Alpna Saini

1. Designation, Department and School: Professor,

Department of English,
School of Languages, Literature and Culture

2. E-mail ID and Phone number: alpna.saini@gmail.com;

3. Areas of Interest/ specialization: Theories of Subjectivity, Drama and

Theatre, Translation and Film Studies

4. Academic Qualification:

Degree Organization Year Subject

Master’s Panjab University, Chandigarh 2002 English
Ph.D. Punjabi University, Patiala 2010 English

5. Employment:

Organization Title Year

Khalsa College for Women, Sidhwan Assistant Professor 2004-2011
Khurd, Ludhiana

Centre for Comparative Literature, Assistant Professor 2011-2015

Central University of Punjab,
Bathinda

Department of English, Central Associate Professor 2015 - 2018

University of Punjab, Bathinda

Department of English, Central Professor 2018- till date

University of Punjab, Bathinda

6. Membership/office-bearer of Professional Bodies:

 Head of the department (2015-till date)
 Associate Dean, School of Languages, Literature and Culture (2015-2020)
 Coordinator of Newsletter Committee
 Member of Editorial Board of Newsletter
 Member of Annual Report Editorial Committee
 Member of NAAC Editorial Committee
 Member of Placement Cell
 Member, Grievance Redressal Appeals Committee
 Member, Convocation Committee
 Chairperson, Curriculum Development Committee of the Department
 Chairperson, School Board of School of Languages, Literature and Culture
 Chairperson, Board of Studies, Department of English
 Chairperson, Admission Committee of the Department
 Chairperson, Academic and Administrative Committee of the Department
 Member, Convocation Committee
 7. Projects:

 Completed a project funded by UGC on “Taboo Issues in Contemporary Indian Cinema and
Theatre and their treatment with special focus on theories of Subjectivity” in September 2014.
 Completed a project funded by ICSSR titled “Sociolinguistic Study of the Bagri People” with
Dr. Rajinder Kumar as PI
 Working on a Routledge Translation Project

8. Publications:

Books:

1. Sharma, Rajesh and Alpna Saini Trans. and Ed. Blood Flowers: Selected Poetry of Harbhajan
Hundal, CreateSpace Publishing, USA, 2015.
2. Saini, Alpna and Neetu Purohit. Eds. Negotiating Boundaries: A Study of Bushra Ejaz’s
Writings. Chandigarh. Unistar Books, 2013.
3. Saini, Alpna. Subjectivity as a Locus of Conflicts in Girish Karnad: a Discussion of his Plays.
Germany: Lambert Academic Publishing, 2012.

Articles/Research Papers:

1. “Subjectivity of Gender in Mahesh Dattani’s Bravely Fought the Queen” in Journal of English
Language and Literature (Vol. II, Number 2). December 2008 ISSN: 2368-2132, p. 86-91.
2. “Girish Karnad’s Tughlaq: Rewriting History for Politics” in a literary magazine, Remarkings
(Vol. 8, March 2009). ISSN 0972-611X. p. 36-40
3. “Sakharam Binder: A Study in Contemporary Indian Subjectivity” in English Journal (Vol. 9 No.
1). ISSN: 0975-4091, June 2009 p. 57-62 (2017- UGC Approved Journal No.44762)
4. “Recovering a Theory of Subjectivity: Some Explorations in Indian Philosophical Tradition” in
South Asian Ensemble (Vol. 3, No. 1). Winter, 2011. ISSN 1920-6763. p. 90-95
5. “Girish Karnad’s Wedding Album: The Mythical Discourse of Culture” in Literary Voice (Vol. 1
No. 1). April, 2012. ISSN 2277-4521. p. 42-46
6. “The Goa Diary” in South Asian Ensemble (Vol. 4, No. 2 & 3). Spring & Summer 2012. ISSN
1920-6763. p.106-108
7. “Sedimented Gender Norms in Women-Oriented Cinema: Mahesh Manjrekar’s Astitva” in South
Asian Ensemble (Vol. 4, No. 4). Autumn, 2012. ISSN 1920-6763. p. 111-117
8. “Scarred and Silenced Subjectivities: Mahesh Dattani’s Thirty days in September” in The Vedic
Path, a quarterly English Journal of Gurukul Kangri Vishwavidyalaya, Haridwar (Vol.
LXXXVI No. 1 & 2). July-Sep/ Oct-Dec. 2012. ISSN 0970-1443. p. 85-96
9. “A Study of Deepa Mehta’s Videsh as a Cinematic Adaptation of Girish Karnad’s Nagamandala”
in The Literati. Winter 2012. ISSN 2248-9576. p.119-125
10. “Construction of Subjectivity in Girish Karnad’s Nagamandala” in Research Scholar. (Volume
I No. I). February 2013. ISSN 2320-6101. p. 47-53
11. “Demystifying Theatre: Badal Sircar” in Alchemist (Volume I No. II). June 2013. ISSN 2320 –
9216. p. 26-31
12. “Is this the End for Ghazal?” in Alchemist. (Volume I No. III). August 2013. ISSN 2320 –
9216. p. 82-83
13. “In a Time Machine” in South Asian Ensemble (Vol. 5 No. 3 & 4). Summer & Fall 2013. ISSN
1920-6763. p. 104-108
14. “Shyam Benegal’s Kalyug: A Mythical Revisiting” in International Journal of Communication.
Special Issue on Film Studies and Communication. 23(1-2): 191-196. ISSN: 0975-640X.

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15. “Manjula Padmanabhan’s Lights Out: An Exploration of Voyeurism” in The IIS University
Journal of Arts. 3(1): 63-68. ISSN: 2319-5339. July 2014.
16. “Divided Space and the Divided Subject: A Comparative Analysis of Shauna Singh Baldwin’s
What the Body Remembers (1999) and Tahmima Anam’s A Golden Age (2007)” (Sandeep
Kaur and Alpna Saini) in Literary Voice (Vol. 1 No. 4). March, 2015. ISSN 2277-4521. p. 26-
36
17. “Psycho-Sexual Construction of the Subjects in Sudhir Kakar’s The Ascetic of Desire” (Neha
Sharma and Alpna Saini) in Journal of Literature and Art Studies
(Volume 5, Number 5). May 2015 (Serial Number 42). ISSN2159 5836. p. 320-326
18. “Representation of Atrocities Committed against Women with Special Reference to Media in
Manjula Padmanabhan’s Lights Out” (Sapanpreet Kaur and Alpna Saini) in Quote Unquote
(Vol. 2, No. 1-2), August, 2015. ISSN2320-8759. p. 7-19.
19. “The Volition of Religion in the Devadasi Tradition with Special Reference to Amita Kanekar’s
A Spoke in the Wheel”(Smriti Thakur and Alpna Saini) in International Journal of English
Language, Literature And Translation Studies (Vol.2. Issue 3) July-September, 2015.
ISSN2349-9451. p. 231-237
20. “Amita Kanekar’s A Spoke in the Wheel: A Study of Materialisation of Devadasi Tradition and
Cultural Objects” (Smriti Thakur and Alpna Saini) in Literary Voice (Vol. 1 No. 5). March,
2016. ISSN 2277-4521. p. 12-22
21. “The Alienation and Manipulation of Geisha in Cultural Structures of Japan with Special
Reference to Arthur Golden’s Memoirs of a Geisha” (Smriti Thakur and Alpna Saini) in
Criterion (Vol. 8, Issue-VIII) July 2017 ISSN: 0976-8165. p. 343-349
22. Screening the White Women’s Dilemma in Colonial India: New Historicist Study of A Passage to India
(1985), and Heat and Dust (1982) (Jagdish Singh and Alpna Saini) in Criterion (Vol. 8, Issue-IV)
August 2017 ISSN: 0976-8165. p. 339-343
23. “A Postcolonial Critique of Mahasweta Devi’s Draupadi” (Padma Mohapatra and Alpna Saini)
in Literary Voice (Vol. 1 No. 9). September, 2018. ISSN 2277-4521. p. 36-41
24. “Analytical Study of the Social Structure of Bagri Society” (Dr. Rajinder Kumar Sen and Alpna
Saini) in Journal of Current Science (Vol. 19 No. 9). September, 2018. ISSN 9726-001X. np.
(UGC Approved Journal No.64664)
25. “Re-Vision of Myths in Post-Colonial Indian English Drama as an Avenue for the
Empowerment of Women” (Priyanka Chandel and Alpna Saini) in International Journal of
English Language, Literature in Humanities (Vol.6. Issue 10) October, 2018. ISSN: 2321-7065.
p. 58-67
26. “Trends in Contemporary Indian Drama” in Literary Voice (Vol. 1 No. 10). March, 2019. ISSN
2277-4521. p. 32-37

Book Chapters:
1. “Negotiating the Ethical Crisis: A View of Contemporary Indian Drama” in a book titled Trends
in Indian English Literature edited by Dr. T. S. Anand (Creative Books, 2008). ISBN 81-8043-
049-9. p.159-168
2. “Subaltern Categories in Girish Karnad’s Nagamandala” in a book titled Voices from the
Margins in World English Literature edited by Bhim S. Dahiya and Resham Sharma, Shanti
Prakashan, 2012. ISBN 987-93-81090-86-2. p. 185-192
3. “The Comic and the Surreal: an Analysis of Death and Destruction in Satish Alekar’s The
Terrorist and Mahesh Dattani’s Brief Candle” in a book titled Indian Drama in English: Some
Perspectives edited by Abha Shukla Kaushik, Atlantic Publishers, 2013. ISBN 978-81-269-
1772-3. p. 264-271
4. “The Queen and the Queer: Gendered Subjectivity in Mahesh Dattani’s Bravely Fought the
Queen” in a book titled Mahesh Dattani and Metatheatre: A Study of New Social Issues edited
by Nagraj G. Holeyannavar, Mangalam Publications, 2015. ISBN 978-93-82983-52-1. p. 119-
126

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5. “Myth, History and Folklore: A Study of Girish Karnad's Nagamandala and Hayavadana” in a
book titled Contemporary Literature in English: Recent Trends edited by Jaswinder Kaur,
Adhyayan Publishers, New Delhi. ISBN: 978-81-8435-576-5. p. 11-25.

Translation

1. Translated Poems of Harbhajan Hundal in South Asian Ensemble (Vol. 2, No. 4). Autumn, 2010.
ISSN 1920-6763. p. 29-35
2. Translated Poems of Nilesh Raghuvanshi in South Asian Ensemble (Vol. 4, No. 4). Autumn, 2012.
ISSN 1920-6763. p. 33-36
3. Translated Poems of Harbhajan Hundal in Indian Literature (Vol. LVII, No. 3). May/June, 2013.
ISSN 0019580-4. p. 56-61

Reviews

1. Book Review of Performing Women/ Performing Womanhood: Theatre, Politics and Dissent in
North India by Nandi Bhatia in South Asian Ensemble (Vol. 3, No. 1). Winter, 2011. ISSN 1920-
6763. p. 131-134
2. Book Review of Seven Plays on Sikh History by Sant Singh Sekhon in South Asian Ensemble
(Vol. 3, No. 2). Spring, 2011. ISSN 1920-6763. p. 125-127
3. Film review of Prakash Jha’s Aarakshan in South Asian Ensemble (Vol.3 No.3). Spring, 2011.
ISSN 1920-6763. p.132-133
4. “Bloodless Violence”: a film review of Maqbool Khan’s Lanka in The Daily Post (Vol. 1, Issue
139). 18 December, 2011. p.3

Editing:

1. Co-edited the seminar proceedings of UGC sponsored seminar on Rediscovering Humanities in

Literature and Classroom Teaching held in September, 2010.
2. Edited University Newsletter CUPB Newsletter since April 2013 (11 issues)

9. Seminars/Workshops/Orientations/Refreshers Attended/Organised

1. Attended 15-day summer school organised by IIAS, Shimla on Mahabharata as a

Conceptual Resource from 12-27 June, 2011.
2. Presented papers at many international and national level seminars and conferences:
1) “Negotiating the Ethical Crisis” in a national seminar at Punjabi University, Patiala in
February, 2008
2) “Subjectivity in the Selected Plays of Mahesh Dattani” in a national seminar at Punjabi
University, Patiala in February, 2009
3) “Gender and the Subaltern” in a national seminar at Punjabi University, Patiala in
February, 2010
4) “A Study of Videsh as Cinematic Adaptation of Nagamandala” in a national seminar at
DAV College, Bathinda in November, 2010
5) “Postcolonial Consciousness and Dalit Experience” in a national seminar at A. S.
College , Khanna in November, 2010
6) “The Construction of a Terrorist” in a national seminar at GHG College, Sudhar in
January, 2011
7) “The Comic and the Surreal” in a national seminar at Punjabi University, Patiala in
February, 2011

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 8) “Revisiting the Mythical Patterns of Mahabharata” in the Summer School at IIAS
Shimla on June 26, 2011.
9) “Exploring the Silences and the Scars in Mahesh Dattani's Selected Plays” in an
international seminar at BHU, Varanasi on 15-17 November, 2011.
10) “Probing Alternate Sexuality in Mahesh Dattani’s A Muggy Night in Mumbai” in an
international seminar at Punjabi University, Patiala on 25-26 November, 2011.
11) “Girish Karnad’s Wedding Album: The Mythical Discourse of Culture” in a national
seminar at Baba Farid College, Bathinda on 1-2 March, 2012.
12) “The Rapist and the Voyeur: Paraphiliac Subjectivities in Manjula Padmanabhan’s
Lights Out” in an international seminar at Punjabi University, Patiala on 16 November,
2012.
13) “Subjectivity, Indian Drama, and Translation” in a University level seminar at Central
University of Punjab, Bathinda on 10 May, 2013.
14) “The Mis/Appropriation of Dalit as Marginal Identity: A Study of Prakash Jha's
Arakshan" at the 15th Annual SALA Conference—Borders Boundaries, and
Margins—on 6 & 7 January 2015 in Vancouver, Canada.
15) “The Use of Folklore and Myth towards an Understanding of Female Subjectivity: An
Analysis of Girish Karnad’s Nagamandala and Hayavadana” in 3rd All India
Conference on Linguistics & Folklore at PAU, Ludhiana on May 28, 2015

10. Research Guidance:

(i) Details of P.G. Guidance

Sl. No. Name of Scholar Title of Dissertation Name of Department & Date of
University Guided Award
1 Satyam Tiwati Diasporic Dislocation: CUPB May, 2019
Theme of Memory, Home
and
Identity Crisis in the
Lowland and Oleander
2 Sugandha Jha Memory, Trauma, And CUPB May, 2019
Politics In The
Ministry Of Utmost
Happiness And
The Hungry Tide: A
Psychoanalytical Study
3 Megha Khanna Abhigyan Shakuntalam: A CUPB May, 2019
Comparative Study of
the Adaptation with the
Original Myth in the
Mahabharata
4 Ganesh Krishna Exploring The Significance CUPB May, 2019
Of Gender In Transcultural
Literary Spaces: Reading
Cauvery
Madhavan’s Paddy
Indian And Joseph
O’Neill’s Netherland.
5 Anagha Adipparuthiyil Myth Of Neelkanth And CUPB May, 2019
Representation Of

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 Women In Meluha: A
Feminist Critique Of
Amish Tripathi’s Shiva
Trilogy
6 Harpreet Singh Comparative study of Class CUPB May, 2018
Struggle in Aravind Adiga’s
“The White Tiger” and Ram
Saroop Ankhi’s “Kankan
Da Katlam”
7 Padma Mohapatra Indigenous self- CUPB May, 2018
representation and
decolonisation in Jayanta
Mahapatra’s “Hesitant
Light”
8 Aiswarya John Women at the Crossroads in CUPB May, 2018
Indian Fiction:
‘Hangwoman’ , ‘The
Thousand Faces of Night’
and 'Ancient Promises’.
9 Susmita Mohanta The Divided Space of Art : CUPB May, 2018
Gender, Class and Caste
Divide in Dance Like a Man
by Mahesh Dattani and The
Fire and The Rain by Girish
Karnad.

(ii) Details of M.Phil. Guidance

Sl. No. Name of Scholar Title of Dissertation Date of Award University

1 Disha “Historico-Mythical analysis of Swarajbir’s Krishna CUPB
and Girish Karnad's Tughlaq” in December 2013.
2 Vandana Bathla “The Mythico-patriarchal Construction of a Woman in CUPB
Githa Hariharan’s The Thousand Faces of Night and
Selected Short Stories of Mahasweta Devi” in
December 2013.
3 Priyanka Chandel Engendered Subjectivities: Construction of Queer CUPB
Identity in Vijay Tendulkar's A Friend's Story and
Selected Plays of Mahesh Dattani" in May 2014.
4 Jagdish Singh "A Filmic-Historic Mapping of 1857: A Comparative CUPB
Study of Satyajit Ray’s Shatranj Ke Khilari and Shyam
Benegal’s Junoon " in May 2014.
5 Sumeet "Construction and Treatment of Social Taboos in CUPB
Contemporary Indian Cinema with Special Focus on
Sexual Taboos" in May 2014.
6 Sapanpreet Kaur “Representation of Victim Women in Socio-Cultural CUPB
Sphere with Special Reference to Media: A
Comparative Analysis of Vijay Tendulkar’s Kamala
and Manjula Padmanabhan’s Lights 7Out” in July,
2015.
7 Neha Sharma “A Psychoanalytical Reading of Mythical Elements in CUPB
Githa Hariharan’s When Dreams Travel and Sudhir
Kakar’s The Ascetic of Desire” in July, 2015.
8 Sandeep Kaur “Construction of Individual and National Identity in CUPB
the process of Nation-Formation: A Comparative
Study of Shauna Singh Baldwin’s What the Body

6
 Remembers (1999) and Taslima Anam’s A Golden
Age (2007)” in July, 2015.
9 Smriti Thakur “A Comparative Study of the Representation of the CUPB
Tradition of Devadasi and Geisha with Special
Reference to A Spoke in the Wheel and Memoirs of A
Geisha” in July, 2015.
10 Amandeep Kaur “Deconstructing the Myth of Modern Woman in CUPB
Selected Contemporary Indian Television
Advertisements, Short Films and Documentaries” in
October, 2016.
11 Jaspreet Singh “Ideology and Suppressed Narratives: A Marxist CUPB
Study of Arvind Adiga’s The White Tiger and Uday
Prakash’s Mohandas” in May, 2017
12 Amandeep Kaur “Queering through the Marginal Lines of Caste & CUPB
Class: A Study of the Selected Writings of Abha
Dawesar, R.Raj Rao and Living Smile Vidya” in
March, 2017.
13 Ravneet Kaur “A Postmodernist Critique of Harvest (1998) by CUPB
Manjula Padmanabhan and Wedding Album (2008) by
Girish Karnad” in March, 2017.

(iii) Details of Ph.D. Guidance

Sl. No. Name of Scholar Title of Dissertation Date of Award University

1 Manpreet Kaur completed her PhD on “Violence as a Psycho-Social CUPB
Discourse in Women’s Writing: A Study of Selected
Writings of Tehmina Durrani, Meena Alexander and
Anita Nair” in August 2017.
2 Tania Bansal completed her PhD on “Negotiations between History CUPB
and Literature: Readings of Anita Rau Badami's Can
You Hear The Nightbird Call? and Shauna Singh
Baldwin's What The Body Remembers” in July 2017.
3 Barjinder Singh “The Subaltern Speaks: the Construction of Marginal CUPB
Identities in Selected Partition Films” awarded in June
2017.
4 Amandeep Kaur “The Patriarchal Perspectives on Female CUPB
Subjectivities in the Selected Plays of Atamjit and
Mahesh Elkunchwar” awarded in August 2019.
5 Priyanka Chandel “The Construction of the Mythical subject in CUPB
Postcolonial Context: A Study of Select Indian Plays”
awarded in December 2019
6 Jagdish Singh “The Legacy of the Empire: A New Historicist Study CUPB
of the Colonial and Postcolonial Agenda in Selected
Indian and Western Cinema”. awarded February 2020

11. Courses taught at Central University of Punjab:

M.A.:
 Sahit Sidhant
 Punjabi Natak ate Rang Manch
 Anuvadit Bharti Sahit
 English Literature of the Romantic Age

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  Literature and Allied Arts: Cinema
 Bharti Sahit
 Introduction to Literature
 English Literature of the Elizabethan Period
 Literature and Gender
 Literary Theory
 English Literature of the Victorian Age
 English Literature of the Modern Age-I.
 Literary Criticism
 Punjabi Natak Ikangi Ate Rang Manch
 Practical Criticism
 Research Methodology
 Classics of World Literature
 Indian English Literature
 Research Methodology
MPhil:
 Research Methodology
 Theories, methods and concepts of Comparative Literature
 Translation Studies
 Area Studies
 Western theories of literary criticism
 World Literary Classics
PhD:
 Paper 1: Advanced Course in Indian Drama-1: History of Indian Drama and Theory of
Drama
 Paper 2: Advanced Course in Indian Drama-2: Special Study of Indian Dramatists
 Adhiyan Vidhian
 Contemporary Cultural and Literary Theories
 Sahit Adhyan Vidhian