Kanika Bhalla is interested in learning how the re-telling of Punjabi folktales by the British contributed to the project of colonial modernity in Punjab and seeks insights into how folktales represent and shape the collective consciousness and identity of the Punjabis. Apart from teaching Hindi-Urdu at UNC-Chapel Hill, she has taught literature at a university in rural Punjab, the experience of which propelled her towards research on the interplay between orality, memory, and evolution of folktales across generations. She has also acted as a resource person at various institutions and events, and served on the selection committee for the Mahatma Gandhi Fellowship 2022, established under the College of Arts and Sciences at UNC-Chapel Hill, and Critical Language Scholarship (CLS) Program for summer 2022 funded by the US Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. 

 

She loves to translate from Punjabi to English and vice versa. She has a strong conviction that the Punjabi idiom should reach a wider audience, as Punjab has much to offer to the world regarding culture and literature. One of her projects (translation of one-act plays of Punjabi writer Atamjit) is in the process of publication, and she is currently translating Punjabi short stories of Bhagwant Rasulpuri. Kanika is a recipient of the Fulbright FLTA (Foreign Language Teaching Assistant) Fellowship at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA, 2021-2022.