Dr. Kaneesha Parsard

Assistant Professor

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Biography

Kaneesha Parsard is an Assistant Professor in the Department of English Language and Literature at the University of Chicago. She received her PhD from Yale University in 2017 and her BA from the University of Pennsylvania in 2011. Parsard's scholarly work examines the legacies of slavery and emancipation in the Americas, with a particular focus on themes of gender, sexuality, race, labor, and capital. Her central book project, titled 'Illicit Wage: Economies of Sex and Family in West Indian Emancipation,' argues that British colonial administrators and employers sought to manage Black labor and indentured Indian labor while West Indian cultural works began to conceptualize informal economies and intimacies that were delinked from freedom and wage. Her research encompasses the informal wage-earning histories and the development of literary and visual representations, focusing on figures such as indentured Indian women who navigated the intersection of labor and intimacy. She is committed to exploring Black feminisms, transnational feminisms, materialist feminisms, and the cultural productions of the Caribbean and its diasporas. Parsard has published works in notable journals and edited volumes, contributing to the fields of Caribbean Studies, Black Studies, Media Studies, and Gender and Sexuality Studies.

Research Interests

Courses

ENGL 25540 New Caribbean Writing ENGL 25630 Family Sagas: Women's Writing Africa

Requirements for University of Chicago

Doctorate Program
Requirements
TOEFL
Listening
Required:26
Reading
Required:26
Writing
Required:26
Speaking
Required:26
Total
Required:104
IELTS
Listening
Required:7
Reading
Required:7
Writing
Required:7
Speaking
Required:7
Overall
Required:7
Prerequisites
Bachelor's degree Writing sample Candidate statement
Application Checklist
  • Candidate Statement
  • Transcripts
  • Letters of Recommendation (3)
  • Writing Sample
  • Application Fee
Specialization Notes

Department of Philosophy