Dr. I Watitula Longkumer

Academic Qualifications

• Ph.D. (English Literature): Indian Institute of Technology Indore, July 2013-February 2018
  • Thesis title: Women’s Writing from North-East India: Narratives of Indigeneity, Ethnicities and Aesthetics under the supervision of Prof. Nirmala Menon.
• M.Phil. (English Literature): Pondicherry University, 2011-2012
  • Thesis title: Re-Capturing the Roots: Memory, Culture and Politics in Temsula Ao’s These Hills Called Home under the supervision of Prof. Ujjwal Jana.
• M.A., (English Literature): North-Eastern Hill University, 2008-2010
• B.A. (English Honors): Lady Keane College, 2005-2008
• UGC-NET (English): Qualified, November 2012

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Areas of Research

Contemporary North-East India literature, Indigenous literatures, Indigenous Knowledge Systems, Contemporary Indigenous Feminisms and related Indigenous women’s history and literature, Postcolonial Literature and Theory, The Literary and the Digital Humanities.

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Research Awards, Grants, and Fellowships

• Received the Zubaan-Sasakawa Peace Foundation Research Grant for Young Researchers under the Fragrance of Peace Project, 2018
• Received IIT Graduate Teaching Assistant Fellowship for pursuing Ph.D.
• Received UGC fellowship for pursuing M.Phil. degree at Pondicherry University
• Winner of the Rupa Award for Tell Me Your Story (TMYS) Review 2023, literary award for the research paper titled “What is invisible to the eye: Contesting traditions in tribal societies” 2023

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Projects

• Secured
  • PI for the project titled “Developing an Alternative Access to Cultural Heritage: A Digital Archive of Naga Oral Heritage” from The Jaya Prakash Narayan (JPN) National Centre of Excellence in the Humanities (2 Years duration) received on July 2024. Status: Ongoing
• Under Review
  • PI for the project titled “Customary Laws from Gender Perspectives: A Study of Naga Women’s Engagement in Public Life” applied for fund to the Knowledge Consortium of Gujarat, Dept. of Education amount Rs. 5 Lakhs. Status: Shortlisted for presentation and interview held on 15th Oct 2024, awaiting result.
  • PI for the project titled “Comparison between Gandhi Ashrams (Sabarmati and Wardha) with Natwar Thakkar’s Nagaland Gandhi Ashram: Bridging Gandhian Ideals with Naga Realities” applied for fund to the Knowledge Consortium of Gujarat, Dept. of Education amount Rs. 4.80 Lakhs. Status: Shortlisted for presentation and interview held on 15th Oct 2024, awaiting result.
  • Co-PI for the project titled “Exploring the Impact of Healthcare Communication in Mass Media on Universal Health Coverage: A Comprehensive Study of Ayushman Bharat Scheme in Selected Districts of Gujarat” applied for fund to the Knowledge Consortium of Gujarat, Dept. of Education amount Rs. 4.92 Lakhs. Status: Shortlisted for presentation and interview held on 3rd Oct 2024, awaiting result.

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Publications

• Journal Publications
  • Pamela Pati and I Watitula Longkumer, “Transnational existence on Indian borders: An interview with Pradeep Damodaran”, Journal of Postcolonial Writing, Taylor and Francis. Published online: 12 March 2025, pp.1-15. (Q1 journal) https://doi.org/10.1080/17449855.2025.2463058
  • Longkumer, I Watitula. “Decolonizing Higher Education Curricula: Perspectives from Teaching Indigenous Literature.” Higher Education for the Future, Sage Journals. Published online: 12 August 2024, pp.1-15. (Q1 journal) https://doi.org/10.1177/23476311241260777
  • Longkumer, I Watitula and Ujjwal Jana. “Carving a Niche: An Interview with Temsula Ao.” Postcolonial Texts, Vol 19, No 1 & 2. Published online: July 2024, pp. 1-20. https://www.postcolonial.org/index.php/pct/article/view/2873
  • Longkumer, I Watitula and Ujjwal Jana. “Archiving Memories of Wartime through Storytelling: A Reading of Temsula Ao’s “An Old Man Remembers.” Indian Literature: Sahitya Akademi Journal. No.332, Vol. LXVI No. 6, Nov-December 2022. Published in July 2023, pp. 94-101. https://www.jstor.org/stable/27277392
  • Longkumer, I Watitula and Nirmala Menon. “Return of the Spirits: An Interview with Easterine Kire.” English: Journal of the English Association, Oxford University Press, Published online: 5 July 2019. https://doi.org/10.1093/english/efz028
• Book Chapters
  • Pati, Pamela and I Watitula Longkumer. “Journeying through the Lesser Known Indian Spaces: A Reading of Bishwanath Ghosh’s Chai, Chai”. Language and Cross-Cultural Communication in Travel and Tourism: Strategic Adaptations, Apple Academic Press (CRC, Taylor and Francis Group). Apple Academic Press, Inc. Co-published with CRC Press (Taylor & Francis), published in October 2024, pp. 139-156.
  • Longkumer, I Watitula, Shanmugapriya T, Deborah Sutton, Mohanapriya. “Opportunities and Challenges in Developing Digital Applications for Historical and Cultural Heritage Studies.” in Digital Humanities in Context: Interdisciplinary Perspectives, edited by Ujjwal Jana. Springer Nature (Accepted & Forthcoming 2025).
  • Longkumer, I Watitula and Nirmala Menon. “Outsider/Insider: Examining the Narrative of Ethnic Violence in Select Literary Works of Contemporary Women Writers from North-East India.” Women Writers of the South Asian Diaspora: Interpreting Gender, Texts and Contexts. Rawat Publications, 2019, pp. 57-70.
• Books
  • Longkumer, I Watitula and Vasani, Meera (Editors). Contemporary Scholarly Readings: A Multidisciplinary Approach. 2020, Macmillan Publishers India, ISBN: 978-93-89518-43-6.

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Conference Presentations

• “Indigenous Aesthetics in Contemporary Literature from North-East India” at The Asian Conference on Arts and Humanities (ACAH 2024), Tokyo Japan, 22-27 May, 2024.
• “Writing in Exile: Easterine Kire’s Creative Responses to the Nagaland Conflict” at The Migration Conference, University of Hamburg during 23-26 August, 2023.
• “Mapping Indigenous Aesthetics in Naga Literature: Reading Easterine Kire” panel presentation on Indigenous Literature from Northeast India at the 31st annual British Commonwealth and Postcolonial Studies Conference held during 14-18 February, 2022.
• “The Place of Naga Women in a Changing Society: A Literary Analysis” at the Two Day International Conference on Interdisciplinary: Intersections of Literature and History for Social and Cultural Change (COIN – 2019), 19-20th October 2019, NIT Meghalaya.

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Outreach & Administrative Activities

• Invited for a plenary talk at Athena 2023, 3rd Annual International Conferences, VIT-AP University on “Indigenous Aesthetics in Naga literature” on 6th December 2023.
• Convener for the One Day International Conference on AYUSHGLOBE 2025: AYUSH for Global Well-being and Exports from India, ICSSR-sponsored project organized at IITRAM Ahmedabad on 31 Jan. 2025.
• Warden Girls’ Hostel from January 2019 to ongoing.
• Co-Convener of External Communications from October 2022 to ongoing.
• Member Secretary of Institute Ethics Committee (IEC) from May 2024 to ongoing.
• Member of Students’ Grievance Redressal Committee (SGRC) from June 2023 to ongoing.

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Teaching

• HS181002 Functional English & Comprehension
• HS184001 (open elective) Indigenous Short Stories from India
• MG 232001 Business Communication (Minor in Management)
• Language Laboratory (ICT enabled skill lab)