Global South
Oxford has launched the Global South Visiting Professorships to bring more diversity to research and teaching

Bailey Cheng (Flickr Creative Commons)

First ever Global South professor announced

Professor Rosinka Chaudhuri has been appointed Oxford University’s first ever Global South-Mellon Visiting Professor.

The new visiting professorship, which sits in The Oxford Research Centre in the Humanities, is part of a wider aim to diversify the curriculum in Oxford’s humanities departments.

“The Global South Fellowships have been set up at TORCH in collaboration with host departments and colleges to deepen and widen our understanding of the world beyond what used to be called the west or the Anglo-American world,” says Professor Elleke Boehmer, Director of TORCH.

“The aim is that the classes, interviews and presentations given by the Global South Fellows will offer both academics and students new interdisciplinary and comparative perspectives on a far wider universe of knowledge than is currently reflected in our syllabuses.

“The impact will be to increase the diversity, in all senses, of what we research and teach at Oxford, and inspire other universities whose coverage may be as restricted as ours to follow this lead.

“Professor Chaudhuri’s expertise speaks directly to these aims. Her knowledge and expertise are welcome at TORCH and are a timely contribution to work that is ongoing to make curriculums and conversations at Oxford more inclusive.”

Professor Chaudhuri is currently Director and Professor of Cultural Studies at the Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Calcutta (CSSSC).

She says: “I am pleased to be joining TORCH and working with both Elleke Boehmer and Peter McDonald at this exciting time and for my research to be so warmly received by colleagues in the humanities at Oxford.

“I am looking forward to teaching and engaging with students and sharing ideas and perspectives on literature, history, postcolonialism, world literature, and translation studies.”

“Her research has been influential and pioneering and throws light on often overlooked dimensions of postcolonial studies, including poetry, and considerations of poetics. Rosinka will teach students, lead open events, and contribute to Oxford in a number of other exciting ways while she is with us,” says Professor Boehmer.

The TORCH Global South Visiting Professorships Programme is designed to bring world-leading figures to the University of Oxford for at least one term and be included in the teaching and research environment, hosted by leading academics in the humanities.

Funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the Programme is a collaboration between the Faculties of the Humanities Division and Colleges of the University of Oxford.

The Mellon ‘Global South’ Visiting Professorships and Fellowships run May-June, or October-November. Applications are encouraged from institutions in the Global South, including from India, Pakistan, Malaysia, Philippines, Mauritius, Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania, and across Southern Africa and the Caribbean. More information can be found here.

During her fellowship, Professor Chaudhuri will also be affiliated to St Hugh’s College and the Faculty of English.