Race and Empire | Comparative Literature & Literary Theory

University of Pennsylvania School of Arts & Sciences

Vance Byrd

Presidential Associate Professor of German vbyrd@sas.upenn.eduWebsite

Fields of Study: Art/ Media, Western Europe, C19, Long Eighteenth Century, Ecocriticism/ Ecology, Material Texts, Manuscript Studies and Archival Studies, Media Studies, Race and Empire, Sociology of Literature

David Eng

Richard L. Fisher Professor of English Faculty Director of the Program in Asian American Studiesdeng@english.upenn.eduWebsite

Fields of Study: Film, Novel, Diaspora, East Asia, US, C20, including Modernism, C21/ Contemporary, Deconstruction, Film theory, Gender Studies, Women’s Studies, Queer Theory, Trans Theory, Post-colonial, Psychoanalysis, Race and Empire, Trauma

Ayako Kano

Professor of Japanese Literature, Performance, and Gender Studies akano@sas.upenn.eduWebsite

Fields of Study: Art/ Media, Drama, Film, Novel, Philosophical Texts & Intellectual History, Short Story, East Asia, Western Europe, World Literature, C19, C20, including Modernism, C21/ Contemporary, Film theory, Gender Studies, Women’s Studies, Queer Theory, Trans Theory, Post-colonial, Race and Empire, Translation

Suvir Kaul

A. M. Rosenthal Professor of English kaul@english.upenn.eduWebsite

Fields of Study: Poetry/ Poetics, South Asia, Long Eighteenth Century, Post-colonial, Race and Empire

David Kazanjian

Professor of English and Comparative Literature (On Leave, 2025-2026) Graduate Chair, Program in Comparative Literature and Literary Theory; Research Resident, Vartan Gregorian Center for Research in the Humanities, New York Public Library, 2025; Visiting Scholar, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, 2026 kazanjia@english.upenn.eduWebsite

Fields of Study: Historiography and Historical Writing, Philosophical Texts & Intellectual History, Africa & the Caribbean, Diaspora, Latin America, Middle East/North Africa, US, C19, Long Eighteenth Century, Deconstruction, Formalism/ Structuralism, Gender Studies, Women’s Studies, Queer Theory, Trans Theory, Marxism, Post-colonial, Psychoanalysis, Race and Empire, Rhetoric, Hermeneutics, Trauma

Sara Kazmi

Assistant Professor of English kazmi@sas.upenn.eduWebsite

Fields of Study: Folk Tale & Oral Literature, Historiography and Historical Writing, Philosophical Texts & Intellectual History, Poetry/ Poetics, Pre-Modern Genres and Literary Forms, Diaspora, Global Anglophone, South Asia, World Literature, Gender Studies, Women’s Studies, Queer Theory, Trans Theory, Linguistic Theories and Culture, Material Texts, Manuscript Studies and Archival Studies, Post-colonial, Race and Empire

Sonal Khullar

W. Norman Brown Associate Professor of South Asian Studies in History of Art skhullar@sas.upenn.eduWebsite

Fields of Study: Art/ Media, Historiography and Historical Writing, Life Writing, Auto/biography, South Asia, C19, C20, including Modernism, C21/ Contemporary, Gender Studies, Women’s Studies, Queer Theory, Trans Theory, Museum/Object Studies, Post-colonial, Race and Empire, Spatial Theory

Loomba Loomba

Catherine Bryson Professor of English loomba@english.upenn.eduWebsite

Fields of Study: Drama, Life Writing, Auto/biography, Novel, Pre-Modern Genres and Literary Forms, Britain, Global Anglophone, South Asia, C20, including Modernism, C21/ Contemporary, Gender Studies, Women’s Studies, Queer Theory, Trans Theory, Post-colonial, Race and Empire

Rahul Mukherjee

Dick Wolf Professor of Television and New Media Studies Associate Professor of Englishmrahul@sas.upenn.eduWebsite

Fields of Study: Art/ Media, Film, East Asia, South Asia, US, C20, including Modernism, C21/ Contemporary, Ecocriticism/ Ecology, Media Studies, Post-colonial, Race and Empire, Spatial Theory

Zita Nunes

Associate Professor of English znunes@upenn.eduWebsite

Fields of Study: Global Anglophone, Digital Humanities, Gender Studies, Women’s Studies, Queer Theory, Trans Theory, Post-colonial, Psychoanalysis, Race and Empire

Rose Poku

Ph.D. Candidate rosepoku@sas.upenn.edu

Fields of Study: Novel, Poetry/ Poetics, Africa & the Caribbean, Diaspora, Latin America, US, Deconstruction, Gender Studies, Women’s Studies, Queer Theory, Trans Theory, Linguistic Theories and Culture, Post-colonial, Race and Empire, Translation

Jennifer Ponce de León

Associate Professor of English poncej@english.upenn.eduWebsite

Fields of Study: Art/ Media, Drama, Film, Novel, Poetry/ Poetics, Short Story, Latin America, US, C20, including Modernism, C21/ Contemporary, Marxism, Post-colonial, Race and Empire, Spatial Theory

Liz Rose

Ph.D. Candidate lizrose@sas.upenn.edu

Fields of Study: Africa & the Caribbean, Diaspora, Latin America, US, C21/ Contemporary, Digital Humanities, Gender Studies, Women’s Studies, Queer Theory, Trans Theory, Race and Empire, Translation

Donovan Schaefer

Assistant Professor of Religious Studies doschaef@upenn.eduWebsite

Fields of Study: Film, Historiography and Historical Writing, Philosophical Texts & Intellectual History, Religious Texts & Hagiography, Scientific Texts and Ideas, Britain, US, Western Europe, C19, C20, including Modernism, C21/ Contemporary, Deconstruction, Film theory, Gender Studies, Women’s Studies, Queer Theory, Trans Theory, Media Studies, Race and Empire

Javier Vendrell

Assistant Professor German Affiliated Faculty in Gender, Sexuality and Women's Studiessamperja@sas.upenn.eduWebsite

Fields of Study: Film, Historiography and Historical Writing, Novel, Western Europe, C20, including Modernism, C21/ Contemporary, Gender Studies, Women’s Studies, Queer Theory, Trans Theory, Race and Empire

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