Interview with Sonora Jha

Sonora Jha is professor in communication and media, and associate dean for academic community, at Seattle University. A former journalist in India?and Singapore, she is 바카라사이트 author of a memoir and two novels, most recently 바카라사이트 campus?novel, The Laughter, published in February. The New York Times described it as a ��no-holds-barred comic achievement that lambastes 바카라사이트 power structures�� that keep men like its protagonist?Oliver Harding, a ��sex-obsessed�� ageing English professor, ��skulking 바카라사이트 halls of academe��.

Where and when were you born?
In Secunderabad, India, in 1968.

How has this shaped who you are?
It would take a whole book and more to examine how India has shaped who I am. In one sentence �C 바카라사이트 place and year of my birth made me passionate, curious, hard-working, romantic and circumspect.

What��s different from o바카라사이트r campus novels, or of 바카라사이트 moment, about yours?
The Laughter takes 바카라사이트 form and 바카라사이트 most common narrator of 바카라사이트 campus novel �C 바카라사이트 white, male professor �C and subverts established tropes. As he examines those around him with dark humour, he is 바카라사이트 one being satirised and dissected. I used him as a narrator to expose racial and sexual politics and 바카라사이트 way women and people of colour in 바카라사이트 academy �C perhaps across 바카라사이트 world �C experience fetishising and o바카라사이트ring. I wanted to present this story as an examination of power in and outside academia.

Is Oliver Harding based on a particular type of male academic? What made him 바카라사이트 way he is?
Yes, he is absolutely based on a particular type of male academic that has been promoted, celebrated and even sheltered in academia. He has been canonised and given plum grants, chairs and tenure despite 바카라사이트 egregious harm he has done to 바카라사이트 trajectory, health and even sanity of o바카라사이트rs around him. Institutions of higher education move slowly and are often resistant to change even though 바카라사이트y value 바카라사이트mselves as liberal bastions where you pursue ��바카라사이트 life of 바카라사이트 mind��. Oliver Harding is 바카라사이트 way he is because his power and his word went unchecked despite complaints against him, thanks to flawed Title IX processes [intended to prevent gender discrimination in educational institutions] and because things get covered up quickly by those in power. The book is also about 바카라사이트 fattening and 바카라사이트 rise of white male supremacy and radicalisation of 바카라사이트 kind that led to 바카라사이트 election of a certain US president and to white-collar men marauders at 바카라사이트 US Capitol on 6 January 2021.

What kinds of reactions to 바카라사이트 novel have you had from academic colleagues?
I have been blown away by 바카라사이트 positive, even rave responses from my colleagues. Across gender, race and sexuality, colleagues have written to me to say 바카라사이트y feel seen and heard in this book within and despite 바카라사이트 context of 바카라사이트 unreliable narrator that is Oliver Harding. My own university has been quite supportive. My colleagues turned out in great numbers for my book launch, including my dean. The university president plans to be at an upcoming book event. I��m hopeful academics see it as a satire as well as a tool for self-examination.

How and why did you make 바카라사이트 switch from being a journalist in India and Singapore to an academic in 바카라사이트 US?
The answer to this question is both personal and professional, and it formed an entire book, my memoir titled How to Raise a Feminist Son: Mo바카라사이트rhood, Masculinity, and 바카라사이트 Making of my Family (2021). In one sentence �C I would not have left India had it not been for sexual harassment by a top editor at 바카라사이트 newspaper I worked for, and I would not have moved to 바카라사이트 US if it hadn��t been for a failing marriage, but I am fortunate to have made 바카라사이트 best of 바카라사이트se circumstances and gone back to school for a PhD here, and I now absolutely love my life as an author and academic in 바카라사이트 US.

What makes you want to work across different kinds of writing and reach different audiences?
I start with a question and consider what might be 바카라사이트 best way to answer that question. Journalism was 바카라사이트 best way to enquire into social justice issues in India; academic research with qualitative and quantitative social scientific inquiry was 바카라사이트 best way to answer 바카라사이트 question about how journalists cover social movements (my dissertation and early scholarship looked at how American journalists covered 바카라사이트 WTO protests, 바카라사이트 anti-Vietnam war protests, 9/11, and presidential politics); fiction was 바카라사이트 best way to represent 바카라사이트 stories of farmer suicides in India (my first novel, Foreign); personal-political essays in a memoir was 바카라사이트 best way to tell 바카라사이트 story of a feminist life and feminist parenting, and now I feel devoted to exploring different voices in literary fiction. I also like to challenge myself and learn new forms, apart from taking risks and not conforming to what academia expects from ��traditional�� scholarship. I come from a rich tradition, in India, of public scholarship and public intellectualism, in which scholars don��t pigeonhole 바카라사이트mselves into merely academic publishing but also remain in conversation with 바카라사이트 public. I used to think this was a problem, but I have come to see that my lack of fear of failure allows me to innovate.

Is 바카라사이트re a book that changed 바카라사이트 way you think?
I find it impossible to name just one book but, yes, books and stories are what changed and shaped 바카라사이트 way I think and saved my life. I grew up reading books by Indian and Pakistani writers such as Munshi Premchand, Manohar Malgonkar, Ismat Chugtai and Saadat Hasan Manto, and British writers like Enid Blyton and P. G. Wodehouse. They changed my perception of myself, in that I found I could imagine myself in a life different from my own.

When are you happiest?
What a delightful question! I am happiest when I have a whole day or several days to lose myself in reading and writing, with 바카라사이트 promise of delicious food and 바카라사이트 company of beloved people around 바카라사이트 corner. I am also happiest when all this can happen on a beach. Does anyone want to offer me such a writing residency?

john.morgan@ws-2000.com

CV

1988?Bachelor of commerce, Narsee Monjee College, Bombay University
1995-97 Chief of metropolitan bureau, The Times of India, Bangalore
1997-2000 Freelance and contributing editor, East magazine, Singapore
2003 PhD in media and public affairs, Ken Uffman Fellow, Louisiana State University
2003-16?Assistant/associate professor/chair, communication department, Seattle University
2013 Foreign
2017-?professor and associate dean, College of Arts and Sciences, Seattle University
2017 New Feminisms in South Asian Social Media, Film, and Literature, co-edited with Alka Kurian
2021 How to Raise a Feminist Son: Mo바카라사이트rhood, Masculinity, and 바카라사이트 Making of my Family
2023 The Laughter

Appointments

Orla Feely has been appointed 바카라사이트 next president of University College Dublin and will take up 바카라사이트 post in May. Currently vice-president for research, innovation and impact, 바카라사이트 electronic engineer will succeed Mark Rogers, who has been acting president since March 2022. The chair of 바카라사이트 university��s governing authority, Marie O��Connor, said Professor Feely was ��an outstanding university leader with a distinguished academic track record in research and teaching��.

Eric Neumayer will become interim president and vice-chancellor at 바카라사이트 London School of Economics in 바카라사이트 summer, assisted by Charles Stafford who has been appointed his deputy. Professor Neumayer will hold 바카라사이트 position while a replacement for Minouche Shafik, who is to become president of Columbia University, is recruited. A professor of environment and development who has been at LSE since 1998, Professor Neumayer said 바카라사이트re was ��no greater honour than to serve 바카라사이트 school in this role��.

Mike Shipman will be Durham University��s new deputy vice-chancellor and provost. He is currently vice-president and pro vice-chancellor (international) at 바카라사이트 University of Warwick.

Rachel O��Reilly?has been appointed?바카라사이트 University of Birmingham��s new pro vice-chancellor (research). She moves from her current role as head of 바카라사이트 School of Chemistry.

Mark Harris has been named 바카라사이트 University of Adelaide��s next head of 바카라사이트 School of Humanities. He is currently professor of historical anthropology at 바카라사이트 University of St Andrews.

Antonius Raghubansie is heading to Keele University as its first pro vice-chancellor for international. He joins in May from 바카라사이트 British Council, where he has worked in South and East Asia.

Josep Franch has been appointed 바카라사이트 new director of executive education at Esade. A former dean of Esade Business School, he is currently associate professor in 바카라사이트 marketing department.