Amrita Chowdhury

Credentials: PhD Student

Position title: Asian Languages and Cultures

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Previous Institution(s)

McGill University; University of Calcutta

Areas of Research Interest related to South Asia

History of religion; colonial epic culture; Ramayana; Sanskrit revivalism; regional literary canonizations; languages of Eastern India.

Areas of Research Interest beyond South Asia

Post-structuralism; Translation theory; Comparative religion and literature; Mythologies.

List of published and non-published works

Articles
Ujaan Ghosh, Amrita Chowdhury, “Refiguring Baidehīśa Bilāsa: Reading the Queer and the Erotic in Upendra Bhanja’s Rāmāyaṇa,” Journal of the American Academy of Religion, Volume 88, Issue 2, June 2020, Pages 569–593, https://doi.org/10.1093/jaarel/lfz100Amrita Chowdhury, “Ethics of Translation: (Un)Translatability, Difference, and Meaning in the Translation of Baidehīśa Bilāsa,” HARF, Volume Three, Winter 2018, Pages 163-181.Translations
Upendra Bhanja, Labanyabati: Canto One, trans., Amrita Chowdhury and Ujaan Ghosh, Muse India: The Literary Journal, Issue 92, Jul-August 2020.

Forthcoming
Krushna Chandra Panigrahi, “The commercial prospects of modern Odia literature”, trans., Amrita Chowdhury and Ujaan Ghosh, in Critical Discourse in Odia, edited by Jatin Naik and Animesh Mohapatra, New Delhi: Routledge (November 2021).

Upendra Bhanja, Baidehīśa Bilāsa, trans., Amrita Chowdhury and Ujaan Ghosh, New Delhi: Penguin.

What is your favorite part about CSA?

I love attending the South Asia Conferences and the insightful lectures organized by the CSA, as well as meeting the wonderful community that the Centre has brought together.

Hobbies

Cooking, writing fiction, trying to use popular media to make scholarship engaging to the public.

Favorite part of living in Madison

I love how calming it can be. I enjoy watching the sun set on the city in autumn and taking walks on the frozen lake in winter. And, of course, I love visiting the libraries.