American Women's Cultural Production
  • GWSS 8490 - Asian American Cultural Criticism
  • GWSS 1902 Bollywood! -- Popular Indian Cinema
Alternative Output Formats Alternative Output Formats
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