Dr. Ashna Jacob is an Assistant Professor of English at IIT Bhubaneswar. Her areas of expertise are Comparative Mythology, Culture Studies and Popular Fiction. She holds a Ph.D. for a thesis titled “Mythopoeia in Popular Fiction: A Select Study of the Mythopoeic Deities” from IIT Indore. Her articles have appeared in SCI journals: Journal of Religion and Popular Culture (University of Toronto Press), Religion and the Arts (Brill) and Mythlore (Southwestern Oklahoma State University Press). She is a reviewer for South Asian Review (Taylor & Francis), New Writing: The International Journal for the Practice and Theory of Creative Writing (Taylor & Francis), Studies in Ethnicity and Nationalism (Wiley) and Clio: A Journal of Literature, History, and the Philosophy of History (Purdue University Fort Wayne). She previously worked at Indian Institute of Information Technology Una, and as Government Guest Lecturer at St.Albert’s College, Ernakulam.

Ongoing Seed grant project funded by the IIT Bhubaneswar titled “Rituals and Lore of the KappiriMuthappan: Documenting the Remains of African-Indian Heritage of Malabar”, with a budget of Rs. 17,05,740/- for the period of two years. 2024-2026

1.  English for Learning and Communication (HS1L001)
2. Speculative Fiction : An Overview (HS2L020)
3. Literature and Gender Theory (HS6L002)

1. Pratikshya Sahoo

1. Jacob, Ashna, and Nirmala Menon. “Mythos to Myth to Mythopoeia: A Cyclical Process.” Mythlore: A Journal of JRR Tolkien, CS Lewis, Charles Williams and Mythopoeic Society. Vol. 42, No. 1(143), Fall/Winter 2023. Southwestern Oklahoma State University Press. p 147-164. https://dc.swosu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2997&context=mythlore
2. Jacob, Ashna and Nirmala Menon. “Packaging Polytheism as Monotheism: A Study of the Mythopoeic Deity in Tolkien’s The Silmarillion”. Religion and the Arts. 22/04/2020, 24 (1-2), 84-109. Brill. p84–109. doi: https://doi.org/10.1163/15685292-02401014
3. Jacob, Ashna and Nirmala Menon. “Mythos to Myth: An Implication of Euhemerism in Amish Tripathi’s Shiva Trilogy”. The Journal of Religion and Popular Culture 31:3 Fall 2019. University of Toronto Press. p196-207 doi: https://doi.org/10.3138/jrpc.2017-0034

1. The Mythopoeic Deity: A Reading of Deities constructed in J.R.R. Tolkien’s and Amish Tripathi’s Mythopoeias at Oxonmoot 2015 annual conference hosted by the Tolkien Society, 10-13th September 2015, at St Antony’s College, Oxford University, U.K.
2. Shiva Trilogy- Representing Mythology in Indian Popular Fiction at Writing Back: Language, Identity, Culture and Difference at Qatar University on 18-19th May 2014, Doha, Qatar.

1. “From Susanna Anna Marie Yeats to Susanna Anna Marie Johannes A Comparative Study of Ruskin Bond’s Susanna’s Seven Husbands (both short story and novella) and the movie adaptation 7 Khoon Maaf” at RAWCON 2014, 10-12th September 2014, at University of Hyderabad, India.
2. Chetan Bhagat’s Great Indian Dream as a Nation fetish at National Young Researcher’s seminar held at Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi, India on January 17-18th 2014, Delhi, India.

JULY 2020 – JULY 2022 Indian Institute of Information Technology Una — Assistant Professor on Contract

JUNE 2019 – DECEMBER 2019 St. Albert’s College, Ernakulam— Government Guest Lecturer

Fully funded Visiting Fellowship at University of Birmingham, U.K. (India Institute Women in Research Fellowship) from 25th May to 26th June, 2026.