Position Title
Graduate Student in Comparative Literature
Associate in Comparative Literature
Education and Degree(s)
Ph.D. in Comparative Literature Expected June 2025
Designated Emphasis in the Study of Religion
University of California, Davis
Dissertation: “Reading in Analogy: Comparative Method Across Four Early Modern Genres''
Committee: Archana Venkatesan, and Claire Goldstein (Co-Chairs), Tobias Warner, Jamal Jones
M.A. in Comparative Literature, UC Davis 2017-2020
B.A. in Liberal Arts, Symbiosis International University, Pune, India 2012-2016
Research Interest(s)
- South Asia, Early Modern France, Comparative Literary Criticism, Theory, Intellectual and Literary History, Visual Culture, Performance, Religion, Interdisciplinary Research
Appointments
Teaching:
Teaching Assistant in Religious Studies Fall/Winter 2024-25
Associate in Comparative Literature 2019-2024
Courses designed/instructed:
COM 1 (Major Works of the Ancient World)
COM 2 (Major Works of the Medieval and Early Modern World)
COM 53B (Literature of South Asia)
Reader (Greek, Roman and Near Eastern Myths) 2018, 2020
Department of Classics, UC Davis
Teaching Assistant in Comparative Literature 2017-2020
Courses assisted:
COM 5 (Fairy Tales, Fables, and Parables)
COM 6 (Myths and Legends)
COM 7 (Fantasy and the Supernatural)
Research:
Graduate Research Assistant 2022
(Assistant, Beyond Boundaries: A Celebration of the Work of John E. Cort)
Graduate Research Assistant 2020
(Assistant, NEH Collaborative Grant Proposal for the “Kampan Project”)
Graduate Research Assistant 2019
(Archana Venkatesan’s "Endless Song: Nammalvār's Tiruvāymoli")
Service:
Graduate Student Representative; 2022- 2023
Designated Emphasis in the Study of Religion, UC Davis
Advisory Board Member and Co-Facilitator; 2022
UC Davis Graduate Studies Mentoring Up Initiative
Profile
Manasvin Rajagopalan (he/they) is a PhD Candidate in Comparative Literature, with a Designated Emphasis in the Study of Religion. His dissertation, “Reading in Analogy: Comparative Method Across Four Early Modern Genres”, is an experiment in literary criticism that employs analogical thinking as a means to compare early modern genres from two distinct contexts— Tamil South India, and France. His research interests run the gamut of the interdisciplinary humanities, including food studies, performance studies, queer studies, religious studies, environmental humanities, and the social sciences. His work has previously been supported by generous funding from the College of Letters and Sciences at UC Davis, and the Newberry Library Center for Renaissance Studies, among others. Manasvin is currently in the final year of his doctorate.
Languages: English (Native), Bengali (Native), French (Advanced Reading), Hindi (Native), Tamil (Advanced Reading/Native Speaking), Korean (Elementary)
SELECTED ACADEMIC AWARDS & GRANTS
Summer Graduate Program Fellowship (UC Davis Religious Studies) Summer 2024
Dissertation Completion Quarter Fellowship (UC Davis Comp Lit) Spring 2023
UC Davis Humanities Program Summer Graduate Fellowship Summer 2022
UC Davis Graduate Studies Travel Award Fall 2021
Newberry Library Center For Renaissance Studies Consortium Fellowship 2021-2023
Qualifying Exam Quarter Fellowship (UC Davis Comp Lit) Fall 2020
Summer Research Fellowships (UC Davis Comp Lit) Multi-Year
Templeton Summer Graduate Fellowship (UC Davis Letters and Sciences) Summer 2019
Publications
Book Reviews:
“Review of Merchants of Virtue: Hindus, Muslims and Untouchables in Eighteenth Century South Asia.” Reading Religion: A Publication of the American Academy of Religion, 26 Oct. 2023, readingreligion.org/9780520390058/merchants-of-virtue.
"Review of Gods in the Time of Democracy." Reading Religion: A Publication of the American Academy of Religion, 28 Dec. 2021, readingreligion.org/9781478011392/gods-in-the-time-of-democracy.
"Review of Culture of Encounters: Sanskrit at the Mughal Court." Reading Religion: A Publication of the American Academy of Religion, 31 Oct. 2020, readingreligion.org/books/culture-encounters.
"Review of Freud's Mahabharata." Reading Religion: A Publication of the American Academy of Religion, 5 Sept. 2020, readingreligion.org/books/freuds-mahabharata.
Other Media:
Bosu, S. and Rajagopalan, M., 2021. Love as Critique. [podcast] High Theory. Available at: <http://hightheory.net/podcast/love-as-critique/> [Accessed 31 March 2021].