Faculty Directory
Ankhi Thakurta
Assistant Professor
Ankhi Thakurta
Ph.D., Ed.M.
Contact
Campion 115
Email: thakurta@bc.edu
ORCID
Education
- Ph.D., University of Pennsylvania
- Ed.M., Harvard University
- M.A., Brooklyn College
- B.A., Swarthmore College
Courses
Secondary Curriculum and Instruction
Globalization, Mobility, and Education
Research Interests
Urban Migration;Â Civic Learning and identity formation;Â Community-Based Research;Â Arts-Based Research;Â Practitioner Inquiry;Â Teaching for Social Justice
Expertise
- Curriculum & Instruction
- Language Learning & Literacy
- Urban Education
Department
Profile
Ankhi G. Thakurta is a literacy scholar, community-based educator, and former middle school English Language Arts teacher. Her research agenda foregrounds the civic literacies and learning of immigrant, migrant, and refugee youth. She is interested in how these young people use everyday literacy practices (e.g., reading, writing, art-making) to assert democratic identities, and how critical literacy education can nurture their sociopolitical engagement and dreaming.
As a visual artist, Ankhi also investigates how art-infused methods of knowledge production can be leveraged to conduct anti-racist and equity-oriented education research alongside historically marginalized communities. Her commitments to pursuing justice-infused scholarship and praxis stem from her identities as a bilingual immigrant Indian American woman, a descendant of refugees, and a former learner and educator in the U.S. public school system.
Ankhiâs work has been published in several academic journals including Literacy, Reading Research Quarterly, Equity & Excellence in Education, the Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy, and Departures in Critical Qualitative Research. In 2025, she received an honorable mention for the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) Promising Researcher Award. Â
Publications
Thakurta, A. G. (2026). Civic compositional literacies of Indonesian American girlhood. Journal of Literacy Research, 58(1), 31-55. https://doi.org/10.1177/1086296X261438491
Thakurta, A. G. (2026). Creative civic literacies: Exploring Asian girls' compositions in a virtual diasporic third space. Literacy, 60(3), e70041. https://doi.org/10.1111/lit.70041
Corbitt, A., & Thakurta, A. G. (2026). Situated speculation: A cross-case analysis of youthsâ processes of composing civic futures. Journal of Curriculum and Pedagogy, 23(2), 465-490. https://doi.org/10.1080/15505170.2025.2535358
Thakurta, A. G. (2025). Civic place literacies: Tracing urban migrant girls' democratic meaningâmaking through virtual transnational practitioner research. Reading Research Quarterly, 60(1), e579. https://doi.org/10.1002/rrq.579.
Thakurta, A. G., & Msurshima, N.* (2025). âGet your facts straightâ: A practitioner study of U.S.-Based South Asian international graduate studentsâ literate identity navigations. Literacy Research: Theory, Method, and Practice. 74(1), 327-349. https://doi.org/10.1177/23813377251358195
Thakurta, A., Msurshima, N. M.*, & Blake, A. R.* (2025). Inquiring into belonging: a practitioner study of South Asian international studentsâ experiences in U.S. higher education. Journal for Multicultural Education. https://doi.org/10.1108/JME-07-2024-0084.
Thakurta, A. G. (2025). âWhat keeps me standingâ: Asian American girls theorize and inhabit public life through multiple literacies. Equity & Excellence in Education, 58(2), 92-106. https://doi.org/10.1080/10665684.2025.2452576..
Player, G. D., & Thakurta, A. G. (2024). Globally marginalized people shifting temporalities through arts-based methodologies in educational research. Departures in Critical Qualitative Research, 13(4), 58-90. https://doi.org/10.1525/dcqr.2024.13.4.58.
Thakurta, A. (2023). Solidarity-as-project: Charting democratic co-inquiries in an Asian American girl and woman-centric English Education community. English Education,Ěý55(4): 257-278. https://doi.org/10.58680/ee202332697. *winner of the 2024 Janet Emig Award*
Thakurta, A. (2021). The door was always there: Transnational youth leverage their multiliteracies for civic justice. Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy. 64(6): 645-656. https://doi.org/10.1002/jaal.1148.
Honors & Awards
National Council of Teachers of EnglishâPromising Researcher Award, Honorable Mention (2025)
English Language Arts Teacher Educators (ELATE)âThe Janet Emig Award for Best Paper, English Education (2024)
Penn GSEâThe Ralph C. Preston Award For Scholarship and Teaching Contributing to Social Justice and Educational Equity (2023)
AERA Writing and Literacies Special Interest Group (SIG)âOutstanding Graduate Student Paper Award, Honorary Mention (2022)
Graduate Student Award For Ethical Innovations in Research ($1,200) (2022)
English Language Arts Teacher Educators (ELATE)âGraduate Student Research Award ($2,500) (2021)
Literacy Research Association Area 8âChair Award (shared with MarĂa Paula Ghiso, Ericka Staufert-Reyes, Claire Wan, and Gerald Campano) (2020)
University of PennsylvaniaâOffice of the Provost Campaign for Community Award, âExploring Racial Justice Alongside Communities of Color During COVID-19â (co-authored with Gordon Asaah on behalf of Dr. Campanoâs Research Partnership; $1,000 for literacy kits and books on racial justice for community partners) (2020)
 Swarthmore CollegeâPhi Beta Kappa (2012)
Society of Professional JournalistsâMark of Excellence Award in Journalism (in collaboration with Stuart Russell and Elliana Bisgaard-Church for reporting on drone warfare for War News Radio) (2012)
Grants & Fellowships
National Council of Teachers of EnglishâCultivating New Voices (CNV) Among Scholars of Color Fellowship (2024â2026)
National Academy of Education/Spencer Dissertation Fellowship ($27,500) (2022â2023)
University of PennsylvaniaâDeanâs Fellowship (4 years of funding) (2018â2020)
New York City Teaching Fellowship (2015â2018)
New York University Abu DhabiâGlobal Academic Fellowship ($25,000 per year) (2012â2014)
Swarthmore CollegeâThe Martha E. Tyson Fellowship ($5,000) (2012)