Zana Mody

Thesis title: Landscapes of the Body: Women, Nation, and Imagination post-1947

Supervisor: Professor Pablo Mukherjee

My doctoral research investigates the evolving relationship between gender and nationalism in the cultural imaginaries of the postcolonial Indian nation. By revisiting how the female body becomes a metonym for the—as yet unrealised—Indian nation in the late nineteenth century (via the figure of 'Mother India') my project interrogates the persistence of this ideological figure as she multifariously resurfaces in the postcolonial Indian national imaginary. By assembling both a material (historical) and figurative (literary and visual) genealogy of the gendered imaginaries of postcolonial India, I situate the postcolonial writer, artist, and filmmaker as agents who take on the political project of decolonisation by (re)imagining the Indian female body precisely by acknowledging her complex socio-political and cultural origins. 

My research interests include, but are not limited to, postcolonial studies, gender studies, art history, aesthetics, postcolonial nationhood, visual culture, form, and the archive. My work is invested in fostering interdisciplinary dialogues between world literatures and the visual arts.

I am a contributor to the South Asian Studies strand of the New Books Network podcast, where I regularly interview academics about their recent publications. Follow the link to listen to my episodes: https://newbooksnetwork.com/hosts/profile/57ff663c-10e4-4b01-8875-41f432...

During my time at Oxford, I have taught a range of undergraduate students as well as visiting students working on Postcolonial and World Literatures, facilitating both tutorial teaching as well as supervising long-form dissertations.