Her Campus: How long have you been a professor at Brandeis?
Harleen Singh: I’ve been a tenure track professor since 2005.
HC: So I know that you teach Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. Is this something you always knew you wanted to teach?
HS: Well it’s hard to say that I always knew because I doubt that there’s anything that we always know. When I took Women and Gender’s Studies classes in college, I certainly thought that this was something I’d like to do. Whether I’d end up teaching introductory courses or doing other things, that, I didn’t always know. I wrote my honors thesis on a woman novelist, whose novels deal with women, so I did know that I wanted to work on gender and women’s lives and the ways in which literature and history interact with them. But as an undergraduate it wasn’t so clear to me that I wanted to be teaching these things. But once I got to graduate school and started doing more teaching as a teaching fellow, I taught some of these courses and I thought it would be really fun to do. Plus I was completely blown away by how transformative some of these courses could be for undergraduates. I thought that would be cool to be a part of.
HC: Which other areas of study do you teach in?
HS: Well, I was trained in literary studies, so I have my PhD in literature. I teach South Asian literature within which I also teach South Asian women writers, immigrant women writers, and others. And then I teach South Asian Studies, which is kind of an interdisciplinary way of looking at the region of South Asia through culture, anthropology, history, and literature. And I teach film. That’s the most interesting of all. I teach the Indian film course and it always has about fifty plus people enrolled in it. It’s a great course to teach. It’s a lot of fun to teach the movies that you grew up with and to have this completely new generation of people interacting with them and talking about them and enjoying them. I like that. I don’t think you can learn without enjoying things.
HC: Who is you your number one female role model?
HS: Wow, that’s a very hard question. Would it be a novelist? Would it be an activist? It’s so hard to pick one person! I could name you ten! The reason I’m hesitating is because it’s a complicated question because there’s so many women. There are so many aspects to women as well. Women as heroes, they’re not that simple. For example I admire so many women who were in the public eye, who were heads of state, but then I don’t admire them for some of the things that they did. Well, I admire Gloria Steinem and Angela Davis. I admire this woman on who I’ve written a book—a 19th century queen that led her troops in battle against the British in India, and died while fighting on the battlefield. My book is basically about how she is represented in history, literature and popular culture. So I’m definitely an admirer of hers. I think it may not be fashionable to say, but even Mother Teresa. People may or may not agree with her politics, but to dedicate your entire life to helping somebody else—that takes a huge amount of will and commitment and spirit. Also, the very young girl Malala. Whatever people might say about her and criticize her, she took a bullet to be able to go to school. I don’t know how you can’t admire that.
HC: What’s one thing you would share with someone who wanted to learn more about feminism?
HS: First of all, I would tell them to reject this notion that feminism that is simply about making one gender or one sex stronger. I would ask them to think of feminism as a tool, as a way of thinking that serves to dismantle hierarchy in the world of race, sexuality, gender. Obviously it did come about as a movement for the empowerment of women but very soon it was evident that women can’t be empowered without empowering other people being oppressed by race or sexuality and so many other things. It is about seeking equality and justice in the world in whatever form we may find it.
HC: What is your favorite thing about teaching young people?
HS: My favorite thing about teaching young people is that they are continuously reminding me that I am old [laughs]. In truth my favorite part about teaching young people is the energy they bring. We might think of it in terms of “this is what they don’t know” but it’s also the not knowing that lets them ask the right questions. And they teach me, you know. Whether knowingly or not, they teach me a lot and they take me along with them on a journey of exploration and discovery. Every year I get to discover feminism and women and gender and sexuality studies all anew. I don’t know if that would happen in any other field. So that’s my favorite part.
Favorites:
Book: Oh favorite book! Give me a second…the Sherlock Holmes series by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
TV Show: Homeland
Food: Anything in chocolate
Spot on Campus: the Mandel terrace