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Overall Impact and Dissemination related to my book: The Spectral Wound (2015) and Graphic Novel and Animation Film: Mookherjee, Nayanika and Najmunnahar Keya. (2019) Birangona: Towards Ethical Testimonies of Sexual Violence during Conflict. University of Durham. [Online] Freely Available in Bangla & English.. 1

Overall Impact and Dissemination related to my book: The Spectral Wound (2015) and Graphic Novel and Animation FilmFILM: Mookherjee, Nayanika and Najmunnahar Keya. (2019) Birangona: Towards Ethical Testimonies of Sexual Violence during Conflict. University of Durham. [Online] Freely Available in Bangla & English

My research has generated extensive academic and public attention and praise. It has been referred to as ‘an incredibly powerful and challenging book about a very difficult subject’, (by Prof. Clare Alexander on Thinking Allowed, BBC Radio 4); ‘a masterpiece weaving together the politics, the history, the culture’ (Helen Sampson, on Thinking Allowed, BBC Radio 4). Other academic reviewers refer to it as:  ‘multi sited ethnography at its best’; (Leading Bangladeshi anthropologist Dina Siddiqi in International Feminist Journal of Politics); ‘powerful and perceptive book’ (Leading anthropologist Michael Lambek in JRAI); ‘exceptional’ (Kaur in EPW); ‘throws an epistemic challenge to previous authors and interpretations of this topic’ (Chakraborty in Social History); and ‘An uncommonly complex and delicately observed study’ (Leading Indian feminist and historian of Partition scholarship Ritu Menon in Women’s Review of Books). I have also published several public-facing articles (cv p.7-8 ). Outside of academia, my research has also drawn considerable attention through media reviews, interviews and participation in talk shows/roundtables.

Funded by the ESRC Impact Acceleration Fund and Research Impact fund I carried out  workshops with the government of Bangladesh and UK [includes experts and officials working with the End Sexual Violence in Conflict Team of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO)] as well as national and international NGOs working on sexual violence during conflict. The various academic and media reviews, interviews and impact related events related to the book include: 

Academic Reviews (select)
  1. Somatosphere Book Forum: http://somatosphere.net/2017/02/book-forum-nayanika-mookherjee-the-spectral-wound.html (Seven essays commenting on the book in this online journal including a new contribution by Prof Veena Das and a new reply by Nayanika Mookherjee). Das, Veena 2017. The Grains of Experience in Somatosphere Book Forum http://somatosphere.net/forumpost/the-grains-of-experience
  2. Journal of Royal Anthropological Institute, 2016: Review by Prof. Michael Lambek. Volume 22, Issue 4: 1001-1002. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1467-9655.12517/full
  3. EPW – http://www.epw.in/journal/2016/34/book-reviews/bangla-rape-victims-1971.html#disqus_thread (Review by Nardina Kaur)
  4. Review by Dina Siddiqi http://fragmentsmagazine.com/2016/10/16/silenced-histories/

            Note: An abridged version of this review will appear in the International Feminist Journal of Politics.

  1. Scar Tissue The Spectral Wound: Sexual Violence, Public Memories, and the Bangladesh War of 1971 By Nayanika Mookerjee . Reviewed by Ritu Menon http://www.wcwonline.org/WRB-Issues/womens-review-of-books-2016
  2. EPW – Naeem Mohaimen http://www.epw.in/journal/2016/7/book-reviews/time-writing-hour-reading.html
  3. Seuty Sabur http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00856401.2016.1207291?journalCode=csas20

            South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies. Volume 39, Issue 3, July 2016.

Awards, Media Links and Interviews

My research on gendered violence during wars have received the following awards and honours:

2022.

4th May 2022. Cited on Durham University website as: Impactful research in ethically recording testimonies of sexual violence – Durham University

14th April 2022. Invited to the Murad Code Launch event in the United Nations. (Guidelines of the Graphic Novel has fed into the Murad Code).

2019

2019. Praxis Award from the Washington Association of Professional Anthropologists for the project: ‘Birangona: Towards Ethical Testimonies of Sexual Violence During Conflict’. https://wapadc.org/2019-Praxis-Award

2019. Invited to the International Conference: Time for Justice: Putting Survivors First. Organised by the Prevent Sexual Violence Initiative (PSVI), Foreign and Commonwealth Office,

2019:Care of survivors is essential to testimonial processes’ Dhaka Tribune.

https://www.dhakatribune.com/bangladesh/2019/04/12/care-of-survivors-is-essential-to-testimonial-processes?fbclid=IwAR2OnsfkwpjNO1v_qvJhaOlRpNKIfroF0-6E8a6TV8oz7mMTrAYSv8U4KNo

2019. Bari, Sarah Anjum. A graphic novel tackles the ethics of interviewing birangonas. 19th April 2019 Daily Star https://www.thedailystar.net/star-weekend/news/graphic-novel-tackles-the-ethics-interviewing-birangonas-1731577

2019. Impact case study (Ethics of Documenting Sexual Violence during Conflict) short-listed and highly commended by Durham University’s Impact and Engagement award panel.

2019. Invited as a woman leader to Buckingham Palace by the Gender Equality team of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to the HRH’s International Women’s Day Event to celebrate the twenty years of Women, Peace and Security (WPS) Agenda. 8th March 2019. https://www.dur.ac.uk/research/news/item/?itemno=38153

2018

2018. Invited to be a judge for the Ethnography Award, Thinking Allowed, BBC Radio 4.

2017

2017. Shortlisted finalist for the Michelle Z. Rosaldo award, Association of Feminist Anthropologists (AFA) at the American Anthropological Association (AAA) annual meeting. 2017.

2017. Interview on the book on BBC Radio 4’s Thinking Allowed by Laurie Taylor http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b075qjl5 (from 14 minutes). (I have been contacted by families of Bangladeshi adoptees based in UK. In 1972 these adults were adopted as babies and  brought up in UK and other parts of Western Europe and North America)

2017. http://www.thedailystar.net/in-focus/ethical-challenges-documenting-birangonas-1463638

2016

2016. Among the top 2 shortlists of BBC Radio 4’s Thinking Allowed BBC/BSA Best Ethnography Award http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b075qjl5  (16-24 mins)

2016. Dhaka Tribune interview http://www.dhakatribune.com/magazine/arts-letters/2016/11/11/rethinking-the-birangona/

2016. Invited to a roundtable on Al Jazeera http://stream.aljazeera.com/story/201603081426-0025168

2016. 71 TV interview https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ptNuiSV6_tY

2016. Interview as part of war commemoration events: The Dhaka Tribune, The Daily Star

online version: http://www.thedailystar.net/supplements/victory-day-2016-special/the-birangona-beyond-her-wound-1330312

http://epaper.thedailystar.net/index.php?opt=view&page=45&date=2016-12-16

2016. Dhaka University event http://www.du.ac.bd/latest_news/single_news/832

2016. Interview as part of war commemoration events: The Dhaka Tribune, The Daily Star

online version: http://www.thedailystar.net/supplements/victory-day-2016-special/the-birangona-beyond-her-wound-1330312

http://epaper.thedailystar.net/index.php?opt=view&page=45&date=2016-12-16

2016. New age victory day supplement http://archive.newagebd.net/254326/history-and-the-birangona/ 

Dr Zobaida Nasreen’s articles on the book:

http://www.banglatribune.com/columns/opinion/167005/%E2%80%98%E0%A6%93%E0%A6%A8%E0%A6%BE%E0%A6%B0-%E0%A6%8F%E0%A6%95-%E0%A6%87%E0%A6%A4%E0%A6%BF%E0%A6%B9%E0%A6%BE%E0%A6%B8-%E0%A6%86%E0%A6%9B%E0%A7%87%E2%80%99

http://www.newagebd.net/article/4924/biranganas-constant-struggle-for-recognition#sthash.OW5RoTnO.KQ0E0ki6.dpuf

2015

2015: Shortlisted among the first two places of the BBC Radio 4’s Best Ethnography http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b075qjl5  (16-24 mins)

2014

2014. Awarded the Mahatma Gandhi Pravasi Samman (one of 30 awards, celebrating the Achievement of Global Indians), House of Lords, London, 9th October 2014.

https://www.dur.ac.uk/anthropology/aboutus/news/?itemno=22456

2014. In June 2014, I was invited as a delegate and expert to the Global Summit to End Sexual Violence in Conflict held in London which was co-chaired by UK Foreign Secretary William Hague and UN Special Envoy and actor Angelina Jolie. This has enabled wider dissemination of the work and I have been invited to be a consultant on the government’s policies on End sexual violence during conflict.

Media Consultation based on Spectral Wound for television programmes

2017. Acknowledged in BBC 1’s ‘Who Do You Think You Are’ (22nd February). 2017. The programme consulted The Spectral Wound extensively and has acknowledged my contribution to their programme (broadcasted in February 2017). My research was able to provide political and historical contexts within which sexual violence was perpetrated by the Pakistani army during the Bangladesh War of 1971. This was important to foreground long sections within the programme which focused on these topics. (Photograph available)

Media coverage:

2017. Coverage of my workshop (27th August) and book launch by/with the Bangladesh government. Some of these links directly link the findings of my book (Spectral Wound) with the development of national guidelines in Bangladesh relating to the ethics of recording testimonies of sexual violence of survivors.

http://www.prothomkotha.com/news/39206.html 

http://www.thedailystar.net/star-weekend/ethically-representing-narratives-birangonas-1456819

http://epaper.thedailystar.net/index.php?opt=view&page=4&date=2017-08-28

2016. New age victory day supplement http://archive.newagebd.net/254326/history-and-the-birangona/ 

http://www.newagebd.net/article/4924/biranganas-constant-struggle-for-recognition#sthash.OW5RoTnO.KQ0E0ki6.dpuf

Daily Star: The research findings of Mookherjee’ s book forms the basis for a 16-point ethical guideline drawn up for researchers, activists and journalists to use when documenting testimonies of wartime sexual violence. This was a collaborative initiative of Research Initiatives, Bangladesh and Durham University. Over two workshops held in November 2016 and August 2017, various stakeholders such as researchers, journalists and documentary filmmakers collaborated to draft the guidelines in English and Bengali.

Newspapers in Bangladesh (in August 2018) covering the launch of – The Ethical Guidelines for Survivors of Sexual Violence of the war of 1971 and beyond – based on Nayanika’ s book The Spectral Wound: Sexual Violence, Public Memories and the Bangladesh War of 1971 (2015, Duke University Press; 2016 Zubaan).

https://www.dhakatribune.com/bangladesh/dhaka/2018/08/13/govt-to-provide-free-healthcare-services-to-freedom-fighters

https://www.thedailystar.net/news/city/govt-facilitate-accommodation-all-biranganas-poor-freedom-fighters-1620199

https://www.thedailystar.net/opinion/perspective/the-ethics-documenting-sexual-violence-1624462

Newspapers in Bangladesh (in April 2019) covering the launch of the graphic novel – Birangona: Towards Ethical Testimonies of Sexual Violence during conflict – based on Nayanika’ s book The Spectral Wound: Sexual Violence, Public Memories and the Bangladesh War of 1971 (2015, Duke University Press; 2016 Zubaan).

https://www.dhakatribune.com/bangladesh/event/2019/04/10/graphic-novel-birangona-launched

http://www.banglatribune.com/others/news/446993/%E0%A6%AC%E0%A7%80%E0%A6%B0%E0%A6%BE%E0%A6%99%E0%A7%8D%E0%A6%97%E0%A6%A8%E0%A6%BE%E0%A6%A6%E0%A7%87%E0%A6%B0-%E0%A6%B8%E0%A6%BE%E0%A6%95%E0%A7%8D%E0%A6%B7%E0%A7%8D%E0%A6%AF%E0%A6%97%E0%A7%8D%E0%A6%B0%E0%A6%B9%E0%A6%A3%E0%A7%87%E0%A6%B0-%E0%A6%A8%E0%A6%BF%E0%A6%B0%E0%A7%8D%E0%A6%A6%E0%A7%87%E0%A6%B6%E0%A6%BF%E0%A6%95%E0%A6%BE%E0%A6%B0-%E0%A6%AE%E0%A7%8B%E0%A7%9C%E0%A6%95 

https://www.poriborton.com/national/167548

Direct Impact on Cultural Activities

2013. My research has also directly influenced and changed the script of a play (on the women raped during the Bangladesh war) staged by the theatre group [Komola Collective] in UK (2013-2014) and Bangladesh.

2004. My research has been used by Drishtipat  – an activist network seeking redressal and compensation for thirteen war-affected women. The fundraising was completed April 30th, 2004 (http://www.drishtipat.org/1971/updates.htm) and the total fund collected was $15000.

Spectral Wound related events: Book launches events, public lectures, roundtables and invitations to speak specifically on the book: 2015-2017 : International

Department of Anthropology, Aarhus University (A public lecture on the book) (November 2017).

Impact Workshop on the book. Research Initiatives Bangladesh, November 2016 along with the Bangladesh Liberation War Ministry as well filmmakers, journalists, photographers and researchers. 

Centre for Genocide Studies, Dhaka University, Bangladesh (August 2017) (Presentation on the book)

School of Political Studies, Cotton College, Guwahati, India (A public lecture on the book) (August 2017)

School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology, Guwahati, India (A public lecture on the book) (August 2017)

Department of Sociology, Presidency University, Calcutta, India (August 2017) (Presentation on the book)

Launch of the South Asian version of the Spectral Wound at a roundtable and discussion panel in the School of Arts and Aesthetics and supported by the Centre for the Study of Social Systems (CSSS), Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. Discussants included: Urvashi Butalia, Tanika Sarkar, Pratiksha Baxi, Sohini Ghosh, Ranjani Majumdar and Tanweer Fazal.

Impact Workshop on the book. Research Initiatives Bangladesh, November 2016 along with the Bangladesh Liberation War Ministry as well filmmakers, journalists, photographers and researchers. 

Department of Anthropology, Dhaka University, Bangladesh (A public lecture on the book) (November 2016), The event was chaired by the Pro Vice Chancellor of Dhaka University and among the audience were nine survivors

Dhaka Literary Festival (November 2016) (Book Launch of the South Asian version of Spectral Wound and Roundtable on the book)

Copenhagen, Asian Studies Centre (September 2016) (Presentation on the book)

Lisbon, Bangladesh Studies Network (May 2016) (Presentation on the book)

Johns Hopkins University, Anthropology (February 2016) (Roundtable on the book)

Apeejay Kolkata Literary Festival (January 2016) (Roundtable on the book)

Jahangirnagar University, Anthropology Department, Bangladesh (A public lecture on the book) (January 2016)

BRAC University, Anthropology, Bangladesh (A public lecture on the book) (January 2016)

Drik Visual Archives, Dhaka, Bangladesh (Book Launch event) (A public lecture) (January 2016)

Centre for the Study of Social Sciences, Kolkata, India (Book Launch event) (December 2015)

Spectral Wound and Public Memories of wartime rape during the Bangladesh war in the AAA 2015 Executive Panel/Roundtable discussion: The Familiar and Unfamiliar tropes of Sexual Violence: An ethnographic exploration of its manifestation in the Everyday and during Conflicts. (Denver, November 2015) (Roundtable on the book)

Anthropology, Stanford University (Book Launch event) (November 2015)

Spectral Wound related events: Book launches events, public lectures, roundtables and invitations to speak specifically on the book: 2015-2017 : National

Impact Workshop on the book. LSE, Centre for Women, Peace and Security, July 2018.

Oxford University, South Asian History Seminar series (May 2017) (Presentation on the book)

Durham University, Anthropology (December 2016) (Workshop on the Book)

Brick Lane Study Circle, Sussex University (November 2016) (Presentation on the book)

Impact Workshop on the book. LSE, Centre for Women, Peace and Security, October 2016.

LSE, Centre for Women, Peace and Security and South Asian Studies (October 2016) – an interdisciplinary, inter-institutional initiative (Book Launch event and Roundtable on the book)

Race and Gender Reading Group, Department of Geography, Durham University (Roundtable on the book) (October 2016)

ASA Conference, Durham University (July 2016) (Panel engaging with the book)

2009 and 2011. Invited Presentation on the Bangladesh war crimes House of Lords and Commons. One meeting chaired by Jeremy Corbyn.

Teaching, Impact and Public Engagement linked to Graphic Novel
Awards

2021. Nominated for Excellence in Teaching and Learning Award 2021 by Professor Jamie Tehrani. A copy of their nomination is attached below:

The excellence of Nayanika’s teaching is evidenced across the board in the modules she has taught this year. However, this nomination is particularly merited for her outstanding work in her Level 3 module ‘Violence and Memory’. Violence and Memory is an advanced, research-led anthropology module that engages students on debates related to difficult issues of special pertinence in the year of Black Lives Matter, such as responsibility, historical legacies, memory and forgetting related to violent conflicts, as well as imparting a wider literacy on race and class issues through the sessions on the history of slavery and mining in Durham. Students on the module developed cognisance and engagement with local communities among Durham students about the history of the place they study in. Many students articulated with pride their family’s mining history, went and talked to family members about it for the first time and articulated intergenerational memories.  The module received excellent feedback from students, who found the seminar-based structure engaging, challenging and expertly moderated by Nayanika. This is reflected in the impressive MEQ results (4.54 overall satisfaction and 4.74 for Nayanika’s teaching), and encapsulated in comments from the students such as “The structure of online seminars really allowed for in–depth discussion, and were among my favourites of the seminars…Mookherjee is also not afraid of debate, and I didn’t feel that students were being sugar coated in her responses, but were engaged with as academic equals”. Furthermore, the module has been in the vanguard of the university’s strategy to decolonise the curriculum, and was cited as one of the best examples of decolonising across the faculty in the student survey.”

2021Awarded a Merit Reward ‘to recognise your Excellent contribution to your Department and the University.’I am delighted that you have been awarded a Merit Award in recognition of your work for the University. These are very competitive and are genuine indicators of the esteem in which you are held. The University thrives through the work of all of its staff and making the exceptional contribution that you have is very much appreciated.

Teaching Leadership in relation to Ethics through the Graphic Novel and Animation Film:

2022

IAS DCAAD interdisciplinary ethics training based on the graphic novel and animation film. Durham University. 10th June 2022.

(International keynote speaker) January 2022. Contributing to a research method webinar for a Marie Curie PhD training programme (named the ASTRA project, led by Prof Aila-Leena in Finland) with Dr Roger Smith and Dr. Sui Ting Kong as Durham contributors responsible at Durham for organising a series of webinars on methods and research management. Students involved in the project rated ethnography one of the most important methods for their training.  The fifteen students are based at the partner universities.

2021

(International keynote speaker) July 2021. Public engagement – a route to ‘research impact’ – Durham University – Durham GCRF CDT and Association of Commonwealth Universities. Enabling early career researchers with essential skills to enable them to succeed in public engagement. There were around 130 participants from South Africa, New Zealand, Mauritius, Cameroon, India, Durham and from across UK. After the training 100% of the participants that completed the survey said the training helped them to feel more confident using public engagement in their future research. The materials were viewed by 1323 people. (Led by Prof Douglas Halliday and Ms. Abir Van-Hunen).

May 2021. Invited by Postgraduate students of the School of Government, Durham University, to provide training on ethics of research. Email feedback: Many will find the recording useful as it is one of the sessions explicitly requested as training from the School. 

Durham Anthropology PGT students have explicitly requested the graphic novel and animation film to be used for their Ethics training in their modules.

April 2020: Dr Marcus Pound: But her work remains with us and a brilliant example to take forward in our own project.). Research project in Department of Theology and Religious Studies, Durham University: Boundary Breaking: The Sex Abuse Crisis with the Roman Catholic Church. https://www.dur.ac.uk/theology.religion/ccs/constructivetheology/boundarybreaking/

Invitation to speak on the graphic novel and animation film in various academic, training, museum and public facing events:

2022.

11 June 2022. Invited to speak by National Association for the Practice of Anthropology’s (NAPA) www.practicinganthropology.org Global Anthropology Project (GAP) in recognition of the Praxis Award and to coincide with the launch of the second Praxis volume, Profiles of Anthropological Praxis an International Casebook (2022). The event will be widely publicized across all the sponsoring organizations’ social media in North America and Europe.

4th May 2022. Cited on Durham University website as: Impactful research in ethically recording testimonies of sexual violence – Durham University

14th April 2022. Invited to the Murad Code Launch event in the United Nations.

Historicising the Birangona: Tracing the past, present and future trajectories of the Bangladesh war of 1971 https://www.soas.ac.uk/…/10mar2022-historicising-the…) (See the link for further details)

Invited to give the 2022 Annual Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Lecture on Thursday 10th March 2022 (6.00pm-7.30 pm GMT) at School of Oriental and African Studies, (SOAS) University of London. The fee for this lecture will go to an organisation in Bangladesh supporting birangonas.

Thursday 10th March 6pm-7.30pm GMT. Organised by: 7th March Foundation, Bangladesh High Commission to UK and South Asia Institute, SOAS (School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London)

2021

International panellist at Languages and Cultures of Sexual Violence – Possible Pathways of Research in South Asia.’ Tell Me Your Story, Indian.  8th October 2021. https://youtu.be/feRSG48ROLc

(International panellist) Durham GCRFCDT Public engagement – a route to ‘research impact’ – Durham University Ethical testimonies of sexual violence during conflict. Or what are the ethical concerns and how do we research and write on sensitive topics? Keynote lecture and training re public engagement to 130 Early Career researchers from South Africa, New Zealand, Mauritius, Cameroon, India, Durham and from across UK. Organised by  Durham GCRF CDT and Association of Commonwealth Universities. After the training 100% of the participants that completed the survey said the training helped them to feel more confident using public engagement in their future research. The materials were viewed by 1323 people. (Led by Prof Douglas Halliday and Ms. Abir Van-Hunen). 26th May 2021.

(International keynote speaker) Traitors of justice and graphic ethnography. Arts and Justice series. Stanford University. 6th May 2021.

(International keynote speaker) In a webinar on ‘Absent Skin and dynamics of race and gender in the Bangladesh War’ to commemorate the Golden Jubilee of the Liberation of Bangladesh. The International Society of Bengal Studies in collaboration with Kirori Mal College, University of Delhi,. 26th March 2021. (I was invited to give a keynote lecture to this webinar along with invited scholars from India, Germany, the U.S.A., and the U.K.)

(National keynote speaker) 2021. Birangonas: Towards Ethical Testimonies of Sexual Violence During Conflict. Tower Hamlets Council. Tower Hamlets Local History Library and Archives. 25th March 2021.

(International keynote speaker) Invitation to attend a roundtable discussion organised by Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge and Liberation War Museum, Bangladesh. Learning about/from Past Atrocities to Support Peaceful Futures. A panel discussion between invited guests and students from the MPhil Knowledge, Power and Politics in Education, about the connections between education, peacebuilding and engagement with the past through critical and creative methodologies. 12 March 2021.

(National panellist) Panel Discussant. Becoming Bangladesh. Celebrating 50 years. South Asia Centre. LSE. 8th February 2021. 

2020.

(National keynote speaker) Birangona: Towards Ethical Testimonies of Sexual Violence During Conflict. Screening and Q&A of animation film. Manchester Museum. 14th December 2020. Part of the commemoration of Bangladesh’s Martyred Intellectual Day on 14th December 2020.

(International keynote speaker) Birangona: Towards Ethical Testimonies of Sexual Violence during Conflict. Invitation to present her 2019 Praxis Award project to the Conferences of the Washington Association of Professional Anthropologists (WAPA). 4th November 2020.

(National exhibition) The ‘Everyday’ of Sexual Violence in Conflict: Rethinking the Economic Contexts of Shame and Stigma is exhibited at Illustrating Anthropology, Launched at Open Eye Gallery, Liverpool, @BeingHumanFest. Part of Royal Anthropological Institute and Public Anthropology Exhibition. www.illustratinganthropology.com https://illustratinganthropology.com/nayanika-mookherjee/ 18th September 2020. Also on Twitter and Instagram https://www.instagram.com/illustrating_anthropology/