Louise Harrington, PhD and MA SOAS, University of London, BA Trinity College Dublin
Pronouns: she, her, hers
Contact
Assistant Professor, Faculty of Arts - English & Film Studies Dept
- lmharrin@ualberta.ca
Overview
Area of Study / Keywords
Postcolonial War Peace Borders Partition
About
I'm an assistant professor in postcolonial studies and contemporary literatures with an emphasis on South Asia, Ireland and Northern Ireland, and Palestine and Israel. My research interests lie at the intersection of cultural & literary studies, critical border studies, and conflict & peace studies.
My current book project takes up aspects of critical border studies and geocriticism to examine how literary and cinematic mediations of 20th century partitions map spaces of conflict and their legacies. I am also leading SSHRC-funded multidisciplinary research that studies how a variety of cultural forms serve an essential function in mobilizing creative modes of peacebuilding, called 'Cultural Peace Work in "Post-Conflict" Northern Ireland'. Another project examines the intersections between critical border studies and postcolonial and decolonial literary studies. A third considers the role of humour in writing conflict and peace.
I have previously published on topics including the railway in Indian literary imagination; narratology and the Partition of Bengal; South Asian Irish cultural production; Bengali and Bangladeshi resistance writing; the militant body in Northern Ireland and Palestine; the anxiety of post-partition Irishness; and Kurdish cultural identity in literature, music and film.
Research
Supervisory and Research Interests
Postcolonial and comparative literatures; critical border studies; South Asian literatures and cultures; Irish literature and culture; the Arab-Israeli conflict; war, (post-)conflict and partition studies; literature and religion; spatial literary studies and theory.
Teaching
Recent and upcoming courses include:
- ENGL 103 Case Studies in Research: Language Politics in Irish Literature
- ENGL 150 Intro to English Studies: Narratives of Migration
- ENGL 222 Reading Race and Ethnicity
- ENGL 305 Topics in Literature and Religion
- ENGL 315 South Asian Literatures in English
- ENGL 367 Contemporary Literature and Culture
- ENGL 426 The Short Story in South Asia
- ENGL 465 Women Writing War
- ENGL 481 Borders, Lines and Walls
- ENGL 569 Borders as Methodologies
- ENGL 680 Border Aesthetics
Courses
ENGL 103 - Case Studies in Research
This variable content course introduces methods of literary research as an in-depth process through one or more case studies. Refer to the Class Schedule and the Department of English and Film Studies website for specific topics. This course cannot be repeated for credit. Note: Not to be taken by students with 6 units in approved junior English.
ENGL 223 - Reading Empire and the Postcolonial
An introduction to dynamics of colonization and its resistances in literary and other cultural texts, and to the critical concepts and methods key to their study. Prerequisite: 6 units of junior ENGL, or 3 units of junior ENGL and 3 units of junior WRS.
ENGL 315 - South Asian Writing in English
Selected works from the Indian context. Content and period focus may vary. Prerequisite: 6 units of junior ENGL, or 3 units of junior ENGL and 3 units of junior WRS.
ENGL 465 - Studies in Gender and Sexualities
Prerequisites: 12 units of senior ENGL with a minimum of 6 units at the 300 level. Note: variable content course which may be repeated.
Featured Publications
Louise Harrington
The Routledge Companion to Postcolonial and Decolonial Literature. 2024 September; 10.4324/9781003190233-18
Louise Harrington and Dana Waissi
Resisting the Dehumanization of Refugees eds. Yasmeen Abu-Laban, Michael Frishkopf, Reza Hasmath, and Anna Kirova. 2024 May; 10.15215/aupress/9781771994101.0
Louise Harrington
Journal of War & Culture Studies. 2024 March; 17 (4):450-465 10.1080/17526272.2024.2327759
Louise Harrington
Partitions and Their Afterlives: Violence, Memories, Living eds. Radhika Mohanram and Anindya Raychaudhuri. 2019 April;
Louise Harrington
TEXT special issue: 'Writing and Illustrating Interdisciplinary Research'. 2016 January; 34 10.52086/001c.27105
Louise Harrington
Postcolonial Text. 2016 January; 11 (2):1-16
Louise Harrington
South Asian Diaspora. 2014 January; 6 (1):19-32 10.1080/19438192.2013.828499
Louise Harrington
Journal of Postcolonial Cultures and Societies. 2013 January; 4 (2):47-79