Professor Pavithra Narayanan is a newer addition to the faculty of the Departments of
English and Digital Technologies and Culture. Professor Narayanan, who is from Kerala,
in South India, and completed a Doctorate at Bharathidasan University in Trichy, India,
spent the last three years teaching in the Women's Studies Department at Miami University
of Ohio.
She brings to WSU Vancouver a strong commitment to community-engaged research. In addition
to a background in British and Indian Literature and in Women's Studies, Prof. Narayanan
holds a Masters Degree in Mass Communication and has for the last several years focused
considerable energy in producing documentaries that engage critical issues in contemporary
Indian culture.
Professor Narayanan's documentary India and Free Trade: A Closer Look at Bhopal, will be
screened on campus in December to mark the twentieth anniversary of the Bhopal union carbide
disaster, which has been estimated to have killed some 20,000 people and resulted in countless
chemical injuries and long term disabilities. Professor Narayanan is currently working on three
documentaries simultaneously: one on female infanticide in India, another exploring the
cultural and political changes facing the city of Bangalore with the explosion of the high
tech industry in India, and a third that treats the growing national movement to resist military
rule in northeast India.
I see film as one of the most powerful media for talking about social issues," reflects Professor
Narayanan. "It's one thing to give a talk, and it's another to do a film that really show people
what's happening." In addition to teaching a course in Global Feminisms (Anth 317/ Women's Studies 332)
Professor Narayanan is teaching a class focused on documentaries and social change (English 339),
which can be applied toward the certificate in Social and Environmental Justice. She is offering
another semester of English 339, which can be repeated for an additional three credits, she will also
be teaching the Senior Seminar 493.
(by Dr. Desiree Helleger)
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