Anika Shah

Anika Shah is an early-career researcher and writer who explores the intersections of popular culture, literature, gender and sexuality, and affect, emotion, and embodiment through the lens of feminist cultural studies. She holds a PhD from the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) for her dissertation Unpacking the Closet: Queer Disclosures from Bangladesh. Beyond academia, she writes, translates, and edits fiction and non-fiction across a diversity of creative platforms. As a researcher and creative practitioner, she is intrigued by projects that juxtapose both terrains. 

PhD, Cultural Studies, University of Technology Sydney, Australia

MA, Literatures in English and Cultural Studies, Jahangirnagar University, Bangladesh

BA, English Literature, Jahangirnagar University, Bangladesh

Gender and Sexuality; Studies of Popular Culture and Literature; Affect, Emotion and Embodiment.

1. Shah, A. & Hassan, I. (2017).  A Tiny Book of 18 Word Stories on Revenge. Dhaka: Authors.
2. Narayan, R. K. (2014). Malgudir Kichhudin (A. Shah, Trans.). Dhaka: Shuddhashar. (Original Work Published 1996).

1. Shah, A. (2018, April 7). The ‘Other’ Ones: Talking about the Third Gender, the Hijras. Bangladesh News, p.8.
2. Shah, A. (2018, March 31). Project Unbreakable: About assaults, survivors and more. Bangladesh News, p. 8.
3. Shah, A. (2018, March 24). Of Condemned Paradises: Ferdousi Priyabhashini in memorium. Bangladesh News, p. 8.
4. Shah, A. (2018, March 10). Let’s clear the air a little: Talking about Feminism. Bangladesh News, p. 8.
5. Shah, A. (2018, March 3). On a day like today, yesterday, even tomorrow: Celebrating Women’s Day. Bangladesh News, p. 8.
6. Shah, A. (2018, February 24). Can I interest you in a cup of Gender?: A Justification for the Gender Conversation. Bangladesh News, p. 9.
7. Naoroibam, S. (2018). “Nungshitombi and I” (A. Shah, Trans.). Six Seasons Review, vol. 4, no. 2, 2018, pp. 81-83.

1. Shah, A. 2023, ‘The “Bangladesh Paradox”: Reflecting on History to Navigate Research on Queer Bangladeshi Women’, Writing from Below, Imagining New Futures Conference Proceedings, vol. 6, no. 1.
2. Shah, A. 2019, ‘Witches of Instagram: Invoking the Spirit of Witchcraft in the Twenty-First Century’, Nrvijnana Patrika (Journal of Anthropology), vol. 24, pp. 1-16.
3. Shah, A. 2018, ‘Pleasure and Pain: The Politics of Sexual Representation in Hollywood Horrors’, The Journal of Social Studies, no. 159 (July-October), pp. 28-38.

1. Pessoa, F. 2021, ‘There Was a Moment’, trans. A. Shah, Gaanpaar, 20 January.
2. Shah, A. 2019, ‘You Were Never Really Here’, The Daily Star, 20 April, p.12.
3. Shah, A. 2018. ‘Unsolved Murders, Gender Identities, and Sexual Orientations: Addressing the elephant in the room’, Bangladesh News, 21 April, p. 8.
4. Shah, A. 2018. ‘Pahela Boishakh: Remembering what it’s about, and what it’s not about’, Bangladesh News, 14 April, p.8.
5. Shah, A. 2018, ‘The ‘Other’ Ones: Talking about the Third Gender, the Hijras’, Bangladesh News, 7 April, p.8.
6. Shah, A. 2018, ‘Project Unbreakable: About assaults, survivors and more’, Bangladesh News, 31 March, p. 8.
7. Shah, A. 2018, ‘Of Condemned Paradises: Ferdousi Priyabhashini in memorium’, Bangladesh News, 24 March, p. 8.
8. Shah, A. 2018, ‘Let’s clear the air a little: Talking about Feminism’, Bangladesh News, 10 March, p. 8.
9. Shah, A. 2018, ‘On a day like today, yesterday, even tomorrow: Celebrating Women’s Day’, Bangladesh News, 3 March, p. 8.
10. Shah, A. 2018, ‘Can I interest you in a cup of Gender?: A Justification for the Gender Conversation’, Bangladesh News, 24 February, p. 9.
11. Naoroibam, S. 2018, ‘Nungshitombi and I’, trans. A. Shah, Six Seasons Review, vol. 4, no. 2, pp. 81-83.

1. ‘Why are the lesbians laughing?: On Humour and Suffering in Brackets’, in the Asian Australian Media, Culture, and Society Symposium at UTS on 18-19 November 2024
2. ‘The Mobility of Stuckedness: Queer Bangladeshi Women across Spaces’ in the Asian Australian x Asian American Studies research exchange symposium at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) on 4-6 June 2024
3. ‘Women on the Run: Mobility and Aspiration in Queer Bangladesh’ in the CSAA 30th Anniversary Conference at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) University, Melbourne on 1-3 December 2022.
4. ‘Of Mothers and Daughters: Mobility, Kinship, and Class in Queer Bangladesh’ in the Australian Women’s and Gender Studies Association (AWGSA) Biannual Conference ‘Activist Energies’ at the University of Melbourne on 28-30 November 2022.
5. ‘Why Here? Why Women? Why Queer?: Contextualising Research on Bangladeshi Queer Culture’ in the CSAA ‘Bodies in Flux’ Conference at Edith Cowan University, Perth on 28-30 June 2022.
6. ‘Of Violent Delights and Violent Ends: A Postcolonial Reading of the Posthuman Condition in Westworld’ in the Sixth International ACGS Conference: Racial Orders, Racist Borders held by Amsterdam Centre for Globalisation Studies at the University of Amsterdam on 17-18 October 2019.
7. ‘Are We There Yet?: Rise of the Death Meme or Transition from the Existential to the Absurd’ in the Transgressive Cultures Conference held at The University of Chicago Center in Paris on 9-10 November 2017.