Bhavya Tiwari
Modern and Classical Languages
Assistant Professor
Office: 435 Agnes Arnold Hall
Phone: 713.743.1737
Email: btiwari@uh.edu
Dr. Bhavya Tiwari’s research engages with comparative literature, world literature, and translation studies. She received her Ph.D. in Comparative Literature (English, Hindi, Urdu, Bengali, and Spanish) from The University of Texas at Austin in 2014.
Her book Beyond English: World Literature and India was recently published. Beyond English is part of Bloomsbury’s series on “Literature as World Literature.” Dr. Tiwari’s book radically alters the debates on world literature that hinge on the model of circulation and global capital by deeply engaging with the idea of the world and world-making in South Asia. In her book, she argues that Indic words for world (vishva, jagat, sansar) offer a nuanced understanding of world literature that is antithetical to a commodified and standardized monolingual globe. Dr. Tiwari develops a comparative study of the concept of “world literature” (vishva sahitya) in Rabindranath Tagore’s works, the desire for a new world in the lyrics of the Hindi shadowism (chhayavaad) poets, and world-making in Thakazhi Sivasankara Pillai’s Chemmeen, and Arundhati Roy’s The God of Small Things. By emphasizing the centrality of “literature” (sahitya) through a close reading of texts, Dr. Tiwari orient world literature toward comparative literature and comparative literature toward a worldliness that is receptive to the poetics of a world in its original language and in translation.
Like any comparative literature scholar, Dr. Tiwari cares about languages, and inculcates in her students a deep engagement with various linguistic and literary traditions. Dr. Tiwari strongly believes that literature and cultural studies are an important contribution to diversity because they never offer a singular message. At the University of Houston, Dr. Tiwari regularly teach courses such as “Cultures of India,” “Comparative Modernisms: The Global South,” “World Cultures Through Literature and Arts,” and “Indian Film: Bollywood and Beyond.”
Currently, Dr. Tiwari is working on a new project that examines the connections between literature and technology in the contemporary world. A version of her argument is under review at Texas Studies in Literature and Languages.
Dr. Tiwari’s work has been published in Comparative Literature Studies, Interventions: International Journal of Postcolonial Studies, Journal of World Literature, Comparative Literature and Culture, The Routledge Companion to World Literature, and A Companion to World Literature. In 2020, and 2019, she co-edited the two-part special issue, World Literature and Postcolonial Studies, for the Journal of World Literature.
Here are links to some of my published work:
- World Poetry: Comparing Poetic Worlds in Translation. (Accepted). 2022.
Critical Studies
- WCL 3372 - Indian Film: Bollywood & Beyond
"Indian cinema is not just Bollywood, and Bollywood is not the only Indian cinema. The Indian film industry produces more than 800 movies a year. Taking inspiration from literature and social events, movies in India are produced in many languages. Bollywood – the Hindi film industry in the city of Mumbai – is a part of that canopy. By sampling Bollywood and regional cinema, this class aims to provide an immersive study of Indian cinema, analyze the appeal and popularity of Indian cinema in local and global traditions, and probe questions of national identity, gender, masculinity, women's roles, caste, class, and wealth. The course will also unpack the fantasies, fears, pleasures, hopes, and anxieties of a modern Indian."
- WCL 2370 - Cultures of India
Is there an Indian culture? Do we think of “Indian culture” in singular or plural? What are the sources of our knowledge? Bollywood? Politics? Literature? Music? This course aims to challenge, inform, and affirm answers to the above questions by providing a substantial background on history, culture, languages, and politics of India via literature and films.
- CCS 2394 - Cultures of India
Is there an Indian culture? Do we think of “Indian culture” in singular or plural? What are the sources of our knowledge? Bollywood? Politics? Literature? Music? This course aims to challenge, inform, and affirm answers to the above questions by providing a substantial background on history, culture, languages, and politics of India via literature and films.
- WCL 2351 - World Culture through Literature and Arts
This course studies local and global developments and conflicts through works of literature, paintings, and films. We will pay special attention to the colonial history, nationalism, globalization, transnationalism, and migration of people and ideas. The course will begin with the Indian subcontinent and Africa. This beginning will give us an opportunity to understand the historic outcomes of colonization in the world. In the middle of the semester we will explore the Ghazal tradition in the Middle East and the world. Our goal is to understand the migration/development of a literary genre as a “world aesthetic,” while we savor some ghazals (poems). Our debates and discussions on world cultures, identity, and literatures will culminate with our focus on the Americas.