Roger McNamara
Instructor of English
Ph. D. English, Loyola University Chicago
Email: rmcna3@uis.edu
Phone: 217-206-8219
Office: UHB 3071
Biography: Dr. McNamara received his Ph. D in English from Loyola University Chicago in 2010. His research interests include 20th century South Asian literature, Marxism, Postcolonial Theory, and Modernity. He is currently working on a book manuscript that explores the impact of secularism (specifically, secular time and the secularization of identity) on the aesthetics of South Asian minority literature.
Teaching Concentrations: Postcolonial Theory, World Literature, South Asian Literature, Cultural Marxism, Victorian Literature, Contemporary British Literature, Indian Cinema, and Composition.
Courses: South Asian Literature in Translation, Postcolonial Theory, African and South Asian Fiction, South Asian Film, Introduction to World Literature, and Composition.
Dissertation:
The Contours of Secularism in South Asian Minority Writing
Publications:
- “Rational Thought and the Dalitization of Christianity in Karukku.” South Asian Review 30.1 (2009): 269-285. Print.
- “Re-Narrating the Nation: Race, Sexuality and Hybridity in Aubrey Menen’s Autobiographies.” New Hybridities: Societies and Cultures in Transition. Eds. Alfonso de Toro and Frank Heidemann. Leipzig: Olms, 2006. 207-222. Print.
- “A Review of Bharati Mukherjee.” South Asian Literary Association Newsletter. 32.2 (2008): 8-9. Print.
Selected Conference Papers:
- “Secular Narratives and Parsi Identity in Rohinton Mistry’s Family Matters.” South Asian Literary Association (SALA) Annual Conference. Philadelphia. December 26, 2009.
- “‘Do Dalit Women Talk Differently?’ The Possibilities of a Unique Literary Space through an Examination of Sangati.” SALA Annual Conference. San Francisco. December 27, 2008.
- “Thinking Outside Secular Time: The Artifice of Motherhood in Anil’s Ghost.” Texas Tech Symposium on War, Empire, and Culture. Lubbock Texas. April 11, 2008.
- “Diasporic Mediations on the Secular: The Politics of Unbelonging in Rohinton Mistry’s Family Matters.” SALA Annual Conference. Philadelphia. December 27, 2006.
