Decolonizing the Humanities
The Forgotten No More Project
The Forgotten No More Project
Peer-reviewed article and resources
Das, Riya. "Transgressing with Rediscovery: The 'Forgotten No More' Essay" Nineteenth Century Gender Studies, 17.1, 2021.
Read for:
As the world changed in 2020, in an attempt to both transgress the traditional pedagogical directionality in the remote classroom and decolonize the humanities, Das designed the "Forgotten No More" project for her introductory humanities course, "Women's Rights and Voices in the Nineteenth Century." It is a student-centered research assignment inspired by the NYT Overlooked series. Moving beyond canonical nineteenth-century women writers, each student researched and wrote about a nineteenth-century forgotten woman achiever of their choice. Encouraged by the notable success of "Forgotten No More" in Fall 2020 and students' appreciation for the freedom to research historical figures of their choice, Das used the assignment in subsequent semesters, both online and in person. From her students' essays, Das continues to learn about nineteenth-century pioneers such as Elizabeth Garrett Anderson (England’s first woman physician), Mary Ann Shadd Cary (American-Canadian lawyer and the first Black woman newspaper editor in North America), and Paulina Luisi (Uruguay’s first woman physician).
Presentation
“‘Forgotten No More’: A Pedagogical Approach to Resurrecting Women’s Voices and Decolonizing the Humanities Curriculum.”
Bearing Untold Stories Symposium, Decolonising Women’s Studies series hosted by Lancaster University, UK, 2022
Das, Riya. "Transgressing with Rediscovery: The 'Forgotten No More' Essay" Nineteenth Century Gender Studies, 17.1, 2021.
Read for:
- pedagogical methodology
- downloadable assignment prompt and grading rubric
- a list of the brilliant forgotten women resurrected from obscurity
As the world changed in 2020, in an attempt to both transgress the traditional pedagogical directionality in the remote classroom and decolonize the humanities, Das designed the "Forgotten No More" project for her introductory humanities course, "Women's Rights and Voices in the Nineteenth Century." It is a student-centered research assignment inspired by the NYT Overlooked series. Moving beyond canonical nineteenth-century women writers, each student researched and wrote about a nineteenth-century forgotten woman achiever of their choice. Encouraged by the notable success of "Forgotten No More" in Fall 2020 and students' appreciation for the freedom to research historical figures of their choice, Das used the assignment in subsequent semesters, both online and in person. From her students' essays, Das continues to learn about nineteenth-century pioneers such as Elizabeth Garrett Anderson (England’s first woman physician), Mary Ann Shadd Cary (American-Canadian lawyer and the first Black woman newspaper editor in North America), and Paulina Luisi (Uruguay’s first woman physician).
Presentation
“‘Forgotten No More’: A Pedagogical Approach to Resurrecting Women’s Voices and Decolonizing the Humanities Curriculum.”
Bearing Untold Stories Symposium, Decolonising Women’s Studies series hosted by Lancaster University, UK, 2022
Undisciplining British Literature
The British Literary Profile Project
The British Literary Profile Project
Das developed the British Literary Profile Project, an assessment that facilitated student-centered research on overlooked and established Anglophone writers, for her intermediate British Literature II survey course.
Peer-reviewed digital humanities essay and resources
Das, Riya. “Recovering and Reevaluating Anglophone Writers,” Undisciplining the Victorian Classroom, 2023.
Read for:
"I asked my students to research and discover global Anglophone authors who are either not part of the Victorian canon or, despite being well-known, can be studied with a renewed thematic/cultural focus. ... I contend that this approach equitably presents the scholarly activity of research to undergraduate student-scholars, loosening the rigid expectations of race and/or area focused research, especially from scholars of color. While facilitating undergraduate research in a minority-serving American institution, I would find it counterintuitive to demand that my minority students focus solely on resurrecting minority authors, while simultaneously advocating for resisting the same racial boundaries that define canonicity in British literature."
Peer-reviewed digital humanities essay and resources
Das, Riya. “Recovering and Reevaluating Anglophone Writers,” Undisciplining the Victorian Classroom, 2023.
Read for:
- pedagogical methodology
- downloadable assessment prompt and grading rubric
"I asked my students to research and discover global Anglophone authors who are either not part of the Victorian canon or, despite being well-known, can be studied with a renewed thematic/cultural focus. ... I contend that this approach equitably presents the scholarly activity of research to undergraduate student-scholars, loosening the rigid expectations of race and/or area focused research, especially from scholars of color. While facilitating undergraduate research in a minority-serving American institution, I would find it counterintuitive to demand that my minority students focus solely on resurrecting minority authors, while simultaneously advocating for resisting the same racial boundaries that define canonicity in British literature."
British Literature II: A Representative Survey
Das developed a British Literature survey course that included shorter texts and excerpts instead of lengthy novels to represent the width of the British literary landscape.
Peer reviewed digital humanities essay and syllabus
Das, Riya. “British Literature II: A Representative Survey,” Undisciplining the Victorian Classroom, 2023.
The syllabus appears in UVC's "Beyond 'Victorian' Literature" syllabus cluster, which Das co-developed with Dr. Kimberly Cox. The syllabus cluster offers Victorianists a space to showcase their pedagogy beyond courses focused on the nineteenth century.
Read for:
"I opted to teach shorter texts and excerpts that allow for sustained interest and engagement from students that enable them to consider a wide range of authors and their respective socio-political situations with equitable rigor. ... Diversification of syllabi, despite instructors' best intentions, can often involve accommodating a brief sample of 'other' literary works complementing lengthy canonical works considered indispensable for the field. ... Representation, on the other hand, involves careful consideration of the opposing scopes at work in a British Literature II survey – in a semester system, there are about sixteen weeks at students' disposal to survey the colossal wealth of imperial literature."
Peer reviewed digital humanities essay and syllabus
Das, Riya. “British Literature II: A Representative Survey,” Undisciplining the Victorian Classroom, 2023.
The syllabus appears in UVC's "Beyond 'Victorian' Literature" syllabus cluster, which Das co-developed with Dr. Kimberly Cox. The syllabus cluster offers Victorianists a space to showcase their pedagogy beyond courses focused on the nineteenth century.
Read for:
- pedagogical methodology
- downloadable syllabus with complete reading list
"I opted to teach shorter texts and excerpts that allow for sustained interest and engagement from students that enable them to consider a wide range of authors and their respective socio-political situations with equitable rigor. ... Diversification of syllabi, despite instructors' best intentions, can often involve accommodating a brief sample of 'other' literary works complementing lengthy canonical works considered indispensable for the field. ... Representation, on the other hand, involves careful consideration of the opposing scopes at work in a British Literature II survey – in a semester system, there are about sixteen weeks at students' disposal to survey the colossal wealth of imperial literature."
Recognition
Faculty Senate Award for Excellence in Teaching, Prairie View A&M University, 2021
Faculty Senate Award for Excellence in Teaching, Prairie View A&M University, 2021
Recent Courses Taught
Literature
British Literature II (intermediate)
Survey of World Literature (intermediate)
Gothic Fiction (advanced)
Shakespeare (advanced)
Interdisciplinary
Advanced Composition (intermediate)
Women's Rights and Voices in the Nineteenth Century (introductory)
Literature
British Literature II (intermediate)
Survey of World Literature (intermediate)
Gothic Fiction (advanced)
Shakespeare (advanced)
Interdisciplinary
Advanced Composition (intermediate)
Women's Rights and Voices in the Nineteenth Century (introductory)