James Nikopoulos, PhD

James Nikopoulos earned a B.A. in English (2002) from the University of California, Los Angeles and a Masters (2007) and Ph.D. (2010) in Comparative Literature from the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. His work focuses on the modernist period and the intersection of the English-speaking and Mediterranean worlds, in particular Italy and Greece. Research interests include cognitive literary studies, affect/emotion, classical reception, and laughter.

James loves teaching at Nazarbayev University, whose students humor him with their patience, understanding, and irony. He has taught Literary Modernism, World Literature II, Introduction to Literary Studies, and Introduction to Critical Issues in the Humanities and Social Sciences. He is also planning on teaching a course that centers on Dante’s Inferno.