Pinned
6 March – 18 March ’26 | 5:00-8:00 PM
Literary – Cultural Theory and Vulnerability Studies
A 10 day online Faculty Development Programme
12 February 2026 – 14 February 2026
Climate Vulnerability in Literature: Workshop
This Workshop examines three genres and media forms, fiction, graphic novels and poetry, for the theme of climate vulnerability.
Activities Archive
28 Nov ’25 | 6:00-7:00 PM
The Literature of Sustainability: SDG 17
26 Sept ’25 | 6:00-7:00 PM
The Literature of Sustainability: SDG 16
Cardinal Points and the Global South; or, The Justice of Linguistic Access
Speaker: Alfred J. López
Purdue University
19 Sep ’25 | 6:00-7:00 PM
The Literature of Sustainability: SDG 15
Reading Rekindling Fictions: SDG 15 and the Making of Speculative Future Natures
Speaker: Sarah Bezan, University College Cork
28 Aug ’25 | 6:00-7:00 PM
The Literature of Sustainability: SDG 14
Eating at the Sea: Blue Humanities and Ocean Science Literacy
Speaker: Cecilia Åsberg Linköping University, Sweden
26 Sept ’25 | 6:00-7:00 PM
The Literature of Sustainability: SDG 13
Climate Fictions and Narrative Fundamentals
Speaker: Jennifer Wenzel Columbia University
Recorded
The Literature of Sustainability: SDG 12
Of Gossamer and Granite:
SDG 12, Utopian Literature, and the Education of Desire
Speaker: Elizabeth Carolyn Miller, University of California
7 Nov ’25 | 6:00-7:00 PM
The Literature of Sustainability: SDG 11
Sharing Spaces and Thriving Together: A Posthumanist Material Feminist Perspective
Speaker: Christine Daigle,
Brock University
10 Oct ’25 | 6:00-7:00 PM
The Literature of Sustainability: SDG 10
Chain of Oppression: An Aquapelagic Reading of Industrial Fishing in Port of Lies
Speaker: Nick Tsung-Che Lu,
Marist College
24 Oct ’25 | 6:00-7:00 PM
The Literature of Sustainability: SDG 9
Groundless Empire and Grounded Resistance
Speaker: Clare Pettitt, University of Cambridge
12 Sept ’25 | 6:00-7:00 PM
The Literature of Sustainability: SDG 8
‘They talk of the
dignity of work. Bosh!’
:Melville, Moby-Dick,
and the value of writing.
Speaker: Cindy Weinstein
California Institute of Technology
8 Aug ’25 | 6:00-7:00 PM
The Literature of Sustainability: SDG 7
Bicycling in Paradise:
On Radical Cadence and Just Futures in the End Times
Speaker: Stacey Balkan, Florida Atlantic University
11 Jul ’25 | 6:00-7:00 PM
The Literature of Sustainability: SDG 6
Achieving SDG 6 –
Opportunities and Challenges
Speaker: Dr. Balakrishna Pisupati, Country Head, UN Environment Programme, India
4 Jul ’25 | 6:00-7:00 PM
The Literature of Sustainability: SDG 6
Reading for Water
SDG 6
Speakers:
Isabel Hofmeyr
Sarah Nuttal
Charne Lavery
20 Jun ’25 | 6:00-7:00 PM
The Literature of Sustainability: SDG 5
Gendered Timeline
Speaker: Bonnie Zare, Virginia Tech
25 Jul ’25 | 6:00-7:00 PM
The Literature of Sustainability: SDG 4
How Do Novels Educate?
Speaker: Jesse Cordes Selbin
Gettysburg College
25 Apr ’25 | 6:00-7:00 PM
The Literature of Sustainability: SDG 3
21 Mar ’25 | 6:00-7:00 PM
The Literature of Sustainability: SDG 2
Food Sovereignty in Irish Farming Narratives
Speaker: Miriam Mara,
Arizona State University
28 Feb ’25 | 6:00-7:00 PM
The Literature of Sustainability: SDG 1
Poverty and the Ends of American Literature
Speaker: Joseph Entin, Brooklyn College
25 Jul ’25 | 6:00-7:00 PM
Visiting Scholar Program
14 Feb ’25 | 6:00-7:00 PM
Siting Vulnerability IV
Climate Change’s Forensic Imaginary: Fossil Capitalism and the Pursuit of Justice
Speaker: Casey Williams,
Rice University
26 Mar ’25 | 6:00-7:00 PM
Siting Vulnerability IV
Attacks on Knowledge, Then and Now
Speaker: Richard Ovenden, University of Oxford
15 Nov ’24 | 5:00-6:00 PM
Siting Vulnerability III
Cryospheric Changes and Impacts in Headwater Hydrology in the Himalayas
Dhiraj Pradhanaganga
8 Nov ’24 | 5:00-6:00 PM
Siting Vulnerability III
Significance of SDG 4 for Vulnerable Lives and the Planet in Anthropocene Epoch
M. N. V. Prasad
27 Sep ’24 | 5:00-6:00 PM
Siting Vulnerability III
Thinking Vulner-ability with René Thom’s Catastrophe Theory
Ignasi Ribó
9 Sep ’24 | 5:00-6:00 PM
Siting Vulnerability III
Climate Change Vulnerability in Africa: The Lens of Literature Deirdre C Byrne
3 Apr ’25 | 6:00-7:00 PM4
Siting Vulnerability II
Natural Science at UNESCO New Delhi
Benno Boer
20 Mar ’24 | 6:00-7:00 PM
Siting Vulnerability II
Vulnerability to Extinction and Genocide
Susan McHugh
4 Mar ’24 | 6:00-7:00 PM
Siting Vulnerability II
Imagining Mycorrhizal Aging and Care
Amelia DeFalco
19 Feb ’24 | 6:00-7:00 PM
Siting Vulnerability II
Vulnerability, in extremis: Reflections on Jean-Baptiste Francois-Xavier Cousin de Grainville’s The Last Man
10 Oct ’23 | 6:00-7:00 PM
Siting Vulnerability I
Measuring Vulnerability: An Ethnographic Insight into India’s Unsecured Workforce
Deepanshu Mohan
19 Sep ’23 | 6:00-7:00 PM
Siting Vulnerability I
Vulnerability beyond Victimhood: The Ethics and Aesthetics of Global Migration
Pavan Malreddy
10 Oct ’23 | 6:00-7:00 PM
Siting Vulnerability I
28 Aug ’23 | 6:00-7:00 PM
Siting Vulnerability I
Gothic Vulnerability: Mapping the Colonial Boomerang from Atlantique to His House
Rebecca Duncan
26 Sept ’23 | 6:00-7:00 PM
Siting Vulnerability I
Vulnerable Languages, Forgotten Texts
Charles Hallisey
19 Sep ’23 | 6:00-7:00 PM
Siting Vulnerability I
Declaring Climate Emergencies
Johan Höglund
8 Jan ’25 | 4:00-6:00 PM
Art, Representation & the Microbial World: A Roundtable in the Medical/Health Humanities
27 Jan ’25 – 1 Feb ’25
Researching Cultural Vulnerability: Concepts, Contexts, and Challenges
in collaboration with the Department of Humanities and Social studies, NIT Tiruchirappalli.
9 Sep ’24 | 5:00-6:00 PM
SUCN: Greening with STI
South-South University Cooperation Network (SUCN) Pilot Project, Greening with Science, Technology and Innovation
4 Sept ’24 | 6:00-7:00 PM
Online Lecture
in collaboration with Centre for Publication Ethics, Savitribai Phule Pune University
2 Sep – 16 Oct ’24
1- Credit Online Course
in collaboration with the PG Department of English, Wilson College, Mumbai
8 Jan ’25 | 4:00-6:00 PM
Short-term Online Program
in collaboration with the Malaviya Mission Teacher Training Centre (formerly HRDC) of the UoH
8 Jan ’25 | 4:00-6:00 PM
Faculty Development Program
in collaboration with NIT Trichy, co-convenor VK Karthika, Department of Humanities and Social Sciences.
21 – 22 May ’24
Online Conference
Sustaining Cultural Diversity in the Context of Emerging Technologies in India
23 – 24 August ’23
National Seminar
at the Department of Urdu, University of Hyderabad, coordinated by Zahidul Haque, Faculty Fellow, UNESCO Chair in Vulnerability Studies.
21 July ’23
Workshop
in collaboration with the School of Humanities and Social Sciences, GITAM University, Hyderabad.
17 March ’23 | 8:00 PM
Conceptualizing Vulnerability:
A Roundtable (II)
Lisa Diedrich,
Stony Brook University
10 March ’23 | 9:00 PM
Conceptualizing Vulnerability:
A Roundtable (I)
4
Sep
Information Precarity: Online Lecture, in collaboration with Centre for Publication Ethics, Savitribai Phule Pune University
Online
Resource Persons:
Dr Rebekah Willson, McGill University
Owen Stewart-Robertson, McGill University
2
Sep
1- Credit Online Course, 'Vulnerability Studies', in collaboration with the PG Department of English, Wilson College, Mumbai
Online
1- Credit Online Course, 'Vulnerability Studies', in collaboration with the PG Department of English, Wilson College, Mumbai
1
Jul
"SDGs, Precarity and Literary Studies": A Short-term Online Program (Jul 1st - Jul 6th 2024)
Online
Short-term Online Program in SDGs, Precarity and Literary Studies, in collaboration with the Malaviya Mission Teacher Training Centre (formerly HRDC) of the University of Hyderabad, 1st to 6th July 2024.
21
May
Sustaining Cultural Diversity in the Context of Emerging Technologies in India
Online
Two-day Online Conference on 'Sustaining Cultural Diversity in the Context of Emerging Technologies in India', jointly organised with the School of Humanities, University of Hyderabad and the Chair Partner - UNESCO Chair on Language Policies for Multilingualism, Centre for the Study of Foreign Languages, School of Humanities, 21-22 May 2024.
4
Feb
"Siting Vulnerability - II" Lecture series (Feb 2024)
Online
Talks on vulnerability and/in
- Biodiversity
- Waste cultures
- Posthumanism
- Posthuman care
- Animals
22
Jan
Faculty Development Program (in collaboration with NIT Trichy, co-convenor VK Karthika, Department of Humanities and Social Sciences) on 'Reading and Researching the Literature of Crisis'
Online
Speakers:
Pramod K Nayar, University of Hyderabad
Anna Kurian, University of Hyderabad
Maria Porras Sanchez, Complutense University of Madrid
Swarnalatha Rangarajan, IIT Madras
Sarah Falcus, University of Huddersfield
Saradindu Bhattacharya, University of Hyderabad Meenakshi Srihari, Sai University
13
Oct
"Siting Vulnerability - I" Lecture series (Oct-Nov 2023)
Online
Speakers: Deepanshu Mohan, OP Jindal Global University
Ira Raja, University of Delhi
Pavan Malreddy, Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main, Germany
Johan Höglund, Linnaeus University, Sweden
Rebecca Duncan, Linnaeus University, Sweden
Charles Hallisey, Harvard (in collaboration with the Murty Classical Library of India, Harvard UP)
23
Aug
National Seminar on "Vulnerability and Urdu Literature – Social, Historical & Cultural perspectives"
The University of Hyderabad
National Seminar on "Vulnerability and Urdu Literature – Social, Historical & Cultural perspectives" on 23rd & 24th August 2023
at the Department of Urdu, University of Hyderabad, coordinated by Zahidul Haque, Faculty Fellow, UNESCO Chair in Vulnerability Studies.
21
Jul
Workshop: "Doing Vulnerability Studies"
The University of Hyderabad
Workshop: “Doing Vulnerability Studies” with the School of Humanities and Social Sciences at GITAM University.
Workshop Facilitators: Pramod K Nayar & Anna Kurian
3
Apr
Drawing Vulnerability
Speakers:
April 3, 2023: Orijit Sen, Graphic Novelist
April 5, 2023: Kate Evans, Cartoonist and Graphic Novelist
April 10, 2023: Arghya Manna, Comics Artist and Artist-in-Residence, IIT Gandhinagar
April 17, 2023: Susan Squier, Brill Professor Emerita of Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies and English, The Pennsylvania State University
April 28, 2023: María Porras Sánchez, Department of English Studies, Universidad Complutense de Madrid
28
Mar
Screening Vulnerability
Movies:
Genocide: The Killing Fields (1984) (dir. Roland Joffe) (English/Khmer)
Immigration: Dheepan (2015) (dir. Jacques Audiard) (Tamil/French)
Old Age: The Father (2020) (dir. Florian Zeller) (English)
Human Rights:
State of Siege (1972) (dir. Costa-Gavras)
(French)
State of Siege (1972) (dir. Costa-Gavras)
(French)
Environment:
The Host (2006) (dir. Bong Joon-Ho) (Korean)
The Host (2006) (dir. Bong Joon-Ho) (Korean)
17
Mar
Conceptualizing Vulnerability: A Roundtable (II)
Speaker:
Lisa Diedrich, Stony Brook University
10
Mar
Conceptualizing Vulnerability: A Roundtable (I)
Speakers:
Melissa Wall, California State University - Northridge
Scott Slovic, University of Idaho
Winifred Poster, Washington University
24
Jan
Environmental Vulnerability and the Literary Imagination
By Scott Slovic, University Distinguished Professor of Environmental Humanities, The University of Idaho, USA
7
Nov
Community Media and Building Resilient Communities: Addressing Multiple Vulnerabilities
7
Nov
Inaugural of the Chair
18
Oct
Vulnerability and Surrogacy: Biomarkets in India
By Sheela Suryanarayanan, in the course 'Vulnerable Lives'. Department of English
17
Oct
Vulnerable Afterlives: The Uses of Death in Shakespeare
By Anna Kurian. Open Lecture in the series 'Mortal Lives/Immortal Characters'. Department of English.
List of Talks on Vulnerability by Pramod K Nayar (2021-2024)
- ‘Bogs, Swamps and Much Verse: Poetry and/from Wetlands’. Keynote. International Conference. ‘Precarious Wetlands in the Anthropocene’. Woxsen University, Hyderabad. 12 Dec 2024.
- Environmental and Social Injustice, Vulnerability and Rights: Reading Bhimayana. Department of English, George Washington University, USA. 24 Oct. 2024
- Astray in a New World: Representations of Madness in Indian and Irish Literature. Panel. Bounce Arts Festival, University of Atypical for Arts and Disability, Belfast, Ireland. 4 Oct. 2024.
- Ex/Evo: The Literature of Deep Time. FDP. Kristu Jayanti College. 28 Sept. 2024.
- Posthumanism and Precarity. VIT, 21 September 2024
- Ichnopoiesis and Planetary Memory: Geotrauma and Postcolonial Ecopoetics. Plenary Lecture. International Conference on ‘Memory, Security and Sustainability’. Indian Network for Memory Studies and Centre for Memory Studies, IIT Madras, 16-18 September 2024
- Evolutionary Nostalgia and the Fiction of Extinction. ‘Extinction’. International Online Symposium. SRM University 30 Aug 2024.
- Researching Vulnerability Studies: Methodologies. Avinashilingam University, Coimbatore. 21 Aug 2024.
- ‘Postcolonial Ecopoetics and Reading for the Planet’. PSG College of Arts & Science, Coimbatore, 20 Aug. 2024.
- ‘Anthropocene Reading: The poetry of planetary precarity’. Special Bicentennial Lecture. Sanskrit College and University. 9 Aug 2024.
- Humanities as a Public Good: Pedagogy, the ‘Doomed’ University and Planetary Precarity. FDP, Implementation of NEP 2020 in Humanities: Pedagogical Approaches, ICFAI Tripura, 12 July 2024
- Reading Environmental Vulnerability in Literature: Methodologies. FDP. GITAM, VSP, 10 July 2024.
- Remembering Waste/Wasting: The Poetry of the Global South. St. Teresa’s College. International Online Conference, Scavenging the ‘Material’ and the ‘Metaphoric’: The Poetics of Discard Studies, 19 June 2024.
- New (Bio)Art for the Anthropocene: The Aesthetics of Biotech Pan-NIT Humanities and Social Sciences Conclave, Department of HSS, NIT Warangal. 29 May 2024.
- Biopower, Biocapitalism and Precarity: Contemporary Literature in the Era of Neocolonialism. Central University of Punjab, 27th May 2024
- Vulnerability Studies: The Key Concepts. Invited Lecture. Department of Humanities and Social Sciences. LNMIIT, Jaipur, 28 Feb 2024.
- ‘Reproductive Futurism’: The Earth’s Future(S) in Dystopian Literature. Keynote. International Conference, “Environmental Hazards and Gender Issues: (Re)imagining Literature, Language, and Culture of the Global South”, Shahjalal University of Science and Technology, Sylhet, Bangladesh, 16 Feb 2024.
- Human Rights and Literature. Invited Lecture. Department of English, PSGR Krishnammal College for Women, Coimbatore. 7 Feb 2024.
- Drawing Water: Indian Graphic Novels and Hydrocrisis. Keynote. Climate Change and Cultural Representations: Australian and Indian Perspectives. International conference, University of Burdwan, 10 Jan 2024.
- Postcolonialism: Contexts, Concerns, Conspectus. National Seminar, ‘Reimagining Postmodern Theories’, Tirur Center, Sree Sankaracharya University of Sanskrit. Calicut 6 Jan. 2024.
- ‘Toxified Bodies: Reading Waste Memoirs’. Symposium. ‘Un–bordered Futures: Deconstructing and Reimagining Borders’, Centre for Studies on Borders & Movements, Kolkata, and Department of Comparative Literature, Jadavpur University. 14-15 Dec. 2023.
- Biopolitics and Precarious Lives in Contemporary Literature. Refresher Course. Allahabad University, 29 Nov. 2023.
- Creaturely Texts: Multispecies Encounters in the Posthuman Era. Keynote. 5th ASLE-ASEAN Ecocritical Conference: Posthuman Southeast Asia, Mae Fah Luang University, Chiang Rai, Thailand, 23 Nov 2023.
Eco/social Justice and the Contemporary Novel. FDP, National PG College, Lucknow. 8 Nov. 2023.
The Literature of Climate Crisis. Special Talk. Humanities and Social Sciences, IIT Tirupati, 27 Oct. 2023.
Caring Posthumanism. Distinguished Lecture. Department of English, Jamia Milia Islamia, 25 Oct. 2023.
Introducing Vulnerability Studies. Keynote. National Conference on Vulnerability Studies, NIT – AP, 6 Oct. 2023.
Reading Environment, Writing Disaster. Plenary Lecture, International Seminar, ‘Earthy Echoes in English Literature’, Department of Languages and Literature – English, Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning, 30thSept 2023
Extinction Memories. ‘Memory, Ecology, Sustainability’, International Conference of the Indian Network of Memory Studies, IIT Madras. 21-23 Sept 2023.
- Environmental Justice Literature: From Toxic Dumping Memoirs to Neo-slavery Fiction. First Annual Alexander D’Souza Memorial Endowment Lecture, Department of English, St Aloysius College, Mangalore. 9 Sept 2023.
- Literary Research Trends: Doing Environmental Humanities. Avinashilingam Institute for Home Science and Higher Education for Women. 30 Aug. 2023.
- Planetary Ecoprecarity: Texts and Themes in the End-times. Keynote. ‘Revamping Indian Tradition and Culture through NEP 2020: Multilingual, Multicultural and Multidisciplinary Modes of Education’, IIT Roorkee, 18-19 Aug 2023
- Retrieving Planetary Memory: De-extinction and the Afterlives of (Some) Animals’, Keynote. International Conference on ‘Mediations on Memory: Aesthetics and Poetics of Forgetting’, the Mohanlal Sukhadia University, Udaipur, 26-27thJuly 2023.
- The Vulnerable Indian Body: Biopolitics, Famines and Colonial Discourse, 1770-1900. Keynote. ‘Embodied Identities: The Body in Cultural Spaces’. Farook College, Calicut 21 Feb 2023
- Disaster Flows: Historical Legacies and Continuing Vulnerability in the Contemporary Hydronovel. ‘Revisiting History through Literature: Religion, Politics, and Propaganda’, Department of English, University ofAllahabad, 24-25 March 2023.
- Literature and the Planet in Peril: Reading the End-ing Times. Keynote. National Seminar. ‘Comparing Indian Classics with Classics in World Literature’, SRNM College, Sattur, Virudhunagar, TN. 30 March 2023
- Introducing Vulnerability Studies. GITAM University, Hyderabad, 24 April 2023.
- Posthumanism: From Origins to the Anthropocene Theme. Dept of Cultural Studies, Tezpur University. 10 May 2023.
- Fluid Precarity and the Planet: The Global Hydronovel. FDP. Kerala University, 14 May 2023
- “Precarious Animal Life: ‘The Dog of Tithwal’ and its Graphic Adaptation”. Keynote. National Conference on ‘Indian Freedom Struggle and Partition of India: A Revisit Through the Lenses of Literature’, Harsh Vidya Mandir PG College, Raisi, Haridwar, 23 December 2022
- “Posthuman Precarity: Artificial Beings, Servitude and Rights in Contemporary Literature”. Faculty Development Program, HSS, SRM Institute of Science and Technology. 17 Dec 2022
- “The Making of Vulnerable Subjects: Bhopal and Environmental Ethics”. NIT Trichy. Extension Lecture. 24 Nov. 2022.
- “Persona, Personification and Precarious Lives: Orijit Sen’s ‘Making Faces’ ”. Plenary Talk. “Tryst With Destiny”: Literary Portrayal of the Partition of India School of Social Sciences And Languages, Vellore Institute of Technology, Chennai, 10-11 November 2022.
- Ecoprecarity: Vulnerable Lives in Literature and Culture. Indian Animal Studies Collective Roundtable. IIT Delhi 21 Oct. 2022.
- “Photography and the Pandemic: Covid-19, V.2”, International Conference on “Reconnaissance of Pandemic Societies” The Department of English Language and Literature, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, 5 May 2022.
- “Biopower, Biopolitics and Pandemic Comics: Reading Covid Chronicles.” Keynote. Comin 21: International Conference on Indian Comics, IIT Delhi, 5 Dec. 2021.
- “The Literature of Human Rights”, Govt College Women University Faisalabad Pakistan. 25 Nov. 2021.
- “The Covid Normal”. Keynote. “Embracing the new normal: socio-cultural challenges and opportunities”. Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences of the University of Ruhuna, Sri Lanka, 17 Nov. 2021.
- “Reading Right(s): Literature and/of Human Rights”, Seminar, “Human Rights and Its Representation in Literature” Department of English, ICFAI University, Mizoram. 25 Oct. 2021.
- “Ecodystopias, Spectral Landscapes and the Ecological Uncanny”. International Webinar “Imagining Catastrophe: Literary and Cultural Representations of Environmental Disaster”. Department Of English, Seva Bharati, Mahavidyalaya, Kapgari, Jhargram, West Bengal, India. 23 Oct. 2021
- Cultural Trauma, Biopolitics and Precarious Lives in the 21st Dept. of English, SIES College, Mumbai. 7 Aug. 2021.
- “Memorializing Life in Covid Times”, Memory Studies Workshop, IIT Madras, 30 April 2021.
- “The Human Rights Graphic Novel”. Symposium on “Migration and Rights in Comics and Literature from South/Asia/Asian America”, Columbian College of Arts and Sciences, The George Washington University, USA. 15 April 2021.
- “Vulnerable Ecosystems: Biosecurity and the Invasion Narrative”, Humanities and Social Sciences, NIT Uttarakhand, 10 March 2021.
- “Growing Up – Digitally, Undying – Digitally”, National Symposium, Dept of Women’s Studies, University of Madras, 9 March 2021.
Talks on Vulnerability by Anna Kurian
Vulnerable Lives in Shakespeare. Shri Sangameshwar Arts and Commerce UG and PG college, Chadchan, Karnataka. 23 April 2024