My areas of specialization are Narrative Theory, Feminist Theory and Criticism, Postcolonial Theory, East-West Dramatic Theories, and 19th century musical forms of Bengal. For my PhD, I used a comparative framework to study the many interrelationships between gender, genre, postcolonial contexts and writing as agency, with special emphasis on African and African American women's writing. I have also explored at length the emergence of a black feminist critical vocabulary, which stresses matrilineal traditions in art. In my latest book The Many Dialogues of the Sri Sri Ramakrishna Kathamrita (Hawakal, 2021) I have used the dialogic framework suggested for the novel by Mikhail Bakhtin in The Dialogic Imagination, to read the Kathamrita as offering multiple dialogues between empiricism and fath, myth and history, historical documentation and music as epistemology, Shakta and Vaishnav epistemologies to create a symphonic text. Apart from multiple essays on gender, culture, history and theory interfaces , I have also published “The Theory and the Practice of the Performing Arts in Ancient India”, in History of Ancient India. Vol. VIII. Ed. Dilip K Chakrabarti. New Delhi: Vivekananda International Foundation and Aryan books International, 2020. Some of my recent writing has also looked at how classical ragas constitute the core aesthetic appeal of many of Rabindranath Tagore’s songs (Hindustan Times, August 2015), and how in some, raga and spiritual quest intersect in such powerful ways, that one can’t think of the one without the other (RMIC Bulletin). I have also been extensively trained in Rabindrasangeet.
Academic:
PhD (Jadavpur, Comparative Literature), M.A. in English (Jadavpur), M.A. in Comparative Literature (Rutgers University), B.A. in English (Presidency College), Diplôme de langue Française (Alliance Française de Calcutta), Fulbright Visiting Lecturer Fellow, 2011.
Music:
Hindustani Classical vocal (A.T. Kanan, Kabita Gupta), Light Classical vocal (Amarnath Mukherjee), Rabindrasangeet (Smt. Bibha Sengupta, Smt. Maya Sen and Smt. Gita Sen)
I studied for my Honours degree in English at Presidency College, between the years 1979—1982. Subsequently, I went on to live in America during 1982—1994, and studied for two M.A. degrees during that period, one in English and the other in Comparative Literature. I started teaching at Basanti Devi College, from November 1996 and in April 2005, I was awarded the PhD degree. In the Fall of 2011, I went on a Fulbright Visiting Lecturer Fellowship to San Diego State University, Department of English and Comparative Literature, to teach an upper level undergraduate course on Indian Women Writing English (1875—2006).
I recently published a book on the many dialogic interfaces of the Sri Sri Ramakrishna Kathamrita. This iconic text enacts the dialogic interface of many competing discourses that characterized the intellectual and cultural life of 19th century Bengal. The text exhibits dialogues between empiricism and faith, music as epistemological principle and science as epistemology, Vaishnavism and Shakta interfaces and others. I use Mikhail Bakhtin's theoretical premise of dialogism in the novel as a methodological lens through which to view the Kathamrita as a 'narrative of the nation'. This book has a chapter on song as epistemological principle in the philosophy of Sri Ramakrishna and a chapter on theatre by foregrounding Girish Chandra Ghosh as one of the foremost figures of the Kathamrita.
I have served as Head of the Department of the department of Performing Arts at Presidency University from 17.6.2016 to 21.2.18. I was Head of the Department of English at Basanti Devi College, for over 6 years, and this involved holding admissions examinations, departmental seminars, and other related administrative responsibilities. I have also been convener of a U.G.C. Regional Seminar entitled, “Romanticism, Victorianism and Modernism: Convergences and Divergences,” held at that college in April, 2008. I have served as Honours Coordinator for the University of Calcutta, in 2007 and 2008. I also framed the syllabus for the M.A. in English, instituted at Basanti Devi College, from 2013, and been the principal editor of the Special Edition of the Basanti Devi College Magazine, 2015, on Women and Empowerment.
- Basic elements of performance vis a vis actor, audience and stage.
- Critical concepts in theatre in both Eastern and Western traditions, e.g, rasa, catharsis, imitation, anukarana.
- Natyashastra.
- 20th century Western practitioners: Stanislavsky, Copeau, Artaud, Grotowski, Barba, Brook and Schechner.
- Performing Arts as a tool to study historical, sociological and cultural phenomena.
- Shared histories and cultures from the colonial to the postcolonial era (India). South East Asia theatre traditions.
- Theatre Anthropology and concepts like "dilated body", "dilated mind", "bios", "immersion", "Kung Fu", "natyadharma", 'anima" and "animus". etc.
- Postcolonial or contemporary Indian drama.
- M.Phil Examiner for Comparative Literature Mahasweta Devi and Sashi Deshpande , 2006
- M.Phil Examiner for English at Jadavpur in ’06, on Toni Morrison, 2006
- Nominated expert for RAC at Dept of English, St. Xavier's University, Kolkata.
- Nominated expert for RAC at Dept of English, Presidency University, Kolkata.
- Nominated expert for RAC at Dept of Hindi, Presidency University, Kolkata.
CLAI (Comparative Literature Association of India): Life Membership
IACLALS (Indian Association for Commonwealth Literature and Language Studies) : Life Membership
Books:
NEW: Women and the Romance of the Word: 19th Century Contexts in Bengal. New Delhi: Bloomsbury Publications. IN PRESS ( April 30, 224). 248 pages.
- The Many Dialogues of the Sri Sri Ramakrishna Kathamrita. New Delhi & Kolkata: Hawakal Publishers. April, 2021.
- Light, and yet, more Light. Translation of Alokeranjan Dasgupta's Alo Aro Alo. Kolkata: Abhijaan. July, 2019.
- Narrative and Gender Intersections: Selected Novels of Ashapurna Devi and Mahasweta Devi. Kolkata: Sutradhar. October 2016.
- Sister Nivedita. Translation of Rabindranath Tagore’s Bhagini Nivedita. Kolkata: Sutradhar. February 2016.
- Many Contexts of Indian Writing in English. Burdwan: Avenel Press, 2010.
- Questions of Identity and Community: Women, Language and Literature within African and African American postcolonial contexts. Saarbrucken, Germany: Lap Lambert Academic Publishing, 2012.
Articles/chapters in Books (international, national)
NEW:
· “Memory as Cinematic Praxis: The Art of Ritwik Ghatak”. The Long History of Partition in Bengal. Eds. Rituparna Roy, Jayanta Sengupta & Shekhar Bandyopadhyay. Routledge India. 2024. 240-253.
· “The Nation Narrated: Chinua Achebe’s Anthills of the Savannah”. Chinua Achebe: Voice and Vision. Ed. Hossain Al Mamun. The University Press Limited. 2023. 155-169.
- "The Haunted Telling of Toni Morrison's Beloved'. Beloved: Worldview Critical Companion. Eds. Subashish Bhattacharya & Indrajit Mukherjee. Worldview Publictions: Delhi and Kolkata: 2022. 97-11.
- "Hindu College and ;Performance'--1817-1867.". "Journal of Kolkata Society for Asian Studies."Vol 8. Number 2. December 2022.Eds. Ranjana Ray & Sarmishta De Basu. Kolkata: 2002. ISSN 2454-5694. 142-160.
- “The Theory and the Practice of the Performing Arts in Ancient India”. History of Ancient India. Vol. VIII. Ed. Dilip K Chakrabarti. New Delhi: Vivekananda International Foundation and Aryan books International. January, 2020. 435-456.
- "Nivedita as Biographer: The Master as I Saw HIm". Re-Visioning Sister Nivedita. Eds. Sanjukta Das, Parna Ghose and Kakoli Sinha Ray. Kolkata: IQAQ Lady Brabourne College and Sampark.90-108.
- Sister Nivedita. Trans. Rabindranath Tagore's Bhagini Nivedita. Sister Nivedita in Contemporary Newspapers II.Ed.Prabudhhaprana. Kolkata: Sri Sarada Math. 2020.
- "Movement Poets Sonia Sanchez and Nikki Giovanni.” Aspects of Modernity: American Women’s Poetry. Ed. Sukanya Dasgupta. Kolkata: Jadavpur University Press, 2014. 152—167.
- “Begum Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain: écrivaine, féministe et educatrice du debut du XXeme siècle au Bengale (Begum Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain: Writer, Feminist and Educationist at the beginning of the 19th century in Bengal ).”Rencontre avec l’Inde". Tome 43, Numero 2, 2014. 59—73.
- “Story Telling in the Age of Cybernetics: Rana Dasgupta’sTokyo Cancelled”. Writing India Anew: Indian English Fiction 2000—2010. Eds. Krishna Sen and Rituparna Roy. Amsterdam University Press. 2013. 171—188.
- " Text and Context in the Art of Toni Morrison". Jadavpur University: Essays and Studies. XXVI. Ed. Shanta Dutta and Abhijit Guha. Kolkata. 2012.
- “Partition as a Leitmotif in the short fiction of Sadat Hussain Manto” in Barbed Wire: Borders and Partitions in South Asia .Ed. Jayita Sengupta. Delhi: Routledge (India), 2012. 81-93.
- “Myth as Historical Revisionism in Mahasweta Devi’s Draupadi and Stanadayini” Mahasweta Devi. Ed. Nandini Sen. Delhi: Pencraft International, 2011. 140—152.
- “Feminist Theory/Writing Feminist.” Breaking the Silence. Eds. Sanjukta Dasgupta and Chinmoy Guha .Kolkata: Dasgupta and Company Private Limited, 2011. 86-113.
- Review of Twelve Best Books by African Women: Critical Readings.Chikwenye Okonjo Ogunyemi and TuzylineJita Allan, eds. 2009. Contemporary Women’s Writing. Vol 4 No. 2, July 2010. Oxford: Oxford Journals, Oxford University Press. 156--158.
- “The Aesthetic as Political and the Political as Aesthetic: The Art of Toni Morrison.” Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences. No. VII. Kolkata: Scottish Church College, 2009. 118-127.
- “Claiming Identity through Epistolarity and Feminism: MariamaBâ’s So Long a Letter.” JUES, Jadavpur University Essays and Studies, XXIII, Ed. Ananda Lal, Kolkata, 2009. 13--34.
- }“Orality as Aesthetic and Generational Strategy.” In Gender and Generation: Interdisciplinary Perspectives & Intersections. Eds. Katerina Kolarova and VeraSokolova. Prague: Litteraria Pragensia. 2007. 150-169.
- “Naipaul’s India? Myth or Reality?”Sambalpur Studies in Literature and Culture. Department of English. Sambalpur University. Series 3, 2013. 27—41.
Rassasundari Devi’s Amar Jiban: Romancing the Self and the Text
https://cafedissensuseveryday.com/2020/08/11/rassasundari-devis-amar-jiban-romancing-the-self-and-the-text/
Rabindra Sarobar Lakes: The many interweaves of nature, poetry and humanity
https://cafedissensuseveryday.com/2020/07/17/rabindra-sarobar-lakes-the-many-interweaves-of-nature-poetry-and-humanity/
The Statesman: Perspective Page “Spiritual Symphony I & II” (on the RamakrishnaKathamrita). February 19-20, 2013
Hindustan Times. “The Classical Touch”. August 31. 2015.
“Spiritual Quest in dialogue with melody in Rabindranath Tagore’s songs”. Parts I & II. Bulletin of the Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture. October and November, 2015.
DOCUMENTARY VIDEOS MADE WITH FRPDF GRANTS (all except the last one)
- "Strings and Lyrics--An Interview with Prithwidev Bhattacharya" https://youtu.be/OwPXhj0NLw4
Bibha Sengupta: Rabindrasangeet Maestro: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ymvr72z968Y
Presidency Museum Documentary :https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_NhMrNA-Zs
- The Chitrakars: Where earth meets culture. https://youtu.be/8bhZiKIYukk
- "Chinmoyee Roop Dhore Ai: An interview with Durgal Puja artists, Gauranga Kuila and Debaprasad Hazra". https://youtu.be/brt6OwYCaBE
- Interview with Jashn-E-Qalam: (Mumbai based theatre group)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o2t_b6Ry4sA
Presidency University Students Corner