Soham Mukherjee

Background

About Soham Mukherjee

It was probably after reading Treasure Island for the third time that I realised I wanted to pursue books as a career. I gave a significant amount of thought to jobs in the publishing industry and journalism while also batting away the pressure of pursuing a materially more lucrative engineering degree. When I finally decided on studying English Literature and was able to crack into the hallowed halls of Presidency University, Kolkata, I knew I was in the right place. I took on private tuition students to earn my own way and realised that teaching actually lived up to its cliched reputation of being a rewarding profession. My mind was made up. After my postgraduation, I taught for two years at Techno International Newtown – an experience that taught me a tremendous amount about life, the workplace and, most importantly, about people. At this institute I had taught courses in Business Communication and Technical Writing while also conducting language lab classes to develop students’ practical communication skills and employability. I had also shouldered multiple administrative duties including mentoring freshmen. Jumping into the Ph.D, I dove headlong into research and, in all honesty, found that I preferred being a researcher more than merely being a lecturer. My thesis was entitled “History, Memory and Myth in Ismail Kadare's Novels: A Study from The Postcolonial Perspective” which investigated the potential for applying postcolonial theory in post-Soviet Eastern Europe by identifying postcolonial traits in the novels of Albanian writer Ismail Kadare. Over the course of my research I have become interested in domains such as oral tradition, memory studies and game studies. I intend to pivot to the latter in pursuant of a post-doctoral position. I am currently pursuing research in critically reconsidering postcolonial theory from the perspective of the Global South. In my current position as Assistant Professor of English, School of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Presidency University, Bangalore, I have been assigned Business Communication and Technical Writing courses for undergraduate engineering students.