Qazi Arka Rahman

Visiting Assistant Professor

Department of Social and Critical Inquiry

Transformation, Equity, Access, and Sense of Belonging (TEAS) Grant Faculty in Critical Refugee Studies and Critical Muslim Studies.

Biography

Qazi Arka Rahman (Ph.D., West Virginia University, 2024) grew up in Dhaka, Bangladesh, immersed in global stories that fostered his engagement with narratives. He earned his BA in English (2012) and MA in Literatures in English & Cultural Studies (2013) from Jahangirnagar University. His interdisciplinary interests led him to obtain an MBA in Marketing (2015) from the Institute of Business Administration (IBA), University of Dhaka, while working full-time as a lecturer.

His research interests encompass South Asian literary and postcolonial studies, and the intersection of technology and humanistic inquiry. His work draws from decolonial and postcolonial studies, digital humanities, refugee studies, and environmental justice. Among other publications, he has an essay in South Asian Review and a co-authored chapter in The Bangladesh Environmental Humanities Reader. A firm believer in the power of narratives, he combines cultural critique with multimodal analysis in his teaching. He has transcultural experience in teaching literature, cultural studies, media studies, and composition courses. He has also worked at Writing Centers and has conducted workshops on research processes and grant writing.

Arka regularly reviews journal articles and engages in academic services to integrate social justice concerns. He has served on the faculty senate library committee to increase resource accessibility. He also engages critically with emerging technologies and advises the Rickshaw Art Archive. Most recently, he developed a libguide for generative AI and curated a project that received the Art in the Libraries Award. An experienced communicator, Arka gives invited talks and has won competitive grants, scholarships, and internships. He often engages in public speaking and was a winner of the 2023 WVU Three-Minute Thesis (3MT) competition. He is currently developing a monograph based on his doctoral work and working on another project investigating the epistemological possibilities of digital humanities in relation to the history of classification systems and categories.