Research Expertise and Interest

Tamil studies, film and digital culture, South Asia, South and Southeast Asian studies, cultural studies of Southeast Asia, South Asian Literature and Culture

Research Description

Professor Vasugi Kailasam is an Assistant Professor of Tamil Studies in the Department of South and Southeast Asian Studies (SSEAS) at the University of California, Berkeley. Prior to joining UC Berkeley, she was a Lecturer in Tamil Studies at the South Asian Studies Programme (SASP) at the National University of Singapore (NUS) from 2015 to 2019. Her research is situated within a transregional framework that explores Tamil identity and culture across South and Southeast Asia. She focuses on modern Tamil literatures in India, Sri Lanka, Singapore, and Malaysia, emphasizing transnational spatial politics, migration, and their influence on literary representations within and beyond the Tamil-speaking world. In addition to literary analysis, Professor Kailasam engages with visual and media studies, examining filmic and digital cultures within contemporary Tamil communities and their diasporas. Her teaching and scholarship advance a research agenda that positions Tamil Studies as a vital field for rethinking the boundaries of comparative literature and visual culture, especially within non-Anglophonic contexts.

In recognition of her exceptional scholarship, teaching, and service to the campus community at UC Berkeley, Professor Kailasam received the 2024 Pyrtanean Faculty Enrichment Award. Her work has been supported by awards from the Hellman Society of Fellows, the Humanities Research Fellowship (HRF), the American Institute of Indian Studies (AIIS) - NEH Senior Fellowship, The Townsend Center for the Humanities at UC Berkeley, the Toronto Tamil Literary Garden, and several grants and fellowships from the National University of Singapore and the Tamil Language Council, Singapore.

As a native Tamil speaker raised in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, and through her engagement with the Tamil diaspora across South and Southeast Asia, Professor Kailasam has long been intrigued by the global dimensions of Tamil identity and culture. These themes form the core of her scholarly inquiries and are central to the Tamil community-oriented initiatives she pursues.