Nudrat Kamal is a PhD student of Comparative Literature at the University of Pennsylvania. Previously, she taught comparative literature and writing in Karachi, Pakistan. Her research and teaching focuses on South Asian literatures in Urdu and English, particularly in the intersections of environmental humanities, postcolonial theory, gender and sexuality studies, and science fiction and fantasy. Her current project looks at science fiction and fantasy in Urdu and Hindi from the 20th century and bringing it into conversation with debates on global science fiction and world literature.
Research Interests
19th and 20th C. South Asian literature (especially in Urdu, Hindi and English), literary historiography, global science fiction, history of science, gender and sexuality studies, world literature, ecocriticism
Selected Publications
2022 “Dreaming Futures: The Risks and Rewards of South Asian Futurisms.” In Hybrid: Interdisciplinary Journal of Art, Design and Architecture. Karachi: Indus Valley School of Art and Architecture.
2022 “Borders, Diaspora and Belonging: Tracing the Conceptualization of Home in Urdu and Anglophone South Asian Partition Fiction." In Transcultural Humanities in South Asia: Critical Essays on Literature and Culture. Eds. Waseem Anwar and Nosheen Yosuf. London: Taylor & Francis.
2020 “The Postcolonial Cyborg in Amitav Ghosh’s The Calcutta Chromosome.” Ethical Futures and Global Science Fiction. Eds. Andrew Milner, Zachary Kendal, Aisling Smith and Guilia Champion. London: Palgrave Macmillan Publications. 187-209. Peer Reviewed.
Courses Taught
At Penn
COML 2225/SAST 2225 Imagining New Futures: Science Fiction and the Fantastic in South Asian Literature (Spring 2025)
COML 1027 Sex and Representation (Fall 2024)