Afroj Jahan is a Senior Research Fellow at the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee. Her doctoral thesis lies at the intersection of textual and paratextual representations of Indian English fiction published at the turn of the millennium. The thesis titled Text and Paratext: Exploring Postcolonial Print Modernity in Indian English Fiction examines the complex dissemination of discourses from the Global South through the commodification of books in the global literary marketplace. She has also earned her M.Phil in 2020 on the representations of Indian Diasporic novels and had Post-1950s Literature and South Asian Migration Studies as part of her specialised paper during one year of coursework. Moreover, she has the experience of presenting and chairing at both national and international conferences, such as the SALA (South Asian Literary Association) and the CIRCLE Graduate Conference.
Afroj has received the Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR) Travel Grant for presenting her work at Brunel University London's Conference titled InterDisciplinary Bodies (2024). She has experience in teaching soft Skills and Communication, and Canadian Literature to UG(B.Tech) students. Moreover, she is a teaching assistant in the NPTEL course on ‘Refugee, Migration, Diaspora’.
In her leisure hours, a rarity in academia, she tries to keep her love for Music, singing and gardening alive.
Research Interest: Postcolonial Visual Studies, South Asian Diaspora, Partition and Migration Studies, Indian English Literature, Book History, Media Studies, Printing and Publishing
Professional Background:
PhD (2022-pursuing), Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee, India, in Postcolonial Print Culture and Visual Studies
M. Phil (2020), The University of Burdwan; Thesis Title: Paratextual Elements in Select Fictions of Chitra Divakaruni and Jhumpa Lahiri
MA [First Class with Distinction] Gold Medalist (2017), The University of Burdwan.
BA (2015), M.U.C. Women's College, The University of Burdwan, College Topper for scoring the highest in the batch.
Languages: Bengali (Native), English, Hindi.
Courses Taught as Teaching Assistant in IIT Roorkee: Soft Skills and Communication (UG Level: 2023, 2024, 2025); Canadian Literature Course (UG Level: 2025)
NPTEL: Refugee, Migration and Diaspora Studies (2024)
Invited Talk at Milli Al-Ameen College, affiliated to Calcutta University: (The Perspectives of Partition Memories in Amitav Ghosh’s The Shadow Lines)
Grants and Awards:
ICSSR Travel Grant (International Travel Grant from the Indian Council for Social Science Research) to present a paper at a three-day conference at Brunel University, London.
Qualified NTA-NET 2019, Awarded the UGC- NET (MANF-JRF) Fellowship
Awarded the University Gold Medal for securing the First position in M.A. in English from The University of Burdwan, India
Received the Endowment Award for securing the First position in B.A. in English from M.U.C. Women’s College, The University of Burdwan.
Awarded the “Sumanta Basu Memorial Prize” by the English Language Lovers Association, West Bengal, at the “Institut de Chandernogor”.
Publications:
“New Digital Worlds: Postcolonial Digital Humanities in Theory, Praxis, and Pedagogy, by Roopika Risam, by Afroj Jahan and Sarbani Banerjee, a Book Review published by ‘English Academy Review: A Journal of English Studies,’ Publisher: Taylor and Francis. doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/10131752.2023.2235810
Contributed as an Interviewee to the ‘Interviews of Teachers, Researchers and Students’ in the book Reception of Indian Diaspora in India: An Enquiry into Literary and Socio-Cultural Research (2023) by Angshuman Kar (Worldview Publications).-2023
Conference, Seminars and Workshops:
“Paratext in Jhumpa Lahiri’s Select Fiction: Marketing Indian Exoticism” at the Three-Day International Conference on Whither Integrative Humanities? Paths and Challenges organised by the Department of English Literature, School of Literary Studies, EFL University, Hyderabad, from 28 to 30 August 2024.
“Cross-Border Identity and Belonging: Reading Cultural 'Contact Zones' in Marina Budhos’ Ask Me No Questions” : A virtual three-day International Conference, ‘Cross-Border Mobility: Early Career Research Symposium 2024’ organized jointly by DAAD India and Max Weber Forum for South Asian Studies, held from 15th to 17th July ,2024.
“The Oriental Woman’s Body as the Spectacle ‘Other’: Reading Select Book Cover Illustration of Indian Diasporic Fictions” Presented in person — 3-Day International Conference from 25th-27th June 2024 on (Inter)Disciplinary Bodies organized by Brunel University, London.2024.
“Violence in the Domestic and Public Space: A Study of Diasporic Women’s Lives in Roanna Gonsalves’ Select Short Stories” Presented in (online mode) — 2-Day International Multidisciplinary Conference on Representation of Violence in Literature and Media organized by Reva University, Bengaluru, India, in collaboration with Liverpool John Moores University. 2023.
“The Trailer is Out: A Reading of the Paratexts of Bollywood Films from Posters to Publicity” Presented in — Young Researchers’ National Conference on Checking Past the Canon: New Mandarins in English, Film and Cultural Studies in the Department of English, Bankura University, West Bengal, India. 2019.
“Transparency Within Media: Contextualizing the Presentation of Media in Bollywood Movies” Presented in — National Seminar on Media and Governance in the Department of Mass Communication, The University of Burdwan, India, 2018.
Membership and Affiliations:
SALA (South Asian Literary Association) (2025-2026)
The National Library, Kolkata
The British Library, Kolkata