Department of English
Meena Venkataramanan
A.B., English and South Asian Studies, Harvard University, 2021, M.Phil., English, University of Cambridge, 2022
Research Interests
Asian American Studies, American Literature and Culture, Black Studies, 20th Century and Contemporary, Law and Literature, Race in Early Modernity , Postcolonial Studies
Biography
My research focuses on the intersection of contemporary Asian American and Black American literature, considering Black social thought as a lens to better understand Asian American identity formation. Beyond academia, I am a freelance book critic and journalist who worked for a year at The Washington Post, covering race and identity while writing book reviews and author profiles. I have also contributed book criticism to The Los Angeles Times and The Boston Globe, among other outlets.
Publications
"‘Life Worth Living’: Afropessimism, Social Death, and Allyship in Paul Beatty’s The White Boy Shuffle and The Sellout," Oxford Research in English, May 2023.