Sara Kabir

Dissertation:

1. M.Ed. Dissertation (2025): Gumdrops and Grief: Contextualizing the Politics of Food and Hunger in Panem.
   Focus: food studies, YA dystopia, political readings of literature for young readers.
   Supervised by Dr. Julie E. McAdam.
   
2. M.Litt. Dissertation (2024): Grieving Amongst the Fireflies: Exploring Childhood, Loss, Trauma, and Grief in Studio Ghibli’s Animated Fantasies.
   Focus: affect theory, memory studies, cultural memory, grief studies, animated fantasy.
   Supervised by Dr. Dahlia Porter.

Research Papers Presented at National Conferences:

1. Presented a paper titled “Grieving Amongst the Fireflies — Exploring Childhood, Loss, Trauma, and Grief in Studio Ghibli’s Animated Fantasies” at the Alumni Colloquium Series, held at North South University, Dhaka (Fall 2025). 

Research Papers Presented at International Conferences:

1. Presented a paper titled “Infrastructures of Care: Solarpunk, Science-Fantasy, and Ethical Technology in Sultana’s Dream and Monk and Robot” at the Glasgow International Fantasy Conversations (GIFCon 2026: Technologies of the Fantastic) held online (15th May, 2026). 

2. Presented a paper titled “Ghosts of Childhood: Temporal Grief and the Afterlives of Memory in Studio Ghibli’s Animated Fantasies” as part of Fantasy’s Present Pasts, the inaugural European Conference on the Fantastic, held at the University of Glasgow, Scotland in person (23rd — 25th June 2026). 

• Awarded the University of Glasgow International Leadership Scholarship (2023-2024).
  
• Awarded Magna Cum Laude upon completing a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature at North South University (2018 - 2022). 

MEd in Children's Literature and Literacies
University of Glasgow, Scotland | 2024–2025

• Classification: Merit (2:1)

MLitt in English Literature: Fantasy
University of Glasgow, Scotland | 2023–2024

• Classification: Merit (2:1)

• Award: University of Glasgow International Leadership Scholarship (£10,000)

BA in English Literature
North South University, Bangladesh | 2018–2022

• Award: Magna Cum Laude

• Lecturer, 
  Department of English and Modern Languages, North South University,
  Jan 2026 - Present
• Adjunct Lecturer
  Department of English and Modern Languages, North South University,
  Sep 2025 - Dec 2025

• Contributing Writer – The Daily Star (Dec 2016 – Present)

• Intern (Commercial Supplements, Business Development) – The Daily Star (Mar 2023  – May 2023)

EAP (English for Academic Purposes) Courses: 

• ENG102: Introduction to Composition
• ENG103: Intermediate Composition
• ENG105: Advanced Composition 

Accepted Conference Abstracts:

1. "Consuming Survival: Food Anxiety, Biopolitical Control, and Futurity in Suzanne Collins’ Panem" — Abstract accepted for presentation at the DEML International Conference in Language, Literature, & TESOL: “Encountering the Humanities: Anxiety, Storytelling, Futurity”. (Oct 30-31, 2026).
2. "Fantasies of Energy Beyond Extraction: Power, Governance, and Ecological Futures in Sultana's Dream and Monk and Robot" — Abstract accepted for presentation at the Pacific Ancient and Modern Language Association Annual Conference (PAMLA) 2026, Science Fiction I Panel. The paper examines post-extractive energy imaginaries, ecological governance, and solarpunk futures in speculative fiction.
3. "Consuming Power: Food, Citizenship, and Adolescent Resistance in Suzanne Collins' Panem" — Abstract accepted for presentation at the Pacific Ancient and Modern Language Association Annual Conference (PAMLA) 2026, Young Adult Literature, Culture, and Media Panel. The paper explores food as a technology of governance and adolescent political resistance in The Hunger Games series.
4. "Eating the Past: Food, Collective Memory, and Generational Trauma in Suzanne Collins' Panem" — Abstract accepted for presentation at the 5th "Food and Memory" International Interdisciplinary Conference. The paper investigates how food functions as a site of collective memory, intergenerational trauma, and identity formation across The Hunger Games series.
5. “Infrastructures of Care: Solarpunk, Posthuman Ecologies, and Ethical Technology in Sultana’s Dream and Monk and Robot” — Abstract accepted for presentation at the International Conference on Beyond Nature and Culture (BCN2026) at Daffodil University, Bangladesh.
6. “Haunted Landscapes: Ecological Memory and Environmental Catastrophe in Studio Ghibli's Animated Fantasies”  — Abstract accepted for presentation at the Conference for Disaster Studies: Narratives, Symbolisms and Responses to Catastrophe, organised by London Centre for Interdisciplinary Research and hosted by Ritsumeikan University in Kyoto, Japan.

Academic Engagements

1. Member, ENG102 Curriculum and Textbook Revision Committee, Department of English & Modern Languages (Summer 2026).
2. Member & Reviewer, ENG103 Curriculum and Textbook Revision Committee, Department of English & Modern Languages (Summer 2026).
3. Proctor, North South University Undergraduate Admission Test (Fall 2025, Spring 2026, Summer 2026).
4. Script Checker, North South University Undergraduate Admission Test (Fall 2025, Spring 2026, Summer 2026).
5. Advisor for newly admitted Undergraduate students of the Department of English & Modern Languages, North South University (Spring 2026, Summer 2026).
6. Member, Academic Programme Committee & Communication, Media, Printing, Publicity and Publication Committee for DEML International Conference in Language, Literature, & TESOL: “Encountering the Humanities: Anxiety, Storytelling, Futurity”.
7. Member, Study Circle, School of Humanities and Social Sciences.

Training and Workshops

1. Attended and participated in productive dialogue in the Workshop on “Assessment Beyond Exams: Authentic Evaluation for the Future Workforce”, hosted by IQAC at North South University (July 23rd, 2026).
2. Attended and actively participated in the first Workshop on “Fostering Respectful Workplaces: Awareness of Sexual Harassment and Gender Equity”, hosted by the IQAC at North South University (May 6th, 2026).
3. Attended IQAC Faculty Training Workshop # 1: 'Addressing Disruptive Issues in the Classroom: Strategies for Students and Faculty' at North South University (6th March, 2025).
4. Attended the “New Faculty Orientation Workshop Spring 2026”, organised by IQAC, at North South University (18th January, 2026). 

Membership

1. Member of the Young Adult Studies Association (YASA).

• Fantasy and Speculative Fiction—worldbuilding, cultural narratives, and the politics of grief, memory, and identity, informed by trauma, affect, and narrative theory. Particular focus on the cultural politics of grief, memory, and identity in global fantasy traditions and animated mediums.

• Postcolonial and Global Literatures—intersections of power, culture, and identity in South Asian and diasporic writing, grounded in postcolonial theory, cultural memory studies, and decolonial approaches to storytelling.

• Children’s and Young Adult Literature—representations of identity, imagination, and literacy practices, with research shaped by food studies, symbolic anthropology, and political readings of dystopian and postcolonial texts for young readers.

• Film and Television Studies—narrative form, adaptation, and visual storytelling, with attention to media theory and transmedial narratology.

• Linguistics and Language Education—multilingualism, TESOL, and contemporary approaches to English language teaching.