Asma Sayed

PhD, Comparative Literature (Alberta)
Asma
Surrey Office: Fir 320

Dr. Asma Sayed is the Canada Research Chair in South Asian Literary and Cultural Studies in the Department of English. As of November 2023, she is also Vice President, Equity and Inclusive Communities. Previously, she served as Associate Vice President, Anti-racism, leading KPU’s newly established Office of Anti-Racism. Sayed is a transformative leader who champions equity, diversity, inclusion, decolonization, and anti-racism through her activism and research. As the Chair of KPU’s Task Force on Antiracism from July 2020 – October 2022, she led an institution-wide initiative to foster anti-racism. As the President of the Canadian  Association for Postcolonial Studies (formerly CACLALS) from 2019-22, she led multiple initiatives focused on intersectional social justice. Sayed has served as an adviser on various boards and NGOs: South Asian Network for Secularism and Democracy (2019-25); Mise-en-scène, KPU’s film journal (2018-); and the Canadian Communications Foundation (2014-23).

 

Sayed’s work has been recognized through multiple awards and grants. In 2020, she was elected as a member of the Royal Society of Canada’s College of New Scholars, Artists, and Scientists. She is a recipient of KPU’s Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Award for 2023 and Distinguished Scholarship Award for 2022. She has received, and currently holds, multiple grants from SSHRC and other granting bodies. 

 

Sayed holds a PhD in Comparative Literature from the University of Alberta. Her interdisciplinary research focuses on comparative world literature, global Anglophone literature, and Indian Ocean studies. She specializes in postcolonial and diasporic literatures with a focus on narratives of exile and displacement from South Asia and East Africa, as well as feminist literary and cultural studies related to these geographies. In particular, she is interested in examining the marginalization of gendered and racialized people and violence against women as represented in literature, film (especially Bollywood), and media. Sayed’s research and teaching is informed by Critical Equity Studies, Critical Race Theory, Critical Hope and Solidarity Studies, and Postcolonial and Decolonial Studies. Her current research projects include: a book on feminist discourse in South Asian literature; an encyclopedia of South Asian literary and cultural contributions; and an anthology of multilingual literature in Canada. Her publications include five books and numerous articles in a range of periodicals, anthologies, and academic journals. She has organized numerous workshops, symposiums, and conferences. 

 

Prior to joining KPU in 2017, Sayed worked at various universities including the University of Alberta, MacEwan University, and Athabasca University. 

Courses taught

  • ENGL 1100 Introduction to University Writing
  • ENGL 1202 An Introduction to Literature
  • ENGL 3310 Literature in Translation
  • ENGL 3340 Cross-Cultural World Literature
  • ENGL 3345 Diasporic Literatures
  • ENGL 3360 Writing Women/Women Writing
  • ENGL 4700 Special Topics in Literature: Postcolonial Ecocriticism

Areas of Interest

  • Postcolonial and diasporic literature
  • South Asian Canadian Literature
  • Indian Ocean Studies
  • Indian cinema
  • Critical Race Theory
  • Feminist Cultural Studies

Scholarly Work

  • BOOKS
  • Studies in Canadian Literature (co-edited with John C. Ball, U of New Brunswick), Special Issue on The Ruptured Commons, vol. 48, no. 1, 2023 (Issue published in Spring 2024).
  • The Transnational Imaginaries of M. G. Vassanji: Diaspora, Literature, and Culture. Co-edited with Karim Murji. New York: Peter Lang (Interdisciplinary Studies in Diaspora Series), 2018.
  • Screening Motherhood in Contemporary World Cinema. Edited. Toronto: Demeter Press. 2016.
  • Writing Diaspora: Transnational Memories, Identities and Cultures. Edited. Oxford: Interdisciplinary.net Press, 2014.
  • M. G. Vassanji: Essays on His Works. Edited. Essential Writers Series. Toronto, Buffalo, Lancaster: Guernica Press, 2014.
  • World on a Maple Leaf: A Treasury of Multicultural Canadian Folktales. Co-edited. Edmonton: Edmonton Public Schools Board, 2011.
  • JOURNAL ARTICLES AND BOOK CHAPTERS
  • “M. G. Vassanji’s Fiction in a Transnational, Postcolonial, and Social Justice Context.” Teaching Anglophone South Asian Diasporic Literature. Eds. Nalini Iyer and Pallavi Rastogi. Modern Language Association Press, 2024, pp. 41-51.
  • “Introduction: Past, Present, and Future Ruptures to the Commons.” (With John C. Ball), Studies in Canadian Literature – Special issue on The Ruptured Commons vol. 48, no. 1, 2023, pp. 5-15 (Issue published in Spring 2024).
  • “Ruptured Relationships in a Patriarchal Commons: Mother-Daughter Conflict in Priscila Uppal’s Projection: Encounters with my Runaway Mother.” Studies in Canadian Literature – Special issue on The Ruptured Commons, (with Jacqueline Walker) vol. 48, no. 1, 2023, pp. 228-48 (Issue published in Spring 2024).
  • “Canadian Literature in Heritage Languages and the Politics of Canon Formation.” National Literature in Multinational States. Eds. Albert Braz and Paul Morris. Edmonton: University of Alberta Press, 2022, pp. 89-108.
  • “Postcolonial Ecologies and Sustainable Living: Reading Jenna Butler’s Nonfiction.” Confluences 3: Essays on the New Canadian Literature. Ed. Dannabang Kuwabong. Toronto: Mawenzi House, 2021, pp. 95-105.
  • “Writing Beyond ‘Curry-Books’”: Construction of Racialized and Gendered Diasporic Identities in Anita Rau Badami’s Can You Hear the Nightbird Call?” Canadian Culinary Imaginations. Eds. Shelley Boyd and Dorothy Barenscott. Montreal: McGill Queen’s University Press., 2020, pp.277-94.
  • “Adaptation as Translation: The Bard in Bombay.” Shakespeare and Asia. Ed. Jonathan Hart. New York: Routledge, 2019, pp. 213-28.
  • “Locating M. G. Vassanji in a Transnational Context.” The Transnational Imaginaries of M. G. Vassanji. Ed. Asma Sayed and Karim Murji. New York: Peter Lang (Interdisciplinary Studies in Diaspora Series), 2018, co-authored with Karim Murji. 1-16.
  • “Gendered Violence and Feminist Interventions in Shauna Singh Baldwin’s The Selector of Souls.” Confluences 2: Essays on the New Canadian Literature. Ed. Nurjehan Aziz. Toronto: Mawenzi House, 2017, 94-104.
  • "Postcolonial Mothering in Anita Rau Badami's Tamarind Mem." Confluences 1: Essays on the New Canadian Literature. Ed. Nurjehan Aziz. Toronto: Mawenzi House, 2016. 95-106. Print.
  • "Intersectional Interventions in Global Cinema: Introducing the Maternal." Screening Motherhood in Contemporary World Cinema. Ed. Asma Sayed. Toronto: Demeter Press, 2016. 1-21. Print.
  • "Bollywood Virgins: Diachronic Flirtations with Indian Womanhood." Virgin Envy: The Cultural (In)Significance of the Hymen. Ed. Jonathan A. Allan, Cristina Santos, and Adriana Sphar. University of Regina Press, 2016. 173-90. Print. 
  • "Diaspora, Memory and Culture: Reading Gendered Gujarati Identity in Mira Kamdar's Motiba's Tattoos." Gujarati Realities: Perspectives of Female Researchers. Ed. Sharmina Mawani and Anjoom Mukadam. Germany: Logos Verlag, 2016. 21-34. Print.
  • "Mythical Homes and Violent Realities: Reading Gujarat in M. G. Vassanji's A Place Within." South Asian Review 36.3 (2015):123-39. Print.
  • "Towards a Globalectical Reading of Comparative Canadian Literature." Canadian Review of Comparative Literature 41.2 (2014): 198-201. Print.
  • “Introduction - Writing Diaspora: Transnational Memories, Identities and Cultures.” Writing Diaspora: Transnational Memories, Identities and Cultures. Ed. Asma Sayed. Oxford: Interdisciplinary.net Press. 2014. ix-xxi.
  • “Writing History, Writing Diaspora: The In-between World of M.G. Vassanji.” M.G. Vassanji: Essays on His Works. Ed. Asma Sayed. Toronto: Guernica, 2014. 3-36.
  • “Bollywood in Diaspora: Cherishing Occidentalist Nostalgia.” Diasporic Choices. Ed. Renata Seredyńska-Abou Eid. Oxford: Inter-Disciplinary Press, 2013. 11-20.
  • “Nation, Religion, and Disability: Identity Politics in Bombay Cinema.” Film and Media Reader 1. Ed. Phillip Drummond. London, UK: The London Symposium, 2013. 140-50.
  • “Children and Multiculturalism: On Children’s Literature in Canada.” World on a Maple Leaf: A Treasury of Multicultural Canadian Folktales. Ed. Asma Sayed and Nayanika Kumar. Edmonton: Edmonton Public School Board, 2011. vi-ix.
  • BOOK REVIEWS
  • Review of Alka Joshi’s The Secret Keeper of Jaipur (with Brittany Lumb), Awaaz: Voices, vol. 19, no. 1, 2022.
  • Review of Uzma Jalaluddin’s Hana Khan Carries On (with Jacqueline Walker), Awaaz: Voices, vol. 19, no. 1, 2022.
  • Review of Farzana Doctor’s Seven (with Jacqueline Walker), Awaaz: Voices, vol. 18, no. 2, 2021.
  • Review of In India and East Africa, EIndiya nase East Africa: A Travelogue in isiXhosa and English by D D T Jabavu; Translated by Cecil Wele Manona. Wasafiri: International Contemporary Writing, Issue 106, 2021.
  • Review of The Subtweet by Vivek Shraya (with Jacqueline Walker), Transnational Literature, Issue 13, October 2021 (Bath Spa University, UK).
  • “Literature as Politics.” Review of Postcolonial Life Narratives: Testimonial Transactions by Gillian Whitlock and Politics and Literature: At the Turn of the Millennium by Michael Keren. Canadian Literature: A Quarterly of Criticism and Review. Dec 21, 2016.
  • “Narrating Motherhood.” Review of Telling Truths: Storying Motherhood, by Sheena Wilson and Diana Davidson (eds). Canadian Literature: A Quarterly of Criticism and Review 222 (2015): 196-97.
  • Review of Commerce with the Universe: Africa, India, Afrasian Imagination, by Gaurav Desai. Journal of South Asian Diaspora 7.1 (2015): 73-75.
  • Review of Crosstalk: Canadian and Global Imaginaries in Dialogue, by Diana Brydon and Marta Dvořák (eds). Transnational Literature 6.2 (2014): n. pag.
  • Review of The Magic of Saida, by M. G. Vassanji. World Literature Today March (2013): 147-48. (The University of Oklahoma Press). Rpt. As “Deliberations on The Magic of Saida.” M. G. Vassanji: Essays on His Works. Ed. Asma Sayed. Toronto: Guernica, 2014. 235-39. Print.
  • Review of The Magic of Saida, by M. G. Vassanji. Awaaz-Voices 9.3 (2012): 60.
  • Review of Muslim Diaspora in the West: Negotiating Gender, Home and Belonging, by Haideh Moghissi and Halleh Ghorashi (eds). Journal of Immigration Asylum and Nationality Law. 26.3 (2012): 299-301.
  • “Imaging Indian Women.” Review of Women Changing India: 100 Photos, by Reporters Without Borders. Imaginations 19 March 2012.
  • Review of Literary Cultures in History: Reconstructions from South Asia, by Sheldon Pollock (ed.) Critical Practice 11.2 (2004): 125-27.
  • Review of A Kind of Alaska: Women in the Plays of O’Neill, Pinter, and Shepard, by Ann C. Hall. Critical Practice 4.1 (1997): 99-101.
  • FILM CRITIQUE
  • “The Burden of Domestic Labour: The Great Indian Kitchen.” Awaaz: Voices, vol. 18, no. 2, 2021.
  • “The Epidemic of Domestic Violence: Thappad.” Awaaz: Voices, vol. 18, no. 1, 2021.
  • “Fighting Abuse in the #MeToo Era: Because We are Girls.” Awaaz: Voices, vol. 17, no. 1, 2020, 90-91.
  • “Navigating through the Web of Arranged Marriage: A Suitable Girl.” Awaaz: Voices, vol. 16, no. 2, 2019, pp. 60-61.
  • “Empowering Women: Period. End of Sentence.” Awaaz: Voices vol. 16, no. 1, 2019, pp. 67-69.
  • “Fighting for Muslim Women’s Rights in India: 3 Seconds Divorce.” Awaaz: Voices, vol. 15, no.1, 2018, pp. 94-97.
  • “Performing Desire: Lipstick Under My Burkha.” Awaaz: Voices, vol. 14, no. 3, 2017, pp. 63-65.
  • “Tom Alter: A Tribute.” Awaaz: Voices, vol. 14, no. 2, 2017, pp. 67.
  • “Screening Rape Culture: Pink.” Awaaz: Voices, vol. 13, no. 3, 2016, pp. 43-45.
  • “Of Love, Law, and Human Rights: Aligarh.” Awaaz: Voices vol. 13, no. 2, 2016, pp. 51-52.
  • “Piku: A Journey through Life.” Awaaz: Voices, vol. 13, no. 1, 2016, pp. 54-55.
  • “Pyaasa: A Tale of Love and Betrayal.” Daily News Analysis - DNA, April 24, 2016, Mag 04.
  • “A Voyage to the Planet Earth: Intoxicating Satire in PK.” Awaaz: Voices, vol. 12, no. 2, 2015, pp. 58-59.
  • “Challenging Rape Culture: India’s Daughter.” Awaaz: Voices, vol. 12, no. 1, 2015, pp. 54-55.
  • “Between Liberalization and Fundamentalism: India’s Two Faces: The World Before Her.” Awaaz: Voices, vol. 11, no. 2, 2014, pp. 41-43. Print. Republished in Bitch Flicks, March 25, 2015.
  • “English-Vinglish: Straddling Patriarchal and Linguistic Hegemony.” Awaaz: Voices, vol. 9, no. 3, 2012, pp. 61-63. Republished in Bitch Flicks, March 25, 2015.
  • “Romancing Food: A Delectable Gaze at The Lunchbox.” Awaaz: Voices vol, 11, no. 1, 2014, pp. 30-31.
  • “Screening Alternate Discourse: Celebrating 100 Years of Indian Cinema.” Awaaz: Voices, vol. 10, no. 2, 2013, pp. 63-66.
  • “Queer Cinema in India: Memories in March.” Awaaz: Voices, vol. 9, no. 2, 2012, pp. 57-59.
  • “Technology and Masala make Good Curry: A Glimpse into the World of Hindi Science Fiction Film – Ra.One.” Awaaz: Voices, vol. 9, no.1, 2012, pp. 63-65.
  • “New Progressive Cinema in India: Dhobi Ghat and Peepli Live.” Awaaz: Voices 8.3 (2011): 44-45.
  • CREATIVE WRITING
  • “Of Curries and Custard Apples: Identity, Memory, Resistance.” Beyond the Food Court: The Literary Cuisines of Edmonton. Ed. Luciana Erregue, Laberinto Press, 2020. pp. 52-58.
  • “Hawa: The Madwoman in the Market.” Looking Back, Moving Forward. Ed. Julie Robinson, Toronto: Mawenzi House, 2018, 164-70.
  • “Beautiful Imperfections: Living as a Muslim in Canada.” Home: Stories Connecting Us All, ed. Tololwa Mollel, Edmonton, 2017, 289-91.
  • “Who I Really Am: Communicating Islam Across Generations.” The Relevance of Islamic Identity in Canada: Culture, Politics, and Self. Ed. Nurjehan Aziz. Toronto: Mawenzi House. 2015. 108-17.
  • “The Farmer and His Sons.” World on a Maple Leaf: A Treasury of Multicultural Canadian Folktales. Eds. Asma Sayed and Nayanika Kumar. Edmonton: Edmonton Public School Board, 2011. 90-91.