This past summer, English Professor Srimati Mukherjee was invited to spend three weeks at the American Academy in Rome as part of their Visiting Scholars program. The Academy prides itself as a hub for eager minds in the arts and humanities. For decades, scholars and artists (including winners of the prestigious Rome Prize) have convened on its campus to share inspiration and ideas in a historic Italian landscape. For Mukherjee, the excursion was an opportunity to immerse herself in her current research as well as her passion for teaching.
Though a published American Literature scholar and author of a book about women in Bengali cinema, Mukherjee was actually accepted in the category of Modern Italian Studies. “[At] the American Academy, when they say ‘literature,’ they are actually talking about creative writing,” she explains. “It’s very, very fortunate that the work I’m doing right now has such clear references to the Etruscans and Etruscan culture.”
Mukherjee’s research centered on Etruscan influence on contemporary American literature. The Etruscan Civilization existed in Italy between the 8th and 3rd centuries BCE, and Etruscan culture left a heavy influence on the Romans who succeeded them. Today, Rome is home to the National Etruscan Museum, housed within the Villa Giulia, where Mukherjee spent a great deal of her stay. “I would take time to go to the museum, take notes and study other Etruscan works that would help me develop my thoughts and my research,” says Mukherjee. “I would also set time aside for the library at the American Academy, which had a fairly substantial collection of books on the Etruscans.”
While she’s grateful for access to the American Academy’s wealth of resources, what Mukherjee appreciated most were the communal dinners on the campus, where she had the opportunity to speak with and learn from fellow guests.
“There was a cohort of international scholars and artists we could talk to at every meal and get to know and exchange ideas, who were doing such deep and inspiring research,” says Mukherjee. “It’s interdisciplinary, so some would be working in classics, some creative writing, others in art or architecture. Some would talk quite extensively about their teaching—how they made students think, what assignments they had and how they could relate to students’ lives to make those assignments richer. Listening to that was very inspiring.”
A globally-minded curiosity has been evident throughout Mukherjee’s teaching career. She is currently enjoying her 26th year in the English Department as part of the First Year Writing Program. She is co-coordinator of the English Department’s Study Abroad Program, a former chair of the Faculty Senate International Programs Committee and she serves on the Executive Committee of the Modern Language Association (MLA) Translation Studies forum.
Mukherjee is passionate about exposing students to new perspectives and experiences through literature. This January, at the 2025 MLA Convention in New Orleans, she spoke on a panel titled “How to Decolonize the Classroom,” sharing experiences from her Women In Literature course at Temple. She also co-coordinates the Writers of Color Reading and Discussion Series which, since 2021, invites Temple faculty, staff and graduate students to exchange ideas about selected pieces of BIPOC writing.
During her stay at the American Academy, Mukherjee spent some of her spare time seeking out paintings by early Baroque era artist Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio throughout Rome’s world-renowned art museums. These visits carried extra meaning for Mukherjee.
“I wanted to go and look at particular Caravaggios that my students often write about,” says Mukherjee. “In my freshman First Year Writing course, I give an assignment where students pick a painting by Caravaggio, Rembrandt or Frans Hals. I ask them to consider the artist’s context and connect it to their own lives. The students connect it not only to personal elements but to social, political, economic and cultural events from their own lives and times. The students have always done wonderfully with this assignment.”
Outside of the First Year Writing Program, the scope of Mukherjee’s research profile has led to her teaching a variety of upper-level literature and film courses. Students in any of her classrooms can expect to be pushed to broaden and recontextualize their cultural understanding. In Mukherjee’s experience, Temple students welcome the challenge.
“I don't know if I'm atypical in this, but I actually believe that students at Temple appreciate rigor at all levels, and they like to be challenged, so I bring them challenging material,” says Mukherjee. “We have such tremendous class diversity, but no matter the student’s background, they are ready for academic rigor. In my 25 years here, they have taken the material apart and risen to that challenge. That’s my view on Temple students.”