Nazua Idris
HASTAC Scholar (2023-25)
Doctoral Candidate in Literary Studies, Department of English, Washington State University
Nazua’s (She/her) research focuses on the intersections of the nineteenth and early twentieth-century global Anglophone literatures, long nineteenth-century British literature, scholarly textual editing, decolonial digital humanities, and decolonial and digital pedagogies. Nazua obtained BA (Hons) in English and MA in English Literature from the Department of English, University of Dhaka, and a second MA in Literary Studies from the Department of English, WSU. She taught courses in the Department of English and in the Department of Digital Technology and Culture at WSU. She has been working as an Editorial Associate in the Oxford University Press scholarly editorial project titled The Complete Works of Edith Wharton since Summer 2020. During the 2023-2024 academic year, Nazua received several awards and fellowships, including the WSU Chancellor’s Leadership Award, the Dr. Karen P. DePauw Leadership Award, the GPSA Excellence Award in Community Engagement, the CAS Doctoral Student Achievement in Humanities Award, and the Graduate School Dissertation Year Fellowship.
Social Media links and contact info:
Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=7NpkdNMAAAAJ&hl=en
Instagram: @nazuakanta
Twitter/X handle: @idrisnazua
Institutional email: nazua.idris@wsu.edu
Personal email: nazuaidris@yahoo.com
1. Why did you apply to HASTAC?
My first introduction to HASTAC was in 2018 when my supervisor asked me to participate in the “Critical Code Studies Working Group 2018.” Being part of that working group made me discover for the first time how exploring the intersections of technology, arts, and humanities can transform the way we traditionally understand research as an “individual” endeavor. By engaging in the conversations and activities of CCSWG 2018, I realized that research can be collaborative, conversational, and communal. This understanding has been strengthened over time as I studied more about the theories, methods, and practices of Critical Digital Humanities and found my trajectory of doing academic work that bridges the boundaries between traditional humanities research in literary studies and digital and pedagogical activism. I realized that the growth and sustainability of any social-justice-activist-oriented academic, pedagogical, and community work require connecting and collaborating with scholars, activists, and community members from diverse backgrounds. I applied to the HASTAC Scholars program because I strongly believe it will provide me with opportunities to connect and collaborate with other scholars and enrich me as an individual, scholar, teacher, and community member.
My doctoral research explores the intersections of literary studies, scholarly textual editing, decolonial digital humanities, and decolonial pedagogies. The decoloniality of my doctoral project not only comes from the theoretical frameworks offered by the decolonial scholars but also from my new way of understanding literary research as interdisciplinary, multimodal, and collaborative work. My project is a combination of a written thesis, a digital project that curates Anglophone texts narrated or written by people from historically marginalized communities, classroom-based pedagogical research, and community engagement. The success of my decolonial work extends beyond my doctoral dissertation as the project is intended for public use and its growth and sustainability depend upon the critical feedback from people engaged in similar kinds of recovery or pedagogical work. I hope that the HASTAC Scholars program will not only help me showcase my work and receive feedback from colleagues across the globe but also help me spread the word about the scholarly and pedagogical significance of the literary texts produced by the historically marginalized people I am advocating for through my work.
I also believe that the experience of being a HASTAC Scholar is an enriching and symbiotic process. As a HASTAC Scholar, I am also willing to share my skills and experiences acquired from my research, teaching, leadership, and community-engaged activities with my colleagues within the HASTAC community and beyond.
2. What has been your favorite course so far as an instructor or student? Why?
I loved all the courses I have taken as a graduate student and taught so far. I taught a range of courses in composition, literature, humanities, and digital technology and culture. Since I have to pick one favorite, I will go with “English 105: Composition for Multilingual Writers.” I taught this class in Fall 2022. I designed this class based on the theme of cultural storytelling. Being an international student myself, I have always felt that American academia hardly leaves room for celebrating the cultures, languages, and lived experiences of students who come from different cultures and/or countries. My objective was to create a learning experience for my first-year composition students that would prioritize their and their families’ voices, lived experiences, cultures, and histories. For each of the major writing assignments of that class, the students had to choose an aspect from their culture and write the history of that particular cultural aspect in the form of a narrative. The creation of those narratives prompted them to incorporate individual, familial, and communal experiences. For these assignments, they had to interview at least one member from their family and one member from their community. The assignments also required them to use cultural terms and vocabulary related to their topic in their native language/s within the essay. They provided a glossary at the end of the essay to provide an explanation of those cultural terms in English for their audience. I also encouraged my students to use scholarly, popular, and primary sources written in their language by scholars from their home country and/or community. They used quotes in the original language and provided a translation of that quote in parentheses. For the final major assignment titled “Cross-Cultural Communal Storytelling,” they formed groups with their peers from different cultural and linguistic backgrounds. Then they selected a common cultural festival and created a collaborative narrative that showed how a particular cultural festival is celebrated in different communities, cultures, and/or countries (for example, New Year Celebrations, Harvest Festivals, etc.).
It was one of my favorite semesters as I very much enjoyed learning from my students and celebrating their lived experiences, cultures, and histories. Teaching this class has made me realize how we can centralize the lived experiences of our students who come from diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds within the given academic structure of the college composition courses.
3. What do you want to do after you graduate?
That’s the scariest question for a PhD Candidate who is on the job market! Well, after finishing my doctoral degree, I plan to pursue a postdoctoral or teaching position that will allow me to teach both English and Digital Humanities courses. I would like to work in a university with a robust DH infrastructure to support my decolonial scholarly, pedagogical, and community-engaged work. I also hope that the university where I will work values research and scholarship that involves collaborating with students and colleagues across disciplines and working with and for the communities outside of academia. Reaching beyond the higher-ed institutions through our research and mentoring practices is one of the biggest lessons I have learned from reading the works of the Decolonial thinkers. Studying in a land-grant institution has further deepened that urge to engage in scholarly and pedagogical activities that will bridge the gap between the university and the community. In addition to teaching, I plan to continue designing digital projects that will not only recover, preserve, and make accessible literary texts narrated or written by historically and structurally marginalized communities but also provide pedagogical and archival models for students and scholars who intend to do similar decolonial work within the fields of literary studies and digital humanities. I would also like to collaborate with community libraries and archives to design digital archival projects using free or low-cost digital tools and resources.
4. What’s something that people would be surprised to know about you?
That’s a very tough question to answer, even though I always ask this question to my students when they introduce themselves during the first class of the semester. Well, I love watching screen adaptations of plays and novels, especially those written before the twentieth century. I used to watch tons of film adaptations of pre-twentieth-century texts since those were easily available in the DVD stores in my country. However, since I became a member of the British Council Library and American Cultural Center Library in Bangladesh and started watching the TV adaptations available in those libraries, I lost interest in film adaptations. For example, I absolutely loved the 1995 TV adaptation of Edith Wharton’s unfinished novel The Buccaneers, but I was so disappointed when I watched the 2000 film adaptation of Edith Wharton’s famous novel The House of Mirth. I wanted to see so much more! Wharton is meticulous in providing her readers with intricate details of the characters, their surroundings, landscapes, dresses, customs, and so on. The film adaptation of The House of Mirth felt very rushed! I really love the fact that a well-directed TV adaptation captures the minute details of various features of a novel and runs for several episodes to several seasons. I love binge-watching them, forgetting everything else in the world! I love getting lost in the story!
Interestingly, when I applied for MA programs in the US, I planned to study Film and Adaptation Studies. I wrote that I would study TV Adaptations in all my Statements of Purpose for my MA applications. However, during my first year of the MA program at Washington State University, I took the “DTC/ENGL 560: Critical Theories, Methods, and Practice in Digital Humanities” course with Dr. Kim Christen and just fell in love with Digital Humanities. So, I decided to pursue research that would allow me to explore the intersections of decoloniality, literary studies, and digital humanities.
5. What are some things that you wish you had known before you got into graduate school?
––Before I got into graduate school, I used to think, “Once I am done with my PhD, I am DONE!” One of my friends laughed at me when I told him, “I am so glad that at least I will be done in 5 years!” He immediately corrected me and said, “Completing your PhD is just the beginning of your career as a researcher.” As I am getting closer to finishing my degree, I think about that every day. It seems that with every new thing I read and every new idea I explore, I feel like I have to do more; I have to learn more; there’s so much yet to explore! It’s extremely overwhelming at times, but also very exciting and adventurous, which I believe keeps us going. The other thing, of course, is the “imposter syndrome.” Before I came to graduate school, no one told me that “imposter syndrome” is a very common thing in graduate school and that everyone is feeling that way including the most experienced and accomplished people in academia. I was so hard on myself for the first couple of years in graduate school. All the time, I used to feel that I did not belong. Fortunately, I found amazing professors, colleagues, and friends in graduate school who helped me through this journey. They also helped me see that I am in graduate school to learn, and it is not expected that I should be there already knowing everything! Now, when I talk to the new students during Graduate Orientation, I always talk to them about navigating “imposter syndrome” and ensuring self-care and work-life balance. Before coming to graduate school, we think about research, teaching, publication, conferences, and so on, but we often forget what’s the most important––prioritizing staying healthy and happy––mentally, physically, emotionally, and intellectually. And that will help us become the amazing scholars and teachers we dream of becoming!
6. How do you envision HASTAC and higher education in 10 years? Where do you fit in?
One of the major transitions that we can see in higher education now is the growing interest in collaborative and interdisciplinary work––bridging the critical and the creative, connecting the institution and the community. Such transitions are exciting and full of hope for the future; however, pushing against the established modes of scholarly and creative endeavors is still very messy. HASTAC has been playing a crucial role in this messy process by bringing people from various disciplines, countries, and backgrounds together and helping us understand a shared goal even though our paths are very different. I strongly believe HASTAC will continue to be the guiding light by nurturing and helping others nurture the values of community and collaboration–the values that can strengthen our individual scholarly and creative endeavors as we strive to reach communities beyond our immediate surroundings, forge relationships, and grow together. It’s beautiful and promising despite all the struggles that many higher-ed institutions across the globe have been facing in this post-Covid era.
I am still exploring where I fit in. All I know at this point is that my values as a researcher and teacher align with the values upheld by HASTAC as I have been trying to engage in scholarly and pedagogical endeavors that involve breaking the disciplinary silos and bridging the university and the community. As mentioned above, HASTAC has guided us through this messy transitional period of bridging tradition and innovation in humanistic research and helping us foster community and collaboration. As a HASTAC Scholar, through my research and teaching, I would like to continue HASTAC’s legacy and give back by connecting and collaborating with as many communities as I can.
7. How does digital scholarship fit into your research or teaching?
Digital Scholarship is at the heart of my research. My doctoral dissertation project involves building a digital archive where I will digitize the texts narrated or written by historically marginalized communities so that people across the globe can access them. My research goal was based on a very idealistic understanding of preservation and access when I started. However, reading the scholarly work in archival studies, digital humanities, and scholarly textual editing has significantly transformed that understanding. The scholars in these disciplines helped me understand how historically marginalized communities and their lived experiences, epistemologies, and histories continue to be silenced in the digital sphere. They helped me understand how to critically engage with how those communities’ histories and cultural artifacts are categorized, cataloged, and digitized. I realized how loaded the ideas of “preservation” and “access” could be. Before reading the critical and creative works in digital scholarship, I thought we could preserve and provide worldwide access to materials by digitizing them. However, I came to the realization that something that has been digitally preserved does not mean you have access–– something that has been digitally preserved does not mean you have the right to access. It is tied to questions like “who is preserving,” “whose materials are being preserved,” “who has access,” and “whose cultural protocol decides the terms of access.” The series of questions goes on––who has access to technology to access those digitally preserved materials, who has access to technical skills to access the digital archives, and who has access to funding and financial resources to access the paywalled digital resources? The list of questions is too long to include in one response, but it’s extremely important that we engage with these questions and understand and help others understand that the concepts of “open access” and “free access” are idealistic and intricately linked to the global power hierarchies. Digital Scholarship has thus significantly influenced the way I understand digital archives, archival silences, access and preservation, and the digital editorial process. These are the issues I critically engage with in my research and teaching.
8. What do you hope to accomplish with your research or teaching?
Since I started graduate school, my goal has been to push back against the established canon. This goal has deeply impacted my research and teaching. Through my archival research, I have been trying to upend the “canon-based” curriculum of nineteenth-century literary studies by re-centralizing the lived experiences of the people from formerly enslaved and colonized territories. I have been traveling outside of the US to visit archives to collect texts that offer alternative perspectives to the dominant narratives about colonization and slavery. My goal is to incorporate those texts in classroom teaching and inspire students to engage with these texts and understand the continued legacies of slavery and colonialism and the impact of the erasures and marginalization of those histories in the contemporary world. After reading some of the texts I collected, many of my undergraduate students said that they wished they had read those in school. Their feedback inspired me to look for ways to make these texts available to teachers, students, and scholars beyond the academic circles of the university. Thus, I sincerely hope that through my research and teaching, I can preserve and disseminate the voices and lived experiences of historically marginalized people whose voices have been systematically and structurally erased from mainstream education.
9. What are you currently reading, watching, or listening to?
I have been reading Joy Buolamwini’s book Unmasking AI: My Mission to Protect What Is Human in a World of Machines (2023). I absolutely love Joy, and I am loving her book too! My first introduction to algorithmic oppression was through Safiya Umoja Noble’s book Algorithms of Oppression. I heard about Joy Buolamwini’s work much later when one of my colleagues included Joy’s Ted Talk titled “How I’m Fighting Bias in Algorithms” in the “DTC 101: Introduction to Digital Technology” course we collaboratively designed. The readings I did in the graduate seminars required for the Digital Humanities Graduate Certificate gave me foundational knowledge about how digital technology can be exclusionary and oppressive. Joy’s TED talk opened a new avenue for me in that regard. I wanted to learn more about racial bias in technology after listening to her TED talk. Thus, I was elated when this book came out. I finally got the chance to read Unmasking AI this summer. In this book, she uses the term “the coded gaze” to explain the racial and gender biases in face detection software and how that has been affecting the lives of people from historically marginalized communities. She breaks down the concepts of robotics, AI, face detection tools, and racial bias in technology and their impact on the lives of communities of color through storytelling. The narrative ark makes this book very accessible to readers outside of these academic disciplines. I will not get into more details because I do not want to spoil the surprises that unfold in Joy’s story. I just want to say that I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in learning about algorithmic oppression and technological justice.