Professor Ayesha Mukherjee

My research and teaching interests lie in the fields of early modern British and Indian literature and cultural history, particularly, the literature and history of food and famine. My work develops interdisciplinary approaches both within the traditional contexts of early modern English studies, and for the study of Anglo-Indian relations through multilingual literatures in the context of early modern global exchanges. I am committed to building cross-cultural (as well as cross-disciplinary) dialogue through my research and teaching.

These interests are reflected in a wide range of interdisciplinary publications, including my first book Penury into Plenty: Dearth and the Making of Knowledge in Early Modern England (Routledge Research in Early Modern History, 2015), the edited book A Cultural History of Famine: Food Security and the Environment in India and Britain (Routledge Environmental Humanities, 2019), the popular anthology Famine Tales: A Graphic Anthology (Jadavpur University Press, 2022), and various articles and chapters in scholarly journals and edited volumes. I am currently completing a new monograph provisionally titled Literary Geographies of Dearth: Placing Famine in India and Britain, 1550-1700, funded by a Leverhulme Research Fellowship (2023-24). My most recent published and forthcoming work is connected to my AHRC project Famine and Dearth in India and Britain, 1550-1800 (2014-16) which produced a web-database in collaboration with colleagues from Jadavpur University and Aligarh Muslim University in India, and the Exeter Digital Humanities team. I recently led the Impact Follow-on project Famine Tales from India and Britain (2019-21), also funded by the AHRC, which involved collaborating with academic and artist communities in India, and with The British Library, to create stories and artwork based on early modern famines.

I teach and supervise widely across the undergraduate and post-graduate curricula in early modern English studies, as well as contributing to the Faculty's interdisciplinary MA programme in Food Studies. My teaching is research driven, and incorporates the resources created by my research projects.  

Biography:

I studied at the Calcutta International School in West Bengal, India, until 1992. I then went to Presidency College, University of Calcutta, graduating BA with Honours in English in 1995, and to Jadavpur University, Calcutta, where I completed an MA in English, First Class, in 1997. I worked as a teacher of A-level English at the Calcutta International School until 2001, when I was awarded a Felix Scholarship which allowed me to take up my place at St Hugh's College, University of Oxford. I took an M.Phil. in English Literature 1500-1660, with Distinction, in 2003. The award of the Prince of Wales Research Scholarship from Trinity College, University of Cambridge, enabled me to study for my Ph.D. ("Food and Dearth in Early Modern England: The Writings of Hugh Platt") which was awarded in 2007. I held temporary lectureship and teaching fellowship posts in the English Departments at the University of Exeter, Streatham Campus (2007-08), the University of Leicester (2008-09), and the University of Bristol (2009). I was appointed to a permanent lectureship in Renaissance Literature and Culture in the English Department, University of Exeter, in 2009, became a Senior Lecturer in 2014, and Associate Professor of Early Modern Literature and Culture in 2019. I was previously at the Cornwall Campus (2009-2016) and am now based at the Streatham Campus (2016 onwards).