Gwendolyn Kirk

Gwendolyn Kirk is responsible for managing collections pertaining to South Asian Studies and Southeast Asian Studies. She also works to assist faculty and students interested in these regions to navigate IU's collections as well as accessing external resources.

Gwendolyn's research focuses on popular culture and screen cultures in South Asia, particularly Pakistani cinema. She earned her doctorate in linguistic anthropology from the University of Texas at Austin, and her work interrogates the interplay of language, culture, identity, and power. Current projects expand this focus to the Indian Punjabi film industry. With her collaborator Esha Niyogi De (UCLA), she is also working on a critical feminist biography of Melody Queen Noor Jehan.

Another strain of her research draws directly on her work in librarianship, examining tensions and contradictions that often underscore area studies librarianship in the Global North, and also (with colleagues at IU) exploring how librarian collaboration can work towards building more critically-engaged pedagogical approaches in an age of AI.

In addition to her role as librarian, Gwendolyn serves on the Executive Committee of the Dhar India Studies Program and on the Executive Committee of the American Institute of Pakistan Studies.