Carmen Thong

My research is motivated by the idea that culture, as manifested in literature, is a global public good. Literature is an avenue through which we imagine and articulate our worlds and our sense of belonging within them. Without adequate access to literature written by and for our own communities, we lose a potent way of bonding with and affirming our identities and collectives. Two questions in my research spring from this main idea. One: what are the current processes that create global inequalities in literary production, distribution, and consumption; and how might they be rectified? Two: what is the relationship between literature and nation-building, especially in a postcolonial context? To answer these questions, my research moves through the fields of postcolonial studies, book history, digital humanities, and public policy.