A/2, Jahurul Islam Avenue
Jahurul Islam City, Aftabnagar
Dhaka-1212, Bangladesh
Ph.D.in English with a secondary emphasis in Rhetoric and Composition
University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, U.S.A.
Dissertation Title: The Net of Nostalgia: Class, Culture, and Political Alienation and Nostalgia in Contemporary Latino and South Asian American Literature
M Phil. in English
University of Dhaka, Bangladesh
Research Title: “Brecht in Bangladesh: The Application of His Themes and Techniques on Our Stage”
M.A. in English Literature
University of Dhaka, Bangladesh
B.A. in English
University of Dhaka, Bangladesh
Higher Secondary Certificate Examination (H.S.C.)
Viqarunnisa Noon School, Dhaka
Secondary School Certificate Examination (S.S.C.)
Viqarunnisa Noon School, Dhaka
Farzana Akhter is a Professor of English and the Dean of the Faculty of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences at East West University in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Previously, she served as the Chairperson of the Department of English. Since joining East-West University in 2000, she has taught various courses and contributed to the development of the department in multifarious ways. She is the Chief Editor of the Annual Report of EWU and VC Newsletter.
After completing her BA and MA in English from the University of Dhaka, Dr. Akhter earned an MPhil from the same university. Later, she obtained her Ph.D. in English, with a secondary emphasis on Rhetoric and Composition, from the University of Arkansas in the United States. Her areas of interest include contemporary American Ethnic and Immigrant literatures, immigrant nostalgia, diaspora and belongingness, and the representation of women in the war narratives of Bangladesh.
Dr. Akhter is a prolific academic writer whose work has been published in various forms such as academic papers, book chapters, encyclopedia entries, and translations. She has presented her research findings at academic conferences both nationally and internationally, in Bangladesh, the US, and Australia. Moreover, she has been invited to serve as a chair and respondent at various international conferences. Dr. Akhter has also contributed significantly in organizing a number of national and international conferences at East West University. She serves on the editorial board of the World Journal of English Language and actively participates as a reviewer for a range of national and international journals that employ a blind peer review process. Additionally, she supervises MA thesis students and has acted as an external examiner for MA thesis both in Bangladesh and abroad.
International Conferences:
Akhter, Farzana. (2023). “Resisting the Politics of Representation: Women, War, and Bangladeshi War Movies,” January 7. 138th Modern Language Association Annual Convention (MLA). San Francisco, January 5-8, 2023.
Akhter, Farzana. (2022). “Bangladeshi War Movies and the Reclamation of Female Agency in Hangor Nodi Grenade and Guerrilla,” January 7. 137th Modern Language Association Annual Convention (MLA). Washington, January 6-9, 2022. Virtual presentation.
Akhter, Farzana. (2022). “Panacea for Nostalgia: The Paradox of Returning Home in Dreaming in Cuban and An American Brat,” January 9. 137th Modern Language Association Annual Convention (MLA). Washington, January 6-9, 2022. Virtual presentation.
Akhter, Farzana. (2022). “Representation of Birangonas in Bangladeshi Movies,” January 14. Association of Teachers of Literatures in English, Bangladesh (ATLEB), In Retrospect: 50 Years of Bangladesh in Literature and Culture, First International Conference, January 14-15, 2022. Virtual presentation.
Akhter, Farzana. (2022). “Immigrant Literature: A Mere Commodity for the Consumption of Cultural Fetishists or a Discourse of Resistance and Reformation?” 34th Annual MELUS conference. New Orleans, USA, April 2-5, 2020. Postponed to March 23-28, 2022.
Akhter, Farzana. (2020). “Writing Center in Bangladesh: Politics, Pitfalls, and Possibilities.” 2020 Conference on College Composition and Communication Annual Convention, Milwaukee, WI, USA, 25-28 March, 2020. Conference Cancelled.
Akhter, Farzana. (2019). "Toward a Sociopolitical Consciousness: Brecht’s Galileo and Mother Courage and their Role in Raising Resistance in Bangladesh.” 117th Pacific Ancient and Modern Language Association (PAMLA) Annual Conference. San Diego, CA , U.S.A., November 14-17, 2019.
Akhter, Farzana. (2019). “‘Unhoused’: Trans-Atlantic Journey and its Impact on Identity Formation in Meena Alexander’s Manhattan Music.” Recalibrating Diasporas: Asia Pacific and the Spaces Beyond Conference, organized by School of Arts, Murdoch University, Perth, Western Australia, June 27-28, 2019.
Akhter, Farzana. (2016). “The Spectacular City: The Golden Cage Where Subjects Are Created and Power Is Negotiated.” South Central Modern Language Association. Dallas, TX. 3-5 Nov. 2016.
Akhter, Farzana. (2014). “Perceptions of Literacy: Teaching Composition as an International Teaching Assistant.” 2014 Annual Convention of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE). Gaylord National Resort, Washington, DC. November 20-25 2014.
Akhter, Farzana. (2014). “Negotiating the Politics of Power: Tahmima Anam’s The Good Muslim and Women’s Role in Nation Building.” 14th South Asian Literary Association Conference (SALA). Chicago, IL. January 8-9, 2014.
Akhter, Farzana. (2013). “Quest for Home in Amitav Ghosh’s the Glass Palace.” 22nd Annual British Commonwealth and Postcolonial Studies Conference (BCPS). Savannah, GA. February 15-16, 2013.
Akhter, Farzana. (2012). “Reversal of Gender Identities in Eliot’s The Mill on the Floss.” 33rd Annual Southwest/Texas Popular Culture and American Culture Associations conference (SWTX PCA/ACA). Albuquerque, NM. February 8–11, 2012
Akhter, Farzana. (2010). “Performing Brecht in Bangladesh: Making the Unfamiliar Familiar.” 13th Symposium of the International Brecht Society on ‘Brecht in/and Asia”. Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, U.S.A. May 19-23, 2010.
Papers Presented at National Conference:
Akhter, Farzana. (2008). “Shattering the Shackles: Brecht’s Plays and the Language of Political Protest in Bangladesh” 2nd International Conference on ‘Democracy, the “New World Order” and English Studies’. East West University, Dhaka. December 2008.
Papers Presented at Seminar:
Akhter, Farzana. (2007). “Mr. Puntila and his Man Matti.” Seminar on Brecht. Goethe Institute, Dhaka. March 2007.
Akhter, Farzana. (2006). “Brecht’s Threepenny Opera and Janatar Rangashala.” Seminar. East West University, Dhaka. 2006.
Journal Articles and Book Chapters
Akhter, Farzana. (2023). “Forever Displaced: Religion, Nationalism and Problematized Belonging of Biharis in Ruby Zaman’s Invisible Lines.” SARE: Southeast Asian Review of English, vol. 60, no. 1, July 16, 2023, pp. 128-150. ISSN 0127-046X. (Elsevier’s Scopus indexed, Q 1 Journal). https://ejournal.um.edu.my/index.php/SARE/article/view/42306/15935
Akhter, Farzana. (2023). “Embracing Otherness: The Role of Nostalgia in Bicultural Identity Formation in How the García Girls Lost Their Accents, Dreaming in Cuban, and An American Brat.” English Studies: A Journal of English Language and Literatures, vol.104, no. 5 May 22, 2023, pp.- 750-765. DOI: 10.1080/0013838X.2023.2217745. (Scopus indexed, Q1 Journal)
Akhter, Farzana. (2023). “Revisiting Manhattan Music in the Time of COVID-19: Body Politics, Anti-Asian Racism and Negotiation of Ethnic Identity.” Reprint in Performing Identity in the Era of COVID-19, edited by Lauren O’Mahony et al, July 31, 2023, pp. 17-34, Oxon/NY: Routledge/Taylor and Francis. ISBN 9781032514512. (Routledge/Taylor and Francis)
Akhter, Farzana. (2023). “American Ethnic and Immigrant Novels: A Mere Commodity or a Discourse of Resistance and Reformation?” South Central Review, vol 40, no. 1, Spring 2023, pp. 1-23, Johns Hopkins UP. Project Muse, DOI:10.1353/scr.2023.0000. (Johns Hopkins University Press; Scopus indexed, Q 2 Journal)
Akhter, Farzana. (2022). “Revisiting Manhattan Music in the Time of COVID-19: Body Politics, Anti-Asian Racism and Negotiation of Ethnic Identity.” Journal of Intercultural Studies, vol. 43, issue 6, 2022, pp. 704-721. DOI: 10.1080/07256868.2022.2128082. (Scopus Indexed, Q1 Journal)
Akhter, Farzana. (2022). “Moving Beyond Victimhood: Female Agency in Bangladeshi War Movies.” In the Cross Fire of History: Women’s War Resistance Discourse in the Global South, edited by Lava Asaad and Fayeza Hasanat, 2022, pp. 40-52, NJ: Rutgers University Press. ISBN 9781978830226. (Rutgers University Press)
Akhter, Farzana. (2022). “Looking Backward to a Distant Land: South Asian Diaspora and Function of Nostalgia in ‘Silver Pavements, Golden Roofs,’ ‘Mrs. Sen’s’ and The Inheritance of Loss.” Reprint in Global South Asia: South Asian Literatures and the World, edited by Madhurima Chakraborty, December 31, 2021, pp. 156-169, London: Routledge/Taylor and Francis. ISBN 9781032160207. (Routledge/Taylor and Francis)
Akhter, Farzana. (2021). “Negotiating the Politics of Power: Tahmima Anam’s The Good Muslim and Women’s Role in War and Nation Building.” Reprint in Bangladeshi Literature in English: A Critical Anthology edited by Mohammad A. Quayum and Md. Mahmudul Hasan, 2021, pp. 241-257, Asiatic Society of Bangladesh Press.
Akhter, Farzana. (2020). “Looking Backward to a Distant Land: South Asian Diaspora and Function of Nostalgia in ‘Silver Pavements, Golden Roofs,’ ‘Mrs. Sen’s’ and The Inheritance of Loss.” South Asian Literature in the World, special issue of South Asian Review, edited by Nalini Iyer and Madhurima Chakraborty, vol. 41, issue 3-4, Nov. 2020, pp. 373–86. DOI: 10.1080/02759527.2020.1840204. (Scopus Indexed, Q1 Journal)
Akhter, Farzana. (2018). “Negotiating the Politics of Power: Tahmima Anam’s The Good Muslim and Women’s Role in War and Nation Building.” Asiatic: IIUM Journal of English Language and Literature, vol. 12, no. 1, June 2018, pp. 93-107, http://journals.iium.edu.my/asiatic/index.php/AJELL/article/view/1211. (Scopus Indexed, Q2 Journal)
Akhter, Farzana. (2011). “Performing Brecht in Bangladesh: Making the Unfamiliar Familiar.” Brecht in/and Asia /Brecht in/und Asien: The Brecht Yearbook / Brecht-Jahrbuch no. 36, edited by Markus Wessendorf and Friedemann Weidauer, 2011, pp. 201-210, Boydell & Brewer. ISBN-13. 978-0971896390. (Boydell & Brewer press)
Akhter, Farzana. (2010). “Shattering the Shackles: Brecht’s Plays and the Language of Political Protest in Bangladesh.” Literary Paritantra, vol. 2, no. 1, Spring 2010, pp. 65-71.
Akhter, Farzana. (2007). “Quest for Home in Amitav Ghosh’s The Glass Palace.” Spectrum Journal of the Department of English, University of Dhaka vol. 5, December 2007, pp. 81-90. ISSN 1562-7195. (Dhaka University)
Akhter, Farzana. (2006). “Reculturizing Brecht.” Spectrum Journal of the Department of English, University of Dhaka, vol. 4, June 2006, pp. 27-40. ISSN 1562-7195. (Dhaka University).
Other Publications
Feature writing
Akhter, Farzana. (2016). South Asian American Literature,” The Arkansas International, 2016. https://www.arkint.org/online-only/farzana-akhter-on-south-asian-american-lit?rq=farzana%20akhter
Encyclopedic Reference
Akhter, Farzana. (2014) “Archie.” Comics through Time: A Historical Encyclopedia. Edited by M. Keith Booker, ABC CLIO: Santa Barbara, CA, U.S.A., 2014.
Akhter, Farzana. (2003). Translated articles for Banglapedia, National Encyclopedia of Bangladesh 2003.
MA Thesis Supervisor
Department of English, East West University
MA Thesis External Reviewer and Examiner
Publication Reward, East West University, 2023
Vance and Mary Celestia Parler Randolph Fellowship in English (for leadership and academic achievement in language, literature, and/or folklore)English Department, University of Arkansas, U.S.A. 2017
Summer Research GA Award, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, U.S.A. Summer 2016
University of Arkansas Graduate School Conference Travel Grant, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2016
Graduate Teaching Assistantship, University of Arkansas, U.S.A., 2012-2017
Government Scholarship in Higher Secondary Certificate Examination, 1993
Government Scholarship in Secondary School Certificate Examination, 1991-92