Members of the department approach the study of South Asia from a variety of disciplinary interests: as experts in cultural studies, linguistics and translation, gender and queer studies, film studies, and the environmental humanities. Students are exposed to various canonical texts from South Asia, spanning Anglophone and vernacular (especially Hindi, Urdu, and Bangla) traditions. They also engage with innovative literary developments in the region, focusing on genre fiction in particular. Research by faculty grapple with retellings of the Mahabharata, Hindi pocketbooks, Islamicate literary and performative traditions, such as qissa, jangnama, and dastangoi, as well as material cultures of Muslim north India.

Members of the department have published in internationally acclaimed journals such as Modern Asian Studies, South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies, South Asian Review, and Journal of Asian Studies.