Shebati Sengupta (they/she) is a PhD Candidate in American Studies at the University of New Mexico, with certificates in Graduate Teaching and Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. Their research focuses on Asian American embodiment and speculation during COVID-19. Broadly speaking, she is interested in the fictions of the nation-state, and the realities in the stories we tell each other. Shebati has taught Introduction to Politics in Popular Culture and Intro to WGSS. They also designed and taught the first Intro to Asian American Studies course ever taught at UNM. She is also involved with creative writing, and has attended retreats at VONA and Roots, Wounds, Words. She is interested in storytelling as craft, as theory, and as methodology.