Ranjana Khanna is a

literary critic A genre of arts criticism, literary criticism or literary studies is the study, evaluation, and interpretation of literature. Modern literary criticism is often influenced by literary theory, which is the philosophical analysis of literature' ...

and

theorist A theory is a systematic and rational form of abstract thinking about a phenomenon, or the conclusions derived from such thinking. It involves contemplative and logical reasoning, often supported by processes such as observation, experimentation, ...

recognized for her interdisciplinary,

feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideology, ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social gender equality, equality of the sexes. Feminism holds the position that modern soci ...

and internationalist contributions to the fields of post-colonial studies,

feminist theory Feminist theory is the extension of feminism into theoretical, fictional, or Philosophy, philosophical discourse. It aims to understand the nature of gender inequality. It examines women's and men's Gender role, social roles, experiences, intere ...

literature Literature is any collection of Writing, written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially novels, Play (theatre), plays, and poetry, poems. It includes both print and Electroni ...

and

political philosophy Political philosophy studies the theoretical and conceptual foundations of politics. It examines the nature, scope, and Political legitimacy, legitimacy of political institutions, such as State (polity), states. This field investigates different ...

. She is best known for her work on

melancholia Melancholia or melancholy (from ',Burton, Bk. I, p. 147 meaning black bile) is a concept found throughout ancient, medieval, and premodern medicine in Europe that describes a condition characterized by markedly depressed mood, bodily complain ...

and

psychoanalysis PsychoanalysisFrom Greek language, Greek: and is a set of theories and techniques of research to discover unconscious mind, unconscious processes and their influence on conscious mind, conscious thought, emotion and behaviour. Based on The Inte ...

, but has also published extensively on questions of post-colonial agency, film,

Algeria Algeria, officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered to Algeria–Tunisia border, the northeast by Tunisia; to Algeria–Libya border, the east by Libya; to Alger ...

, area studies, autobiography, Marxism, the visual and feminist theory. She received her Ph.D. in 1993 from the

University of York The University of York (abbreviated as or ''York'' for Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a public Collegiate university, collegiate research university in York, England. Established in 1963, the university has expanded to more than thir ...

. She has taught at the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW and informally U-Dub or U Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington, United States. Founded in 1861, the University of Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast of the Uni ...

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

and at the

University of Utah The University of Utah (the U, U of U, or simply Utah) is a public university, public research university in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. It was established in 1850 as the University of Deseret (Book of Mormon), Deseret by the General A ...

, and in 2000 began teaching at

Duke University Duke University is a Private university, private research university in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity, North Carolina, Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1 ...

, where she is Professor of English, Literature and Women's Studies. Her theorization of subjectivity and sovereignty, including her recent work on disposability, indignity and asylum, engages with the work of diverse thinkers such as

Derrida Jacques Derrida (; ; born Jackie Élie Derrida;Peeters (2013), pp. 12–13. See also 15 July 1930 – 9 October 2004) was a French Algerian philosopher. He developed the philosophy of deconstruction, which he utilized in a number of his texts, ...

Irigaray Luce Irigaray (; born 3 May 1930) is a Belgium, Belgian-born French people, French feminist, philosopher, linguist, psycholinguist, psychoanalyst, and Cultural studies, cultural theorist who examines the uses and misuses of language in relation ...

Kant Immanuel Kant (born Emanuel Kant; 22 April 1724 – 12 February 1804) was a German philosopher and one of the central Enlightenment thinkers. Born in Königsberg, Kant's comprehensive and systematic works in epistemology, metaphysics, et ...

Marx Karl Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, political theorist, economist, journalist, and revolutionary socialist. He is best-known for the 1848 pamphlet '' The Communist Manifesto'' (written with Friedrich Engels) ...

Heidegger Martin Heidegger (; 26 September 1889 – 26 May 1976) was a German philosopher known for contributions to phenomenology, hermeneutics, and existentialism. His work covers a range of topics including metaphysics, art, and language. In April ...

, de Beauvoir, and Spivak. From 2007 until 2015, she was the Margaret Taylor Smith Director of Women's Studies, and in July 2017, she was appointed to be the incoming director of the John Hope Franklin Humanities Institute, both at Duke University.

Publications

Books

* ''Algeria Cuts: Women and Representation, 1830 to the Present''. Stanford University Press. 2007. * ''Dark Continents: Psychoanalysis and Colonialism''. Duke University Press. 2003.

Articles and book chapters

* "Speculation, or, Living in the Face of the Intolerable." In ''Journal of Middle East Women's Studies.'' (2018). 14:1. * "Stranger." In ''New Literary History.'' (2018). 49:2. * "On the Name, Ideation, and Sexual Difference." In ''differences: A Journal of Feminist Cultural Studies.'' (2016). 27:2. * "On the Right to Sleep, Perchance to Dream." In ''A Concise Companion to Psychoanalysis, Literature, and Culture.'' Eds. Laura Marcus and Ankhi Mukherjee. (2014): 351-366. * "To the Lighthouse: Zineb Sedira & Ranjana Khanna in Conversation." Amy Powell, Zineb Sedira & Ranjana Khanna. ''Gulf Coast.'' (2014) 26.2 Summer/Fall. * "Rex, or the Negation of Wandering." In ''Deconstructing Zionism.'' Eds. Gianni Vattimo and

Michael Marder Michael Marder is Ikerbasque Research Professor of Philosophy at the University of the Basque Country, Vitoria-Gasteiz. He works in the phenomenological tradition of Continental philosophy, environmental thought, and political philosophy. Educa ...

. (2013): 133-147. * "The Lumpenproletariat, the Subaltern, the Mental Asylum." '' South Atlantic Quarterly.'' (2013) 112:1. * "Touching, Unbelonging, and the Absence of Affect." ''Feminist Theory'' (2012) 13:2. * "Hope, Demand, and the Perpetual." In ''Unconscious Dominions.'' Eds. Warwick Anderson, Deborah Jenson, and Richard C. Keller. (2011): 247-264. * "Racial France, or the Melancholic Alterity of Postcolonial Studies." ''Public Culture'' (2011). * "Unbelonging: In Motion." ''Differences'' (2010). * "Technologies of Belonging: Sensus Communis, Disidentification." ''Communities of Sense'' (2009). * "Disposability." ''Differences''. (2009). * "Indignity." ''Positions'' 16:1 (2008). * "Fabric, Skin, Honte-ologie." ''Shame and the Visual Arts'' (2008). * "From Rue Morgue to Rue des Iris." ''Screen'' 48:2 (2007): 237-44. * * R. Khanna and Srinivas Aravamudan. "Interview with Fredric Jameson." ed. Ian Buchanan, Fredric Jameson, ''Jameson on Jameson: Conversations on Cultural Marxism'' (2007): 203-240. * "Post-Palliative." ''Postcolonial Text'' 2:1 (2006). * "Asylum." ''Texas International Law Journal'' 41:3 (2006): 471-90. * "Frames, Contexts, Community, Justice." Summer 2003. However, the issue appeared in November 2005. ''

Diacritics A diacritic (also diacritical mark, diacritical point, diacritical sign, or accent) is a glyph added to a letter or to a basic glyph. The term derives from the Ancient Greek (, "distinguishing"), from (, "to distinguish"). The word ''diacrit ...

'' 33:2 (2005): 11-41. * "On Asylum." ''SAQ'' (2005). * R. Khanna. "Signatures of the Impossible." ''Duke Journal of Law and Gender Policy'' (2004). * "Latent Ghosts and the Manifesto." ''Art History: Journal of the Association of Art Historians'' 26:2 (April, 2003): 244-286. * "Baya (translation)." ''Art History: Journal of the Association of Art Historians'' 26:2 (April, 2003): 287. * "Le Combat de Baya (translation)." ''Art History: Journal of the Association of Art Historians'' 26:2 (April, 2003): 288-289. * * "Taking a Stand for Afghanistan." ''Signs'' 28:1 (Fall, 2002): 464-5. * with R. Khanna, Barbara Burton, Nouray Ibryamova, Dyan Ellen Mazurana, and S. Lily Mendoza. "Cartographies of Scholarship: The Ends of Nation-States, International Studies, and the Cold War." ''Encompassing Gender: Integrating International Studies and Women's Studies'' (2002): 21-45. * "The Experience of Evidence: Language, Law and the Mockery of Justice." ''Algeria in and Out of French'' (January, Jan. 2001). * "The Ambiguity of Ethics: Specters of Colonialism." ''Feminist Consequences: Theory for the New Century'' (January, 2001). * "Cartographies of Scholarship." With Mendoza, Mazurana, Burton and Ibryamova ''Area & International Studies Curriculum: Integration Book'' (January, 2000). * "From Third to Fourth Cinema." ''Third Text'' (1998): 13-32. * "'Araby' (Dubliners): Women's Time and the Time of the Nation." Refereed Joyce, ''Feminism, Colonialism/Postcolonialism/European Joyce Studies'' (1998): 81-101. * "The Construction of the Dark Continent: Agency as Autobiography." ''Women's Lives/Women's Times'' (December, Dec. 1997): 103-20. * with R. Khanna and Karen Engle. "Forgotten History: Myth, Empathy, and Assimilated Culture." ''Feminism and the New Democracy'' (1997): 67-80. * "Feminism and Psychoanalysis: Repetition, Repression and the Unconscious." ''New Directions in Cognitive Science'' (1995): 358-67.

Other

* Interview, "Asylum, Melancholia and Psychoanalysis" - 'Hawke Talks' Episode 04, 2013. https://web.archive.org/web/20150409054806/http://www.you/ tube.com/watch?v=1rEAszWlAuU * Radio Interview, "On Asylum and the Right to Sleep," on "The Wire Community Radio." 27 June 2013. http://www.thewire.org.au/storyDetail.aspx?ID=10521 * Ranjana Khanna discusses the national poster campaign Who Needs Feminism on WUNC radio, May 10, 2012. * November DukeReads with Ranjana Khanna. ''The White Tiger'', by Aravind Adiga, presented by Ranjana Khanna. November 11, 2009. * R. Khanna. "Participant in MLA Radio Program "What's the Word?" on Gillo Pontecorvo's Battle of Algiers." 2006. * R. Khanna. ""From Exile to Asylum" Audio section of Bloomsday 100 created by The James Joyce Center, Bloomsday 100, and Hyperfecto CD-Rom 2005." . 2005. * R.Khanna. "Review of Emily Apter's ''Continental Drift: From National Characteristics to Virtual Subjects''". (U of Chicago P 1999), MLQ 61:4 (December, Dec. 2000): 692-695. * R.Khanna. "Review of ''Female Subjects in Black and White: Race, Psychoanalysis, Feminism''". Signs 26:1 (Fall, 2000): 262-5.

References

* * R.Khanna. "Asylum." ''Texas International Law Journal''. Jul 1, 2006. http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1P3-1215282531.html * Boitten, Jennifer. https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=32480 * Neath, Nic. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ppi.131/abstract

Footnotes

External links

Duke Women's Studies
{{DEFAULTSORT:Khanna, Ranjana American women philosophers American feminists Feminist theorists American political philosophers American literary theorists Alumni of the University of York Living people American psychoanalysts Postcolonial literature 20th-century American philosophers 21st-century American philosophers Scholars of feminist philosophy Duke University faculty University of Washington faculty University of Utah faculty American academics of women's studies Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century American women American academics of Indian descent Feminism and psychoanalysis