{"id":1308,"date":"2021-10-28T09:24:00","date_gmt":"2021-10-28T16:24:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/stories\/a-polyglot-vintner-writing-professor-helps-students-find-their-voice\/"},"modified":"2026-03-27T21:29:58","modified_gmt":"2026-03-28T04:29:58","slug":"indra-mukhopadhyay-philosophy-writing-classes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/stories\/indra-mukhopadhyay-philosophy-writing-classes\/","title":{"rendered":"A polyglot, vintner writing professor helps students find their voice"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n    \n                                          \n\n  \n    \n\n\n\n\n\n\n<div\n  class=\"cc--component-container cc--article-hero \"\n\n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  >\n  <div class=\"c--component c--article-hero\"\n    \n      >\n\n    \n<div class=\"inner-wrapper\">\n          \n<div class=\"f--field f--image\">\n\n    \n    \n    \n    \n    \n    \n              \n      <img\n                            data-src=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2023\/04\/story-3569-768x432.jpg\"\n          data-srcset=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2023\/04\/story-3569-768x432.jpg 768w\"          data-sizes=\"(min-width:1200px) 75vw, (min-width:768px) 83vw, 100vw\"          class=\"lazyload\"\n        \n                  alt=\"A polyglot, vintner writing professor helps students find their voice\"\n        \n        \n                                      \/>\n\n    \n    \n  \n  \n\n<\/div>\n  \n      <div class=\"image-caption\">\n          \n<div class=\"f--field f--description\">\n\n    \n  Indra Mukhopadhyay speaks three modern languages and often emphasizes the benefits of retaining a heritage language to his international and immigrant students. (Photo: Mike Glier.)\n\n\n<\/div>\n    <\/div>\n  \n  <div class=\"text-wrapper\">\n          <nav aria-label=\"Breadcrumb\" class=\"breadcrumbs\">\n        <ul>\n                      <li><a href=\"\/news\/stories\/\">News<\/a><\/li>\n                      <li><a href=\"\/news\/stories\/\/?category=faculty\">Faculty<\/a><\/li>\n                  <\/ul>\n      <\/nav>\n    \n              \n<div class=\"f--field f--page-title\">\n\n    \n  <h1>A polyglot, vintner writing professor helps students find their voice<\/h1>\n\n\n<\/div>\n    \n          <div class=\"subtitle\">\n            \n<div class=\"f--field f--description\">\n\n    \n  Associate Professor (Teaching) of Writing Indra Mukhopadhyay synthesizes Eastern and Western philosophy in his popular writing classes. <strong>[6\u00bc min read]<\/strong>\n\n\n<\/div>\n      <\/div>\n    \n           <strong class=\"author-field\"><span >By<\/span><a href=\"mailto:communication@dornsife.usc.edu\">Margaret Crable<\/a><\/strong>\n    \n          <span class=\"post-date-field\">October 28, 2021<\/span>\n      <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n  <\/div><\/div>\n\n  \n    \n\n\n\n\n\n\n<div\n  class=\"cc--component-container cc--social-share \"\n\n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  >\n  <div class=\"c--component c--social-share\"\n    \n      >\n\n    \n  <div class=\"content-wrapper\">\n    <span class=\"a2a_kit a2a_kit_size_32 addtoany_list\" style=\"line-height: 32px;\">\n      <span class=\"title\">\n        Share\n      <\/span>\n                        <a class=\"a2a_button_copy_link\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"\/#copy_link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"Link\">\n            <span class=\"a2a_svg a2a_s__default a2a_s_copy_link\">\n              <svg height=\"19\" viewBox=\"0 0 19 19\" width=\"19\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\"><path d=\"m7.43475275 9.52380952-2.17490843 2.26076008c-1.08745421 1.058837-1.68841575 2.518315-1.68841575 4.0350275 0 1.5167124.60096154 2.9475732 1.68841575 4.0350274 1.058837 1.0874543 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brief:<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>He grows wine grapes in his front yard\u00a0\u2014 but doesn&#8217;t drink.<\/li>\n<li>Raised in Bakersfield, California, the multilinguist eschewed a more traditional career to pursue comparative literature.<\/li>\n<li>Instructor talks <em>Beowulf<\/em> while tinkering with antique autos.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<p>When\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/cf\/faculty-and-staff\/faculty.cfm?pid=1027492\">Indra Mukhopadhyay<\/a>, associate professor of\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/the-writing-program\/\">writing<\/a>, isn\u2019t teaching classes, you\u2019ll often find him working in his small vineyard planted in the front yard of his home.<\/p>\n<p>Mukhopadhyay doesn\u2019t drink alcohol anymore \u2014 he\u2019s been teetotal for five years \u2014 but that doesn\u2019t really matter. Winemaking is about the process for him, the chemistry and trouble-shooting and community-building around the craft, not the end product.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere\u2019s an old teaching in Sanskrit which says not to be concerned about the results of your work. Be in the moment and the results will follow,\u201d says Mukhopadhyay. \u201cIt\u2019s a different way of looking at finding fulfillment, in the journey and in the practice.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s a philosophy that extends to his courses at the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences. \u201cThat\u2019s how I teach writing as well. Don\u2019t try to write according to some model product at the end. I get people to embrace the process of writing and that\u2019s how you actually get productive,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n<h2>Fast cars, old books<\/h2>\n<p>Growing up in Bakersfield, California, Mukhopadhyay spoke three languages from an early age. English and Bengali were spoken at home, and French at elementary school. He also loved reading, devouring Alexandre Dumas\u2019 entire\u00a0<em>Three Musketeers<\/em>\u00a0series.<\/p>\n<p>He combined his language skills with his passion for books by studying world literatures at the University of California, San Diego. \u201cAmerican, French, African literature: I wanted to read everything,\u201d he explains.<\/p>\n<p>At UC San Diego, Mukhopadhyay\u2019s studies inspired him to pursue a career outside the traditional vocations that his family, who arrived in California from India in the 1970s, had in mind for him. \u201cI grew up in a household where there\u2019s basically three career paths: doctor, lawyer or engineer,\u201d says Mukhopadhyay.<\/p>\n<p>David Crowne, a former professor of English at UC San Diego who shared Mukhopadhyay\u2019s love of old cars, was a particularly influential role model.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019d go over to his house and we\u2019d get underneath his Alfa Romeo to work on his differential while talking about the pronunciation of Beowulf,\u201d says Mukhopadhyay. \u201cI saw this as true quality of life.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure style=\"width: 630px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/migration-uploads\/Mukhopadhyay_Profile_InStoryA-3569.jpg\" alt=\"Photo of wine bottles.\" width=\"630\" height=\"406\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Mukhopadhyay\u2019s wine is a family affair: His daughter helps stomp the grapes and his wife acts as taste-tester. (Photo: Courtesy of Indra Mukhopadhyay.)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h2>Summer of love<\/h2>\n<p>Although he\u2019d been accepted to law school, Mukhopadhyay decided to decline the offer and pursue a Ph.D. in comparative literature at the University of Michigan instead. \u201cI was afraid of what my parents would say, but they were actually really supportive and so happy for me,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n<p>The program put his love of languages to the test. Students were required to work in three modern languages and one ancient one. He took classes at Harvard and added Sanskrit, a classical Indian language, to his repertoire.<\/p>\n<p>Wanting to polish his French for future career opportunities, he enrolled at the Middlebury College summer language program in Vermont. It was a fortuitous choice: His future wife was also in attendance.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe very first night, we stayed up trying to translate The Smiths and New Order lyrics into French,\u201d says Mukhopadhyay. \u201cWe fell in love that summer.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2>East meets West<\/h2>\n<p>At USC Dornsife, Mukhopadhyay teaches undergraduate students the joy of writing using what he dubs a \u201csynthesis of Western and Eastern enlightenment.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWestern enlightenment is your external knowledge acquisition. Eastern enlightenment is the internal kind, the process of identity discovery,\u201d says Mukhopadhyay. \u201cI don\u2019t teach that in a lecture for students to write down. I create the conditions for that synthesis to happen for each student on their own terms.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Mukhopadhyay might discuss writing from the Enlightenment period, which emphasizes empirical rationality, but he also encourages students to pursue self-reflection through open-ended writing prompts and critical dialogue.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t impose a template on my students. I draw my students out. I do that by asking questions back and forth, to think critically, and in one-on-one conferences,\u201d he says. \u201cI ask them about their writing: \u2018What do you mean by this?\u2019 or \u2018Say some more here,\u2019 and the students bring themselves out.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Mukhopadhyay also hopes his students come away with an appreciation for the universal nature of human experience.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere\u2019s a \u2018hero\u2019s journey\u2019 that happens in Europe, in India, in the First Nations stories in North America,\u201d he explains. \u201cComparative literature is inherently global. It sees the world beyond national traditions.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He teaches a Sanskrit play that\u2019s nearly 2,000 years old, but which follows the familiar plot of any modern rom-com: Boy meets girl, the two fall in love, conflict occurs, and they must rebuild the relationship back to love again.<\/p>\n<h2>Cultural comraderies<\/h2>\n<p>Mukhopadhyay\u2019s broad survey of global literature in classes helps draw in students from varied cultural backgrounds who are happy to explore literature from their native country.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have many students who are immigrants or are the children of immigrants,\u201d he says. \u201cThey\u2019ll say, \u2018I\u2019m from India but I\u2019ve never read this before\u2019 or \u2018I\u2019m from the Middle East and it\u2019s so great to read these stories again.\u2019 That\u2019s very rewarding for me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He encourages these students to retain their heritage language. It\u2019s a considerable asset, not just for opening up career opportunities but for discovering one\u2019s identity.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLearning languages early in life helps you gain other dimensions of yourself,\u201d says Mukhopadhyay, who speaks from personal experience. \u201cIn French I\u2019m really gregarious, I\u2019m an extrovert. In Bengali, I have a whole sense of humor that doesn\u2019t exist in French or English.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Speaking multiple languages also expands our perception of the world around us, he says. \u201cThere are lots of different words in Bengali for weather and its subtleties. There\u2019s a name for the really hot, humid moment before the rain comes. Once you know that word, then you can perceive it when it happens,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n<h2>A higher calling<\/h2>\n<p>For several years, Mukhopadhyay has worked to establish the USC Center for South Asia, which he hopes will be an interdisciplinary institute, bringing together faculty and students from departments throughout USC Dornsife as well as the university.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy vision is that\u00a0the USC Center for South Asia will become the leading pedagogical, research, community outreach and international hub for South Asia in Southern California,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n<p>In his spare time, Mukhopadhyay co-writes a novel with his son that explores the same cultural clashes and cohesion that he tackles in his courses.<\/p>\n<p>India is often associated with British colonialism, but Mukhopadhyay\u2019s ancestral home was colonized by the French. \u201cYou\u2019ll be in the middle of mango orchards, then come to a bridge, and on the side of the bridge it says, \u2018<em>Libert\u00e9, \u00e9galit\u00e9, fraternit\u00e9<\/em>\u00a0[the motto of the French Revolution\u2019],\u2019\u201d he says.<\/p>\n<p>Their book focuses on two young boys, one French and the other Indian, who head off on a quest after bonding over the tales of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. He tells his son it doesn\u2019t matter if the book gets published or not. What is most precious is the time they spend together imagining worlds and stories and getting excited about the characters and what they do.<\/p>\n<p>If the book does hit the bestsellers list, Mukhopadhyay isn\u2019t planning to quit his day job. Teaching has become an important calling.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNietzsche said, \u2018A student repays their teacher poorly by remaining a student.\u2019 I feel a debt and responsibility to teach,\u201d says Mukhopadhyay.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s almost a vocation assigned by the universe: \u201cMukhopadhyay\u201d translates roughly to \u201cteacher\u201d in Sanskrit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n  <\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n  \n        \n  \n    \n\n\n\n\n\n\n<div\n  class=\"cc--component-container cc--article-related-stories \"\n\n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  >\n  <div class=\"c--component c--article-related-stories\"\n    \n      >\n\n    \n  <div class=\"inner-wrapper\">\n    \n                  <article>\n              \n<div class=\"f--field f--cta-title\">\n\n    \n  <h3>\n          <a href=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/stories\/in-memoriam-norah-ashe-mcnalley-director-of-the-writing-program\/\" \n                        class=\"\" \n      >In Memoriam: Norah Ashe-McNalley, director of The Writing Program<\/a>\n      <\/h3>\n\n\n<\/div>\n        <\/article>\n              <article>\n              \n<div class=\"f--field f--cta-title\">\n\n    \n  <h3>\n          <a href=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/stories\/som-wins-poetry-prize\/\" \n                        class=\"\" \n      >Som Wins Poetry Prize<\/a>\n      <\/h3>\n\n\n<\/div>\n        <\/article>\n              <article>\n              \n<div class=\"f--field f--cta-title\">\n\n    \n  <h3>\n          <a href=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/stories\/on-a-mission\/\" \n                        class=\"\" \n      >On a Mission<\/a>\n      <\/h3>\n\n\n<\/div>\n        <\/article>\n            <\/div>\n\n\n  <\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Associate Professor (Teaching) of Writing Indra Mukhopadhyay synthesizes Eastern and Western philosophy in his popular writing classes. <strong>[6\u00bc min read]<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":52,"featured_media":1311,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,17],"tags":[180,150,143,340,136],"class_list":["post-1308","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-faculty","category-student","tag-comparative-literature","tag-dei-story","tag-faculty","tag-indra-mukhopadhyay","tag-writing-program"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.1.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>A polyglot, vintner writing professor helps students find their voice<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/stories\/indra-mukhopadhyay-philosophy-writing-classes\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A polyglot, vintner writing professor helps students find their voice\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Associate Professor (Teaching) of Writing Indra Mukhopadhyay synthesizes Eastern and Western philosophy in his popular writing classes. [6\u00bc min read]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/stories\/indra-mukhopadhyay-philosophy-writing-classes\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"USC Dornsife News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/uscdornsife\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-10-28T16:24:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-03-28T04:29:58+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2023\/04\/story-3569.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"520\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Margaret Crable\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@uscdornsife\" \/>\n<meta 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