BURSAR

DR. RENISH GEEVARGHESE ABRAHAM

Designation: Assistant Professor, Department of English

Residential Address:

B-2, Staff Quarters,
St. Stephen’s College
Delhi University Enclave,
Delhi-110007.

Email: bursar@ststephens.edu

Tel.: 011-27662168 / 011-27667200

Qualification

• PhD (English Studies): University of Delhi, Delhi.
• MA (English Literature): Department of English, University of Delhi, Delhi.
• BA (English Language and Literature): Catholicate College, Mahatma Gandhi University, Kottayam, Kerala.

Topic of Doctoral Thesis: Missionary Literature and Community Formation in Nineteenth-Century Kerala

Teaching Experience: 9 Years.

Awards and Recognitions

• Visiting Lectureship at Soka University, Hachioji, Tokyo, Japan in 2018.
• Westcott-Teape Lectureship  at the University of Cambridge in 2017.
• Received Research Assistantship from the University of Delhi (Under UTA Scheme) from April 2011 to July 2012.
• Treasurer (Ex-officio),  St. Stephen’s College Alumni Association since October 2017.
• Joint Secretary and Treasurer (Honorary), All India Association for Christian Higher Education (AIACHE) since May 2018.
•  Treasurer (Honorary), Maximizing Employment to Serve the Handicapped (MESH), an
  Indian Organization practicing Fair Trade since January 2019.

Areas of Interest

• Missiology, Missionary Literature, and the History of Christianity in the East.
• Renaissance and Eighteenth Century Literature.
• Critical theory and Cultural Studies.
• Indian Literature and Culture.

Courses Taught

• Modern Literature: Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, D. H. Lawrence’s Sons and Lovers and Virginia Woolf’s Dalloway
• Eighteenth-Century Poetry: Alexander Pope, Samuel Johnson, Oliver Goldsmith and Thomas Gray
• Seventeenth-Century Literature: John Webster’s The Duchess of Malfi, John Milton’s Paradise Lost, and John Dryden’s Mac Flecknoe
• British Poetry and Drama (14-17 Century): Chaucer, Spenser, Donne, Shakespeare and Marlowe
• Literary Theory: Post-structuralism, Post-colonialism, Feminism, and New Historicism
• Language and Linguistics: The Structure of Language, Phonology, Morphology, Syntax and Semantics.
• Indian Classical Literature: The Mahabharata, Cilappatikaram, Abhijnana Shakuntalam and Mrichkatika
• European Classical Literature: Homer, Sophocles, Ovid, Horace and Plautus
• Tutored Twentieth-Century Novel paper (Joyce, Kafka, Marquez) to Postgraduate students.

Publications

• Book Review. Psalmic Odes from Apostolic Times: An Indian Monk’s Meditation.Francis Acharya. Ed. Bernard Kilroy. Vidyajyoti Journal of Theologiocal Reflections 83.9 (Delhi: ISPCK, 2012). (ISSN: 0970-1079).
• “Modernity and Islamic Self: A Study of Maulana Mohamed Ali’s Autobiography My Life: A Fragment” in Studies in Multicultural Literature. T Sai Chandra Mauli (Jaipur: Aavishkar, 2013), 242-254. (ISBN:978-81-7910-408-8).
• “The Problems of Rendering Classical Urdu Ghazals into English…” in Versos and Rectos. Ed. Lata Marina Varghese. Pathanamtitta: Catholicate College,2011, 72-90. (ISBN: 978-81-921377-0-4).
• Preface to an Autobiography. The Mission. Jogen Khan. (Shyamnagar: Bibliofili, 2011)
  (ISBN: 978-81-921701-4-5).
• Book Review. Spirituality of People’s Movements: A Christian Search in the Indian Context. Poulose Mangai. Vidyajyoti Journal of Theologiocal Reflections 76.12 (Delhi: ISPCK, 2012). (ISSN: 0970-1079).

Conference Participation

Chair

• A Session titled “Who are we Kidding? The Indian Child as Audience” in a Conference on No Child’s Play: Literatures and/for Childhoods in Contemporary India organized by the Department of English, Lady Sri Ram College for Women, University of Delhi, on 16 March 2018.
• The plenary session of a workshop on Rethinking the Relevance of Religion in the Modern World organized by St. Stephen’s College in association with Delhi Brotherhood Society on 13 and 14 March 2017.
• Chaired and delivered the Opening remarks of the 3rd St. Stephen’s College public lecture on Science and Religion by Prof. Ross H Mackenzie, organized on 25 October 2016. 
• A Session in a UGC-sponsored National Conference on Versos and Rectos: Translation and Re-creation Across Borders and Cultures organized by the Post Graduate Department of English, Catholicate College, Pathanamthitta, Kerala on 15 and 16 July 2010.

Presentation

• Presented a paper titled “Parumala Thirumeni’s Urshlem Yatra Vivaranam: An Analysis” in a workshop on Travelogues in Indian Literature organized by the Department of English, University of Delhi on 5 and 6 December 2016.
• A Paper titled “Modernity and Islamic Self: A Study of Maulana Mohamed Ali’s Autobiography My Life: A Fragment” in a UGC, British Council, and Orient Blackswan—sponsored International Conference on Islam and English in India: Cultural, Literary, Pedagogic, Historical, Political and Philosophical Encounters organized by the Department of English, Hyderabad Central University, Hyderabad on 6, 7 and 8 September 2011.
• A Paper titled “Domestic Ideology and the Treatment of Sexuality in the Victorian Novel: A Study of Elizabeth Gaskell’s Mary Barton” in a UGC-sponsored National Seminar on Women’s Voices: A critical Investigation organized by the Department of English and Research Centre, Govt. Brennen College, Thalassery, Kerala on 12 and 13 August 2010.
• A Paper titled “The Problem of Translating Urdu Ghazals into English and their Postcolonial Redefinition” in a UGC-sponsored National Conference on Versos and Rectos: Translation and Re-creation Across Borders and Cultures organized by the Post Graduate Department of English, Catholicate College, Pathanamthitta, Kerala on 15and 16 July 2010.
• A Paper titled “Revisiting Khasi Literature and Culture in the Modern Context” in a UGC-sponsored National Conference on the Linguistic, Cultural and Artistic Heritage of the Tribal People of India organized by the Department of English, St. Dominic’s College, Kanjirapally, Kerala on 4 and 5 February 2010.

Special Lectures

International

• Delivered a Lecture on “Tagore and Japan” on 16 October 2018 at Keio University, Shonan Fujisawa Campus (SFC), inaugurating an academic collaboration between St. Stephen’s College and Keio University, Japan.
• Delivered the following lectures at Soka University, Tokyo, Japan as Visiting Lecturer from 05 to 24 October 2018:
  • The Impact of Ancient Sanskrit Classics on Goethe and the German Orientalists in the Nineteenth Century.
  • The Economic Fundamentals of British Imperialism in India.
  • Learning English and Indian Philosophy at St. Stephen’s College.
  • Strategies and Conventions of Academic Writing.
  • Tropes, Themes and Motifs in Fantasy Literature in the West.
• Delivered three public lectures on the topic “Negotiating Hinduism and Christianity in the History of Kerala” on 25, 26, and 27 October 2017 as Westcott-Teape Lecturer at the University of Cambridge.

National/State/Regional

• Conducted a Curriculum Enrichment Programme at the Department of English, Union Christian College, Shillong Meghalaya from 21-23 September 2015.
• A Special Lecture on the methodology of Literature at Catholicate College, Pathanamthitta, Kerala on 29 December 2014.
• An inaugural lecture for the English Association on English Studies and Critical Theory at SPM College for Women, Delhi University in September 2012.
• Coordinated a three weeks course on “An Introduction to Indian Culture” for Japanese students from Soka University, Japan in February-March since 2014 for a period of six years
• Coordinated a 14 days course on “Entrepreneurship and Social Transformation in India” for Japanese students from Keio University in February-March 2019.

On-going Projects

• Malayalam Travelogue Translation (Colonial Period) Project under the Centre for Academic Translation and Archiving, Department of English, University of Delhi.

Administrative Experience

Statutory

•  Bursar, Stephen’s College, (11 January 2016 to Present)
•  Public Information Officer, St. Stephen’s College, (27 July 2019 to Present)
•  Member, College Governing Body (Ex-officio) (11 January 2016 to Present)
•  Member Secretary, College Finance Committee (11 January 2016 to Present)
•  Coordinator, College Building Committee, (11 January 2016 to Present)
•  Convener, Grievance Redressal Cell, St. Stephen’s College (1 April 2016 to Present)
•  Member, Internal Quality Assurance Cell (IQAC) (11 January 2016 to Present)
•  Nodal Officer, National Scholarship Portal (25 September 2019 to Present)
•  Nodal Officer, J&K Prime Minister’s Special Scholarship Scheme (2018 to Present)
•  Convener, College Purchase Committee (11 January 2016 to Present)

External

• Peer Team Member, Academic and Administrative Audit organized by Kristu Jayanti College (Autonomous), Bangalore on 29 and 30 August 2019.

Internal/Non-Statutory

•  Head, Department of English (09 January to 30 April 2017)
•  Chairperson, College Café (11 January 2016 to Present)
•  Coordinator, Centre for Languages, St. Stephen’s College (1 May 2014 to Present)
•  Coordinator, Soka University-St. Stephen’s College Academic Partnership Programme (2013-Present)
•  Coordinator, Keio University-St. Stephen’s College Academic Partnership Programme (2018-Present)
•  Convener, Research Project Monitoring Committee (11 January 2016 to Present)
•  Convener, College Bursary Committee (11 January 2016 to Present)
•  Convener, Science Facilities Committee (11 January 2016 to Present)
•  Associate Dean (Residence), (March 2015 to January 2016)
•  Resident Tutor, Mukarji West Block, (1 July 2014 to 30 April 2015)

Training Courses

• Completed a 28 Days Orientation Programme in the Human Resources Development Centre, Jamia Millia Islamia, from 19 July to 16 August 2016.

Extracurricular Activities

• Appointed President & Staff Adviser, Social Service League, St. Stephen’s College (24 July 2013 to Present).
• Appointed Staff Adviser, Malayalam Literary Society, St. Stephen’s College (24 July 2013 to Present).
• Appointed Staff Advisor, BA Programme Society, St. Stephen’s College from 1 September 2012 to 22 May 2013.

Languages Known

• Malayalam, English, German, Syriac