Arna Dirghangi

Profile

I am a PhD scholar researching postmemory and digital archives of the 1947 Partition in England, fully funded by the University of Leeds Arts, Humanities and Cultures (AHC) full-time Doctoral Scholarship.

I graduated with a BA (Hons) and MA in English Literature, achieving a first-class-first rank during my undergraduate degree. Since my university years, I have been associated as an archival and transcription intern with various digital archives and museums of the 1947 Partition. I am an avid translator by passion, having worked as a Bengali-English translator for the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), Govt. of India, and The People’s Archive of Rural India (PARI).

Memberships:

1. Postgraduate Member, Royal Historical Society (RHS), United Kingdom.
2. Member, The Digital Humanities Research Group @ DCCH, University of Leeds. https://dcch.leeds.ac.uk/the-digital-humanities-research-group-dcch/digital-humanities-research-group-members/
3. Member, Critical AI Research Group (CAIR), University of Leeds. https://ahc.leeds.ac.uk/fine-art-research-innovation/doc/critical-ai-research-group
4. PGR member, Practice Heritage Leeds, University of leeds, https://practiceheritage.leeds.ac.uk/people_category/postgraduate-research-students/

Research interests

My thesis explores how postmemories of the 1947 Partition are constructed and encountered amongst third-generation South Asian British citizens in England, focusing on the role of digitality where postmemories of the inheritors act as vessels that reshape their affect/s regarding the event. This is then connected to the rise of anti-immigration policies in contemporary England and the significance of the inheritance of the 1947 Partition’s digital afterlives in South Asia.

I also work as a PGR Teaching Assistant on the module ARTF1052, “Networks, Environments and Cultures” for undergraduate students in the University, faculty of AHC.

Qualifications

• MA English, Presidency University, Kolkata, India (First Class)
• BA (Honours) English, Presidency University, Kolkata, India (First Class, First, University topper)