Arunima Theraja
PhD student

Profile

Biography

BA English Literature Honours- University of Delhi

MA English Literature Honours – Ambedkar University Delhi

MA Women’s Studies - University of York

For my MA in English Literature I looked at the representations of queer women in Indian literary texts whereas for my MA in Women’s Studies thesis I looked at the representations of lesbian women in Indian English National daily newspapers from 2013-2018.

My PhD combines my two interests- literature and queer rights and sexuality. With MA’s in two different disciplines my PhD is also heavily interdisciplinary. I was awarded the ORS (Overseas Research Scholarship) by the York Graduate Research School in 2018 in order to conduct my PhD research. My other passions include teaching and volunteering.

Research

Overview

My thesis looks at published queer Indian life writing (autobiographies, letters, memoirs, interviews, anthologies) written by resident as well as diasporic Indians in the last 20 years. My endeavour is to analyze how an Indian queer person choses to narrate their life vis-a-vis their political, legal, social and economic status. The Supreme Court of India decriminalized homosexuality on 6th September 2018. My research focuses on how an Indian queer person fits into this evolving modern transnational queer landscape. I am supervised by Dr. Clare Bielby from Centre for Women’s Studies (CWS) and by Dr. Claire Chambers from the Department of English and Related Literature.