Good day, Dr. Kiran Raveendran. I'm Arjun. I've had a look through your background and your professional record. I'm interested in hearing more about your work and how you see yourself fitting in here with our faculty. Ready to start?

Please start

Yes.

Good afternoon. Yeah, good afternoon. Thank you for the opportunity.

I have completed my PhD recently in Literature and Cultural Studies from the School of Humanities and Social Sciences at NIT, Karnataka. I'm currently I'm working as an Assistant professor of English in Yenapoya deemed to be University, Mangalore.

I'm Doctor Kiran Ravindran. I hail from Kollam district in Kerala.

My research PhD research deals with the politics of cultural construction and representation of queer identities in films.

It also examines how a set of new queer films contribute to the broader discussion on social change.

Journey has allowed me to publish UH research in UMM, internationally reputed journals indexed in corpus and Web of Science and as a research scholar and teaching assistant UMM at NITK. I have actively involved in teaching Btech students and I have engaged with courses like professional communication, engineering, ethics et cetera. Throughout my academic journey, I have actively contributed UH to the process of Academy and additionally.

Dr.

I have a profound passion for teaching and a commitment to do rigorous research, and I'm eager to contribute to the academic excellence of Vit Vellore, which is renowned for. I believe my values align seamlessly with the universities philosophy of providing students an enriching and inclusive academic environment. Thank you.

Thank you, Dr. Raveendran, for sharing your background and aspirations. Let’s proceed to evaluate your technical and academic skills systematically to assess their relevance to the qualifications outlined for this role. First, can you explain your approach to integrating Digital Humanities into traditional English studies? How do you see this integration enriching both fields?

Yes, digital humanities is a vastly emerging area in in cultural studies. If you look at cultural studies, a lot of you know, integrating AI, integrating the technical aspects to the field of literation and cultural studies is undergoing currently. So you know integrating digital humanities like digital humanities, not only seeing it as a computational technique or. You know, considering digital ARCA is for the process of research.

Which can integrate AI as an aspect of doing research AI in the sense you know how AI is being treated in science fiction, maybe in text, literary, literary discourses, films, recent films, some of the recent films where AI have been used, you know in in a significant way and you know applying this the contribution of the recent invention of. AI integration of a I In this kind of cultural setup and discourses, filmic discourses and literary discourses, we have to integrate various theories associated with digital humanities. I have been endeavored much about the theory of digital humanities but that is 1 aspect I really wish to pursue. And you know, comic and graphic novels is 1 area where I always wish to explore integrating.

You know, some of the intersections of trans cultural queer identity which is represented in the, you know, comic and graphic narratives is 11 aspect, which I always love to work on. Thank you.

Thank you, Professor Raveendran. Your perspective on integrating AI and digital media with cultural studies, particularly through science fiction, film, and graphic narratives, is intriguing. However, I noticed your answer touches on the broader possibilities of Digital Humanities but lacks specific methodologies or frameworks you have utilized so far. Could you clarify the practical tools or approaches you've incorporated—be it in research or teaching—when engaging with Digital Humanities?

Yes. So I have not, you know, actually as I already said, I have not actually endeavored digital humanities as an academic discipline. But you know, in the process of doing my research, in the process of integrating media or films, you know, in research, in queer research especially that is my area of research, gender and sexuality studies and integrating films into the research I have, but not really.

You know, injured much into the spectrum of digital humanities, but of course, you know. I have worked on digital media, how media or social media is influencing the life of people, all those aspects and how films is you know the violence being glamorized in films, glorification of violence and all those aspects they have worked on. But you know digital humanities as an academic discipline I have not much ventured into. But that is 1 area I always.

As I said, I always look up to so methodology in the sense, you know, whatever the kind of theoretical aspect is or whatever the recent theoretical intervention is, I would like to pursue my research in filmic way. That means I always love to explore digital media or film as my primary text. And as I said, you know various research methodologies that include. Analysis of the film Content analysis of the film.

Discuss analysis, I mean analyzing the language in on the basis of culture. So all these aspects I will be integrating as a research methodology, but you know, specifying digital humanities. I need to look further to integrate the aspects of digital humanities into my research. Thank you.

Thank you for your response, Professor Raveendran. While your inclination toward film and media analysis reflected through cultural and theoretical lenses is valuable, your engagement with Digital Humanities seems exploratory at this stage rather than applied. I’ll mark this as an area with developing interest but not yet deeply covered. Let’s move forward. How would you approach teaching Commonwealth Literature to students who may not be familiar with its geopolitical and cultural implications?

Yeah, I know teaching Commonwealth literature is always, you know, one of my favorite things to do because, you know, to talk about in the Indian context itself, to talk about emerging countries, to talk about, you know, post colonial countries is one of the one of my favorite topics to deal with because nowadays the students who. We call as Gen. Z kids Gen. Z in courts. So they will be really interested and we can connect with them when we talk about the contemporary setup. So some of the they can even talk about some of the contemporary authors that they have already read. And we could also connect with them. See, like when we talk about Commonwealth literature when when we. Now talk about the neo realistic approaches by Salman Rushdie or Gabriel Garcia Marcus. That these are some of the you know, best selling works or the best selling orders which who who are not really the Pulp Fiction authors who are already you know the students might already have been read some of the works by this, you know neo realistic people and how these people especially neorealism being a method used by.

These kind of writers, how they integrated the technique of neo realism.

Um, that means, you know, integrating the elements of fantasy and normalizing and presenting it in a very realistic way. So using it as a technique is 1. You know, when I, when I communicate with students in, in my, in my current setup, in my current institution, these are some of the areas that they not really like or that they really wanted to talk about. So, you know, Commonwealth literature is always one of one of my favorite.

Get to engage with and these are some of the aspects I always integrate in my in my classes. So some of the political aspects since I am dealing with research which covers a lot of marginalized identities from different ethnic and cultural backgrounds, I can, you know, deal with, I know how to deal with students who come from, you know, different background so this. Part I have utilized integrating this aspect of.

Of the, you know, whether I'm, I'm really comfortable with dealing with these kind of students, I can integrate this aspect while analyzing and not critically appreciating a literary text. So, you know, whenever there is a concept or whenever there is a keyword or a theme, I would wish to get the perspective the students first regarding that particular theme or particular aspect rather than me explaining them all these concept. So I, I won't, you know, like to. Spoonfeed Rather, I would like to go for a learner centered approach where the students will be the one, you know, exploring their thoughts and sharing ideas. So, you know, rather than talking about some of the canonical works or some of the classical literature items, these are some of the things that we feel relevant in the contemporary scenario and some of the political aspects.

You know where the, you know, new kind of literary theories when we apply to these kind of works that make some sense to the students as well. And that is 111 area where I am comfortable with actually. Thank you.

Thank you for elaborating, Professor Raveendran. Your emphasis on linking Commonwealth literature to contemporary contexts and encouraging student-driven exploration through a learner-centered approach is insightful. You’ve highlighted the relevance of using political and cultural lenses effectively. However, I observed limited concrete examples of how you specifically structure these connections or adapt to varying levels of student familiarity. Could you briefly outline a lesson plan or a tangible activity you would use to make the study of Commonwealth literature engaging for undergraduate students?

So, for example, one of the topic I have dealt with students today is speech by Steve Jobs. That's not really a part of literature, but still, you know, since that is one thing that comes to my mind, that strikes my mind first. So I have dealt with the Steve Jobs speech, with the famous speech which he's given to the Stanford University graduates in the year 2005.

So Steve Jobs was trying to communicate some of the experiences that he has gone through as a young boy. We know him as a person who has been, you know, got out of the college. It was a conscious decision made by him. But I know some aspects. I will, you know, I will share what what I mean by this learner centered approach. So some of the aspects like financial precarity.

Uh, some of the aspects like, uh, uh, you know, privilege, these are some of the aspects where, uh, still students, uh, you know, uh, are confined to. So when we, when I talked about privilege, one question I asked them is who is really privileged is the one sitting inside the classroom like you, uh, you know, umm, those who could afford a graduation, a graduate degree. Or a person of their same age walking freely through the corridors. Who's?

Really privileged. So most of them will be, you know, most of them have answered as the person who is sitting inside the classroom as privileged because they can afford, you know, financially they can afford this graduation course. But you know, I asked them to give it a thing twice and then they come up with the same answer that they are privileged. Then I integrated it with. Steve Jobs life itself.

Steve Jobs life in the sense, you know he became privileged after dropping out from the college. That means he has got the freedom to choose the course that he really want to pursue in a sense that you don't need to spend the entire money for a graduation, but he can be selective and select whatever he wants. So you know, this is 1 privilege. Sitting inside a classroom and learning whatever the teacher offers is a privilege since my privilege they can afford.

They can afford the financial thing, I mean fees. But the one who is walking through the corridors of the same age is privileged in a sense that is not restricted to sit inside the class or you know, learn whatever or teach not learn whatever the teacher is teaching. So this is 1 privilege in another sense. So this is what I always, you know, try to integrate in classrooms to think outside the box. So rather than, you know. You know, talking about.

Much about I don't I, I couldn't you know, this is 1 simple example that comes to my mind since I just now, you know, before one hour. Also, I dealt with the same topic with the Steve Jobs speech, so a different perspectives emerges. After I shared this thing, students began talking about a lot of perspective they have. So this is 11 critical thinking aspect that I linked with the contemporary scenario contemporary. Scenario in the sense that, you know, when we deal with deal with the aspects of precarity or, you know, precarious living conditions or what what is the life with vulnerability. These are some of the concrete literary terms or theoretical terms that comes after postcolonial, you know postcolonial theory. So these terms rather than talking about. You know, Commonwealth literature. I would like to integrate this kind of postcolonial aspects.

Into, you know, into the theoretical terms, rather simplifying it in terms that students could relate to. Thank you.

Thank you, Professor Raveendran. Your approach to fostering critical thinking and connecting abstract theoretical concepts with relatable contemporary examples is commendable. Using accessible frameworks like Steve Jobs’ speech to discuss privilege and precarity demonstrates an effort to engage students meaningfully. However, explicitly integrating these methods into Commonwealth literature curricula—for example, linking specific texts to postcolonial themes—might anchor the lessons more concretely. Let us now pivot to your methods for teaching English Language skills. When dealing with a diverse group of students with varying proficiency levels in English, how would you ensure inclusivity and effectiveness in your teaching approach?

Yeah, that's, that's a very good question actually, because you know, dealing with.

You know, wide variety of students is always, always task actually. So my teaching method is to, you know, understand the level of students first. Since I already said I deals with different marginalized identities in literary text, you know, in various discourses in films.

So I have the capability to understand the needs and interest of students who come from different ethnic and cultural backgrounds. So what I do is I would, you know, I pursue or I attempt a kind of assessment before in the initial stages of the class itself assessment, not to label them as slow learners or advanced learners, but for my better understanding, I would, you know, rather do this.

In a sense that to understand their level of, you know, the their, their level of capability. So you know, not only that doesn't does not only depends on the marks they have scored in the previous semester or something like that. It will be a real time analysis because I being the person who is going to teach them for the next semester or for the next year. So I would like to know it myself rather than. Looking at their scorecard or score sheet in the previous semester, yes, of course score sheet will help me for just to identify the student, just to identify how much mark they have scored. But the real time analysis in a sense that various activities I conduct like they have to talk for a while, they have to be interactive, they will be given some writing activity and based on that I, you know, certain rubrics I myself will design.

And based on that, I will identify which student belongs to which level, which learning level. So after identifying that I can capture what what their I know according to their interest, I can cater whatever they want. So, you know, if a student is quite advanced in terms of in terms of his language skill, in in terms of his acquisition skills, then I can ask him to do. A creative piece to write a creative piece giving some kind of topics and, uh, guidance. And if a student is, uh, from the, uh, you know, slow learner level, then I can ask him to, you know, start some basic work or I can give, assign him some work to start with, to start, uh, this kind of language acquisition to, uh, you know, become a more advanced learner in the future, future, future time.

So that is that is my method of analysis. I would like to integrate my teaching learning evaluation plan in this way as well, you know, integrating activities and rather than allowing students to sit in their comfort zone, I would stimulate them to be more interactive. And you know, I believe always believe in a student center classroom, as I always said. So of course, you know, if for it's a four credit course and if it.

Sorry

It is 4 hours per week at least, you know, one hour a week will be given one or two hours a week will be given to students to talk. And I will be there mentoring the students and monitoring the class, guiding them to make it more effective in a way that they are the one who's going to talk about the world and talk for the world. So I believe in, you know, what they do in the class rather than. Rather than thinking about the marks they have scored in the previous semester. So this is the initial kind of.

Of assessment that I would love to do in my class and I have done it in my classes and I have, you know, identified that it is a very successful way of assessing the students rather than looking into the marks alone. So you know, this will give the students a kind of confidence when when when they are supposed to face the placement team, when they are supposed to face the recruitment panel. This kind of insights a real time insights.

Addressing a crowd, uh, interacting with a crowd will give them some kind of mileage or leverage in their placement sessions and in their professional career as well. So this is the, you know, assessment criteria. I do before, you know, in the initial sessions of the semester itself, before starting with the semester so that I can identify the capability of the, each capability of each student and I can cater the rubrics according to them.

The same means according to them. So this is what uh, kind of, uh, you know, umm, kind of teaching pedagogy. I, I would like to integrate in my, in my teaching. Thank you.

Thank you, Professor Raveendran. Your student-centric approach, structured assessment methods, and emphasis on real-time evaluation to address diverse proficiency levels are commendable. You’ve effectively demonstrated how you aim to build confidence and practical skills that align with professional goals, which is a vital aspect of teaching English. Let’s now discuss your experience with research guidance. As an English Professor, how would you mentor students taking on research projects in interdisciplinary studies? Could you share your methodology for guiding such projects?

Sure. So I basically do qualitative, you know, kind of study as far as my research is considered, it is all, you know, qualitative methodologies that I have used and particularly very specifically literary methodologies I have used, you know, interdisciplinary methodologies like ethnographic method and all, but mostly.

So integrating films, since films is my, uh, you know, primary text, I have included some of the film theories and some of the film theoretical aspect and cultural studies being a methodology itself, I have used various, you know, research methods that have been practiced in the white umbrella of cultural studies. And being a mentor is always a honor, is always something that I. Wish to that I always look up to. So, you know, I would like love to guide scholars and you know, and orientation, I would like to give them within the coursework time frame. I would like to give them an orientation about the research methodology, how it is happening, about various research methods like, you know, starting from the very basic textual analysis, discourse analysis, context analysis and all those primary literary research methods and.

The course of my research I was dealing with, you know, literary research methodologies.

Delving into the very current form or you know, the recent trends of research methodology and integrating, integrating or doing an interdisciplinary kind of research in the sense I am already doing a kind of interdisciplinary research in that sense, combining literary theory or literature with cultural studies and integrating film as my primary text into that so. You know as as as far because you asked.

I have recently worked on a project called Gender Sustainability, which is a book published by Emerald Publishers. So I have wrote the editorial for that chapter for that book.

Titled Gender Sustainability so that, you know, book act as you know, it holds all the tensions that these two terms, gender and sustainability carries and it acts as a very new theoretical framework.

You know, all the, all the other streams of humanities like economics, commerce, management, psychology, philosophy could be integrated, could make use of this term as a theoretical framework. So, you know, I am extending my, you know. Hands widen. I'm I'm widening my hands. I'm extending my. Reach to do some interdisciplinary kind of works.

Of social relevance and I would love to mentor students in that interdisciplinary perspective and cultural studies is 1 area where I could pitch into different realms, different disciplines and like, you know, giving preference to the social relevance and social responsibility. I can integrate the aspects of literary theory or literature and I can integrate, you know, the film analysis in that as well.

Reports, news reports that have been recently published about a particular age category or about a particular group, maybe an LGBTQ category or something like that, queer category. So I can, you know, do I always wish to do this kind of interdisciplinary research? And I'm already in the process of doing some kind of project in that area as well. Thank you.

And, you know, real time analysis and analyzing case studies, some taking, you know, taking.

Thank you, Professor Raveendran. Your approach to integrating literary theories, cultural studies, and interdisciplinary methods, along with your emphasis on projects of social relevance, highlights your commitment to meaningful research mentorship. Leveraging real-time analysis, case studies, and emerging theories like "Gender Sustainability" demonstrates thoughtfulness and adaptability in guiding students on interdisciplinary projects. Let us now turn to your experience with publications. Could you explain your strategy for publishing research in reputed journals, particularly how you identify suitable journals, develop your manuscript, and navigate the peer review process?

Yeah. So the first and foremost thing I do after identifying, so to identify, uh, research, uh, gap is to go for the literature review, of course. So I will be, uh, you know, doing the process of literature review with Scopus publications, recent some, you know, I will check in this corpus index, then Google Scholar as an index. I'll check for the recent. Research or the emerging research? Of relevance that is currently available and to understand the direction in which the research is currently happening or the area which I wanted to work on is really emerging. I'll let I'll come to know after going for a thorough literature review and after that I'll start my, you know, writing process. I'll start to already I might have decided which work to start with. Usually when it strikes me as after when I watch a feeling, when I.

Read something when I read about, when I read some literary theory, something will strike me and that will horn me. I can come out of that after, you know, writing some idea about it, then I can, you know, I'll take some time to mold it. I'll take some time to improvise it. And after identifying the gap in that area, I'll use the proper theories to, you know, use to substantiate the kind of argument which I'm having. So, you know, since I'm exposed to various literary theories, I can, you know, I a big, at least a big kind of thought process comes to my mind on which theory to use. And then I'll go deep into that theory to come up with some emerging school of thoughts under that some offshoot theories of that, you know, umbrella theory. So then I will work on the aligning papers, some of the interdisciplinary papers so that I'll get.

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