Rita Mookerjee
"There is no end to knowledge."
College: Arts and Sciences
Degree Program: English - Literature
Degree: Doctorate
Award: Fulbright Study/Research Grant (2019)
Why did you choose to attend FSU to pursue a graduate degree?
Best funding package I was offered.
What motivated you to pursue a graduate degree?
I come from generations of scholars. I have explored other careers and always return to academia.
Describe the importance of your research and work? Why should anyone care about the work you are doing?
I argue that within postcolonial studies, the relationship between food, women, and resistance in local cultures has not been considered. As such, women’s roles in producing and challenging systems of oppression have not been adequately assessed, nor has the role of women in creating the cultural conditions for undermining the dominance of the commodity.
Briefly describe your career aspirations.
In addition to becoming a tenured faculty member at a university, I want to be a Fulbright scholar. I hope to turn my dissertation into my first academic book. I also hope to release a full-length book of poetry.
Advice for anyone considering graduate school.
Make sure you want it 110%. You will watch friends get promoted, get married, travel, and make big purchases while you are still in school. If you love what you study, your sacrifices will pay off.
Accomplishments during your graduate career that you are proud of.
I published a chapbook titled Becoming the Bronze Idol, won the Robert O. Lawton Award for Excellence in Teaching College Composition, won the Edward F. and Marie C. Kingsbury Graduate Fellowship two years in a row, and published several articles including a chapter in The Routledge Companion to Literature and Food.