Tamara Bhalla

Tamara Bhalla is an Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of American Studies at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC), with additional affiliations in the Asian Studies program. Her academic work bridges social, cultural, and community-building dimensions through the lens of multiethnic literatures.

Her research interrogates the intersections of Asian American/South Asian American literary studies with Afro-Asian feminisms, exploring how reading communities navigate identity and belonging. She examines literary reception as a tool for understanding ethnic American cultural dynamics and has published extensively on post-1965 immigration narratives.

Bhalla earned her PhD in English Language and Literature from the University of Michigan. She teaches foundational courses like AMST 200: 'What Is an American?' and specialized courses including 'Asian American Fictions', 'Studies in Asian American Culture', and 'Immigration Nations', focusing on post-1965 immigration narratives and senior-level seminars in American Studies.