Document
Debakanya Haldar
Election
Position
Name
Debakanya Haldar
Candidate statement
PhD Candidate, University of Florida
I am a PhD Candidate (English) at the University of Florida. My research is in post-1900 American and South Asian comparative literature and culture, with a focus on gender studies, urban studies, critical theory, and digital humanities. I received the MLA Public Humanities Incubator Award in 2023 for the digital component of my interdisciplinary dissertation. My recent publication includes an essay on hauntology and music in My Impossible Soul: The Metamodern Music of Sufjan Stevens, the first academic collection on the musician. My pedagogy has also focused on twentieth-century and contemporary global literature and culture. I received the Graduate Student Teaching Excellence Award (English Dept.) for the special-topic course I designed and taught on American Modernism.
I have benefited from the global professional networks that I have built as a member of the Modernist Studies Association since 2023. Contributing to the 2023 roundtable discussion, “Electrifying the Streets,” was instrumental for my current research. I expanded my roundtable paper for my dissertation’s first chapter. I had the privilege of organizing and chairing the 2024 panel on “Gendered Migration in Transnational Modernism.” I continue to collaborate with several MSA scholars at conferences and virtual team-teaching opportunities.
I am running for the position of the Graduate Student Representative at MSA. I participated in the inaugural cycle of the MSA Graduate Mentorship Program and benefited immensely from it. As the MSA Graduate Student Representative, I will continue to endorse this Program. One of my main goals will be to consolidate support for early-career scholars. I will facilitate professional development workshops on publishing, grant writing, pedagogy training, and academic and alt-ac job markets.
I served as the 2022-2023 President of the English Graduate Organization. The experience has equipped me with the skills I believe will be invaluable in my work with the MSA Board and members.
Website: https://www.debakanyahaldar.com/
I am a PhD Candidate (English) at the University of Florida. My research is in post-1900 American and South Asian comparative literature and culture, with a focus on gender studies, urban studies, critical theory, and digital humanities. I received the MLA Public Humanities Incubator Award in 2023 for the digital component of my interdisciplinary dissertation. My recent publication includes an essay on hauntology and music in My Impossible Soul: The Metamodern Music of Sufjan Stevens, the first academic collection on the musician. My pedagogy has also focused on twentieth-century and contemporary global literature and culture. I received the Graduate Student Teaching Excellence Award (English Dept.) for the special-topic course I designed and taught on American Modernism.
I have benefited from the global professional networks that I have built as a member of the Modernist Studies Association since 2023. Contributing to the 2023 roundtable discussion, “Electrifying the Streets,” was instrumental for my current research. I expanded my roundtable paper for my dissertation’s first chapter. I had the privilege of organizing and chairing the 2024 panel on “Gendered Migration in Transnational Modernism.” I continue to collaborate with several MSA scholars at conferences and virtual team-teaching opportunities.
I am running for the position of the Graduate Student Representative at MSA. I participated in the inaugural cycle of the MSA Graduate Mentorship Program and benefited immensely from it. As the MSA Graduate Student Representative, I will continue to endorse this Program. One of my main goals will be to consolidate support for early-career scholars. I will facilitate professional development workshops on publishing, grant writing, pedagogy training, and academic and alt-ac job markets.
I served as the 2022-2023 President of the English Graduate Organization. The experience has equipped me with the skills I believe will be invaluable in my work with the MSA Board and members.
Website: https://www.debakanyahaldar.com/
Candidate CV