Dr. Pragya Sengupta is an Assistant Professor of English at VIT-AP University. She completed her MPhil in 2012 and PhD in 2021 from the Centre for Applied Linguistics and Translation Studies, University of Hyderabad, under the supervision of Dr. Sriparna Das. Her research interests dwell mainly in indigenous knowledge systems, cultural memory, and translation as resistance. With a strong interdisciplinary approach, her work bridges literature, ethnography, and cultural studies. She has published articles in journals such as Translation Today, Explorations and Apni Maati. She has also translated academic works in the journal named Encounters in Translation.
Beyond academia, Dr. Sengupta channels her passion for comedy and drama as a writer and performer. She translates between English, Hindi, and Bengali, and is an active member of International Association for Translation and Intercultural Studies (IATIS) and Comparative Literature Association of India (CLAI). In 2024, she attended the Translation Research Summer School at Shanghai, China.
As a Fulbright Foreign Language Teaching Assistant, Dr. Sengupta is teaching Hindi at Ohio University, Athens. She is getting the learners to engage with Hindi not only through its grammar and vocabulary but through lived culture. During this program, she is introducing the learners to Hindi as well as its regional dialects and creating space to explore the broader non-Hindi linguistic traditions of India. To spark curiosity and deeper cultural connection, she envisions using Bollywood movies, short and engaging literary texts, collaborative events, and Indian art exhibitions.