Shaj Mathew, Ph.D.
- Assistant Professor , English
I am a comparatist. I work across a variety of research languages (Persian, Turkish, Spanish, and English) and historical periods (modern and contemporary, but with a view to how earlier eras endure). My book manuscript, Out of Sync: The Dialectic of Cosmopolitan Time, frames cross-cultural theory through time, rather than space.
My next project, The Global Upaniṣads, examines how ancient Indian philosophy influenced modern global thought. Both projects reflect an abiding interest in the non-aligned world. Curiosity about that world—before, during, and after European hegemony—motivates my teaching, especially my seminar on cosmopolitanism.
My work appears in leading scholarly and journalistic venues, such as New Literary History, PMLA, MLQ, Modernism/Modernity, Philosophy and Literature, The New Yorker, The New York Times, The New Republic, and The Nation. I hold a Ph.D. in comparative literature from Yale University.