Zaynab Ali (she/her) is a doctoral candidate in English at York University. She is the recipient of the SSHRC Joseph-Armand Bombardier Canadian Graduate Scholarship (2021). Along with her MA, Zaynab also completed her Graduate Diploma in World Literature (2019) and is working towards receiving a Graduate Diploma in Refugee and Migration Studies alongside her doctoral degree. Her interests lie in the field of world literature and exilic writing.

Zaynab has completed a TA Certificate in Teaching (2021) and the Senior Teaching Assistant Program at York (2022). She has been a teaching assistant in the departments of English and Equity Studies. She has also delivered guest lectures for several upper-year English courses.

The two key principles that guide Zaynab’s teaching are based on helping students see the trees through the forest: first, to regard every student as an individual with their own background, history, values, and goals, and second, to create a safe space for learning where students are encouraged to question “why?” This will push students to engage with literature not as a canon but rather as a wielding force that influences our world.

Email address: zaynaba@yorku.ca