RIMLI BHATTACHARYA Associate Professor Department of English University of Delhi 110 007

Tel (home): +91-11-2766 6287 Email: [email protected]

Permanent Address: ‘Disha’, 49/60 PGMS Road, Calcutta 700 033, India. +91-33-2473 9336 (tel: home)

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EDUCATION

1986 Ph.D. Brown University, Comparative Literature (English, Russian & French fiction)

Dissertation: ‘Narrative Patterns in the Nineteenth-Century Short Story’

1981 M.A. , Comparative Literature, First Class First

1977 B.A. Calcutta University, English Honours

TEACHING /RESEARCH POSITIONS

2014-2016 Professor, Gender Studies (on EOL from University of Delhi) Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Calcutta

2001 - Associate Professor, Dept. of English (Permanent Appointment) University of Delhi, Delhi

Spring 2008 ICCR Visiting Chair, Dept of South Asian Studies, University of Pennsylvania, USA

1997-2001 Reader, Dept. of English (Permanent Appointment) The Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, Vadodara, Gujarat

Spring 2000 Rama Watumull Distinguished Indian Scholar Center for South Asian Studies, University of Hawai’i at Manoa, USA

1994-95 Guest Lecturer, Dept. of Comparative Literature Jadavpur University, Calcutta

1987-90 Pool Officer , CSIR, based at the Centre of Linguistics and English Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi

HONOURS / AWARDS / RESEARCH GRANTS

Indo-German faculty exchange programme, GOI, Summer 2019 University of Delhi & Potsdam University

Annual R&D and Doctoral Grants University of Delhi 2012-2013

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Annual R&D and Doctoral Grants University of Delhi 2011-2012

Visiting Fellow DEOML, Visva-Bharati March 2012

Visiting Fellow SNDT Women’s University February 2012

(Conference) Travel Grant to Beijing ICCR, Delhi 2010

3 Short-term research grants Eklavya & Sir Ratan Tata Trust 2009-2010

ICCR Visiting Chair Dept of South Asian Studies Spring 2008 Professor of Indian Literature University of Pennsylvania

Rama Watumull Distinguished Center for South Asian Studies Spring 2000 Indian Scholar University of Hawai’i at Manoa

Senior Research Fellowship Ministry of Human Resources 1996-1998 Development

Small Studies Grant for Nehru Trust Summer 1995 Research at Institutions in the U.K. (supplemented and extended to) Summer 1996

Individual Research Grants The Ford Foundation 1993-1995

Vistorship to the U.K. The British Council July 1993

Rockefeller Residency Fellowship Institute on Culture & Spring 1993 Consciousness, University of Chicago

General Fellowship Indian Council for 1991-1993 Social Science Research [NMML]

Scholarship to Inter-University Inter-University Program, 1986-1987 Program for Chinese Language Studies in Taipei

Travel Grant to Taiwan Sir Dorabji Tata Trust 1986

Fellowship for Summer Course Institute d’Etudes Francaises Summer 1983 in Advanced French d’Avignon

Fellowship for Summer Practicum Columbia University Summer 1982 in Advanced Russian

Graduate Studies Fellowship Brown University 1981-1982

University Medal Jadavpur University 1980 First in First Class in MA

Medal in paper on Rabindranath Jadavpur University 1980 Tagore in MA

2 RESEARCH AREAS

Performance Theory and History Gender Studies Narrative Theory Translation Studies Children’s Literature Primary Education Film and the visual arts Oceanic Humanities

CURRENT RESEARCH

1. OCEANIC HUMANITIES: 2018 onwards

Partner from India in an international Oceanic Humanities project, based at the Wits Institute for Social and Economic Research, University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. (PI: Isabel Hofmeyr, Oceanic Humanities for the Global South). https://www.oceanichumanities.com/about

My focus is on trade routes of literature, culture and religion from the coastlines of the Indian subcontinent to South-east Asia and East Africa. I have contributed to workshops and student seminars in South Africa and Mozambique. A manuscript is under preparation.

2. ARCHIVAL WORK ON CHILDREN’S MAGAZINES: 2014 onwards

Drawing on the visual archives of CSSSC on children’s fiction in Bangla (book covers, etc, and periodicals) and other libraries such as the National Library and the Sadharon Samaj Library located in Calcutta, I am working towards a comparative study of periodicals for children. I am exploring the relationship between science, literature and social reform, with particular emphasis on illustrations. I was invited to present a paper based on this archival material at an invited lecture at Azim Premji University in August 2014 and in Vidya Bhavan Society, Udaipur in February 2019.

3. DHAN GOPAL MUKERJI: 2000 onwards With a view to extend and reconfigure the scope of ‘the national’, I have been working on the substantial oeuvre of Dhan Gopal Mukerji (1890-1936), particularly his children’s fiction, written in English, and primarily published in the US in the early decades of the twentieth century.

An Occasional Paper (2009) and an article in a refereed journal (2013) have appeared in print, besides ongoing talks (2005, 2008, 2013, 2014) on the subject. A forthcoming book : The Task of the Interpreter: Dhan Gopal Mukerji’s India.

RESEARCH SUPERVISION

Supervised & Awarded Degree:

Hemjyoti Medhi: “The Women’s Question in Colonial Assam: A Case Study of Chandraprabha Saikiani and the Assam Mahila Samiti” (2014)

Prachee Dewri: “Bishnuprasad Rava: A Study in Revolutionary Aesthetics” (2016)

Garima Rai: “Interrogating Migrant Subjectivity in Indian Nepali Writing from Darjeeling (1950s- 1980s)"

3 Supervision of doctoral dissertation under progress:

Bidyut Sagar Boruah: “Reception of Russian Literature in Assamese (1930-2000): Networks of Appreciation, Translation and the Political Milieu”

Ranjani Shankar. M: “Critical Literacy and the English Language Curriculum” (Joint Supervision with Prof. Anita Rampal, Faculty of Education, University of Delhi).

Anagha BR: ‘Owning The Street In Her Own Way: A Study of the Street Plays Of Women’s Theatre Groups In Kerala’

2009 – 2011: Project Advisor to a 2-year research project (with Hemjyoti Medhi) entitled “Memory, Movement and the Mahila Samiti in Assam’, Funded by Preserving Social Memory Grant, The Sephis Programme, International Institute of Social History, The Netherlands and Supported by Tezpur University.

Supervision of MPhil dissertations from 2005 onwards. 2019 (25,000 words dissertation): Deepanshu Mahajan, Gurpreet Kaur and Debalina Pal 2020 (25,000 words dissertation): Amitrajeet Mukherjee, Vikram Singh

Supervision /Publication of independent research projects:

2009 “Sur Pippa: Songs in Many Tongues: Lullabies and Playsongs in Asamiya, Mizo and Kumaoni with translations into English’. Introduction by Rimli Bhattacharya. Project members: Prachee Dewri, Kristina Zama, Padmakshi Patowary and Aditi Chand.

2009 A study of ‘Subject English’ in NCERT textbooks (Classes 3-5), including classroom observation and alternative pedagogies. Introduction by Rimli Bhattacharya and Anuja Madan, with Nivedita Basu & Sreyoshi Sarkar. Published as a monograph. Both projects were supported by Eklavya and the Ratan Tata Trust.

External Examiner for Ph.D. theses: University of Hyderabad, Assam University, Jadavpur University, IIT Delhi, University of Delhi, among others.

TEACHING EXPERIENCE

2001- 2020 University of Delhi M.Phil. Seminars 2004 -2020: ‘Children’s Literature: Childhood, pedagogy and literary forms’ 2018: ‘The “Travelling Gaze” and Spatial Transformations’. 2008: ‘The Body in Performance: Comparative Contexts in the 20th Century’ 2004: ‘Theatrical Formations and the Politics of Spectacle-Making from Mid-19th to Early 20th Century’ 2003 - 2019: ‘The Short Story in Comparative Contexts’

2014-2016 Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Calcutta 2015 M.Phil. Seminar: Theorising Performance [Lecture with film analysis] 2014 M.Phil. Seminar: Feminism and the Social Sciences [with colleagues]

TEACHING (cont.)

M.A. University of Delhi 2019- 2020: M.A. 1st and 2nd years (new syllabi) 16th and 17th Century Drama/ The Long 19th Century / Poetry 1 / Literature of the Americas / Fiction

4 2001- 2013 (old syllabi) New Literatures in English / European Comedy / The 19th Century Novel /The 20th Century Novel Indian Literature (in English Translation) The 19th Century Novel / 19th Century Poetry / Modern Drama

Spring Semester 2000 University of Hawai’i at Manoa Graduate Seminar: ‘Modernity and Representations/Contradictions of Faith’

1997-2001: Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda M.A. 1st and 2nd years

Perspectives on English & Post-colonial theory / G.B. Shaw’s Saint Joan /Austen, Mansfield Park; Swift, Gulliver’s Travels; Hobbes, Leviathan Modern Indian Poetry / Indian Literature in English: Mohanty: Paraja; Tagore: Home and the World M.Phil. Research Methodology Designed courses on Writing and Communication for the Faculties of Fine Arts & Home Science

Spring Semester 2000 University of Hawai’i at Manoa Graduate Seminar: ‘Modernity and Representations/Contradictions of Faith’

1995 Jadavpur University (Dept of Comparative Literature) Journey to the West / Shakespeare: Hamlet

1988-91 Jawaharlal Nehru University (Centre of English & Linguistics) Modern Drama; Literary Theory: An Introduction; The Novel in America / Politics and Family Relationships in the Novel / The Fantastic Short Story

1983-86 Brown University (as Teaching Assistant) Introduction to Comedy The City and the Arts Vision and Response in Modern Fiction Tales and Tale-makers of the Non-Western World

PUBLICATIONS

I. Books / Edited volumes Monograph on Children’s Literature in India: Many tongues, many realities, forthcoming from Bloomsbury.

2019 The Dancing Poet: and Choreographies of Participation, New Delhi: Tulika Books.

2018 Public Women: Playing the Icon on the Urban Stage, London, New York, New Delhi: Routledge.

Binodini Dasi’s ‘My Story and My Life as an Actress’. New Delhi, Kali for Women: 1998. [Autobiographies of the 19th century stage actress, Binodini Dasi. Translated and edited with Introduction & Afterword, Notes and Appendices. [Revised edition forthcoming]

The English text has been used for the sub-titles and super-script respectively for a film and a play : Amar Katha: Story of Binodini (A Text of Betrayal). Dir. Tuhinabha Majumdar Films Division of India (2015)

Nati Binodini, Dir: Amal Allana (2006)

PUBLICATIONS (cont)

5 The book has been excerpted as ‘Binodini Dasi: The Prostitute as Saint’ in Amal Allana, ed. The Act of Becoming: Actors Talk, New Delhi: National School of Drama & Niyogi Books, 2013, pp. 28-36. ISBN: 978-93-81523-98-8

Excerpted as ‘Memoirs of Binodini Dasi’, in Kalpana Bardhan, ed. The Oxford India Anthology of , Vol. 1, 1861-1941. New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2010, pp. 357-73.

• Sur Pippa: ‘Notes on Running Feet’ (co-authored monograph on ‘Subject English’ in NCERT English Marigold textbooks) Bhopal: Eklavya, 2012.

• Texts Travelling Text. Edited and designed special issue of Yearly Review, No. 12, July 2004. Dept of English, University of Delhi.

• Co-editor, Katha: Prize Stories, Vol. I, Katha and Rupa, New Delhi, 1991, rpt. 1997. Anthology of contemporary Indian Stories, translated into English.

TRANSLATION of NOVELS with Critical Notes, Introduction & Afterword (from Bangla to English)

Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay, Restless Waters of the Ichhamati, translated and introduced by Rimli Bhattacharya, New Delhi: Rupa, 2018. Also available as e-book.

Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay, Making a Mango Whistle (Aam anthir Bhepu). Puffin Classic Series, 2007. Making a Mango Whistle Translated into Korean from my English version. Seoul, 2009.

Rabindranath Tagore, Four Chapters (Char Addhyay), New Delhi: Srishti Publishers, 2002. Rpt. 2012. Exerpted and Reprinted in , Fakrul Alam and Radha Chakravarty, eds. pp. 691-707. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2011. [Also brought out by Visva-Bharati Publications, 2012.]

Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay, Aranyak: Of the forest. Calcutta: Seagull Books, 2002. Reprinted as The India List (Series) Seagull Books with Chicago University Press, 2017. Link: https://ayearofreadingtheworld.com/2018/02/24/the-joy-of-book-clubs/

Select translations from English to Bangla (short prose pieces/stories):

2018 ‘Sworn Sisters’ and ‘The Gift of Water’ by Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay, Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay Reader, Ruswati Sen and Bhaswati Chakravorty, eds. Calcutta: Sahitya Akademi, 2018, pp. 131-34; pp. 112-17.

2018 Co-translated ‘The Philosopher’s Stone’ by Parashuram and ‘Nyadosh, the heavenly cow’ by , Timeless Tales from Bengal, Sourav Dasthakur and Dipankar Roy, eds. New Delhi: Neogi Books, 2018, pp. 98-111; pp. 339-46.

1998 ‘Izzat’ by Ashapurna Devi, Separate Journeys, Geeta Dharmarajan, ed. New Delhi: Katha, 1998, pp. 87-98.

1995 ‘Amar lekhar gorar katha’ (Beginnings) by Jyotirmoyee Debi, The River Churning: A Partition Novel, Kali for Women, New Delhi, 1995.

1990 ‘By the Grace of Shasthi’, Rajshekhar Basu’s ‘Shasthi’r Kripa’, Manushi, no. 58, 1990, 39-42.

Translations ready for publication (from Bangla to English) • Abanindranath Tagore, Nalak

6 • Shanu Lahiri, Smritir Collage

Fiction • ‘On Elephant Back’ India International Centre Quarterly, 1993. • Texts for children: SCERT Textbooks, Delhi, 2003. • Photo-essay: ‘Hum Megh ke desh me’ Chakmak (magazine for children) July 2009.

II. Articles / Monographs / Book Chapters:

2020 ‘A text can come alive for and through the child in the classroom’, Dialogues: English Studies in India, Rachna Sethi & AL Khanna, eds, Delhi: Aakar Books, 2020, pp. 70-77. Book Chapter

2017 ‘Between the Lines’, Language and Language Teaching, Vol. 6, No. 2, Issue 12, July 2017, pp. 64-72.

2017 ‘Performance and “Begging Missions”, Economic & Political Weekly, Vol. 52, No. 19, 13 May 2017, pp. 64-70.

2017 ‘Speaking of Food: apple, ice-cream, posto, pista, roti…’ in Trends in Language Teaching, Rama Kant Agnihotri, et al, eds. Hyderabad, Orient BlackSwan Private Limited, pp. 82-96. ISBN 978-93- 86296-87-0. Book Chapter

2016 ‘Realizing the Body in Movement: Gestures of Freedom in the Dance Aesthetics of Rabindranath Tagore and Kumar Shahani’, The Bloomsbury Research Handbook of Indian Aesthetics and the Philosophy of Art, Arindam Chakrabarti, ed. London: Bloomsbury Academy, pp. 249-268. Reprinted in paperback, 2018. ISBN 978 1 350 05802 -6. Book Chapter

2014-2016 ‘Opening up the utsav: Rabindranath Tagore and choreographies of participation’, Jadavpur Journal of Comparative Literature, Nos. 51-52, pp. 9-38.

2014 ‘Promiscuous Spaces and Economies of Entertainment: Soldiers, Actresses and Hybrid Genres in Colonial India’ in Nineteenth Century Theatre and Film, Vol. 41, no. 2 (Winter issue), 50-75.

2014 ‘Creating Space for Creative Space’ The Picture Speaks. Illustrating for Children: A Report of a Seminar on “Illustrations in Children’s Books”. Bhopal: Eklavya.

2013 ‘Chosen Families and Self Transformations in Dhan Gopal Mukerji’s Books for Children, 1920s- 1930s’ in South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies; 36: 1; 9-24. [Also a book chapter in Unfamiliar Ground: Security, Socialisation and Affect in Indian Families, Ira , ed, London: Routledge, 2014, 7-22.]

2012 ‘“My Indian kinsmen...” or, the serendipity of the archive’ Sangeet Natak, Vol. XLVI, Nos. 1-4, 121-52.

2012 ‘Making a “Play-text”: Innovative Uses of Traditional Arts’ in Journal of Language and Language Teaching. Vol 1, No. 1, 40-45.

2011 ‘The performance of identity and histories of representation’ in Literatures and Oratures as Knowledge-systems: Texts From Northeast India, Goutam Biswas, Subha Chakraborty and Samantak Das, eds. Delhi, Akansha Publishers. 43–76.

2011 ‘A Clean Slate?’ in Tagore and China, Tan Chung, Amiya Dev et al, eds. Delhi, Sage Publications, 221-40.

7 Publications (cont.) 2009 ‘Recovery, Recontextualisation and Performance: Questions on the Margin’ in Vijaya Ramaswamy and Yogesh Sharma, eds. Biography as History: Indian Perspectives. Hyderabad, Orient Blackswan, 152-177.

2009 ‘Transnational Scouting and Dhan Gopal Mukerji’s Gay-Neck the Pigeon, 1927’. DSA, Occasional Paper VIII, Department of English, University of Delhi.

2007 ‘The Policy-Practice Nexus in Delhi, Johannesburg and London English Classrooms: Teachers and the Textual Cycle’ Joint paper, TESOL Quarterly, vol. 41, No 3, September 2007, pp. 465-85.

2007 Entries on Indian performers for Encyclopedia of Women in World History, Bonnie G. Smith, ed. New York: Oxford University Press.

2006 ‘Autobiographies, Atmacharits and Other Selves’ in Sites and Practices. An Exercise in Cultural Pedagogy. Madhusree Dutta and Smriti Nevatia, eds. Bombay, Majlis, pp. 189-199.

2004 ‘Notes on ‘A Strange Meeting’ (Bichitra Sabha): Calcutta, 1912’ in Indian Folklife, special issue on Genre, Community, and Event, Roma Chatterji, ed. vol. 3, 4, No. 17, October 2004.

2003 ‘The nautee in “the Second City of the Empire” in The Indian Economic and Social History Review, 40, 2, pp. 192-235.

1995-96 ‘Benediction in Performance: Reverberations of Chaitanya Lila from the 1880s’ in Jadavpur Journal of Comparative Literature, No. 33, .

1995 ‘Ekti bichitra sabhar kahini’ (The Story of a Strange Meeting) (in Bangla). Baromas, 5-79.

1995 ‘Actress Stories and the “Female” confessional voice in Bengali Theatre Magazines, 1910-25’. Seagull Theatre Quarterly, No. 5. May 1995, .

1994 ‘Kamlabai Revisited’ (on Reena Mohan’s documentary film on the Marathi actress, Kamlabai Gokhale. Seagull Theatre Quarterly, No. 1. May 1994. Excerpted in Economic Times, August 21, 1994.

1993 ‘Redemption of the “Nati”’. Institute for Culture and Consciousness, Occasional Papers I, Susan Rudolph et al eds. University of Chicago, December 1993.

1992 ‘Siting the Teacher’ in The Lie of the Land: English Literature in India, Rajeswari Sunder Rajan, ed. Oxford University Press, New Delhi.

‘Salman Rushdie: Migrant in the Metropolis’ (co-authored) in Beyond the Rushdie Affair, special issue of The Third Text, Don Miller, Guest ed. No. 11, 1990. ‘Chinese Treasures: Cave Murals and a Classic Chinese Novel’. The Indian Express, Feb 9, 1992.

“Public Women”: Early Stage Actresses of the Calcutta Stage”. The Calcutta Psyche, India International Centre Quarterly, Vol. 17, Nos. 3 & 4, 1990-91.

‘Bimala’s Story: Conflicting Strands in Tagore’s novel and Vivadi’s play’. The Hindustan Times, September 28, 1989.

REVIEWS

2004- 2020 Peer reviewer for journal articles Bookbird, A Journal of International Children’s Literature, Tesol Quarterly, Education for Change, etc.

8 1991-2020 Book Reviews Rosemary Ross Johnston, Australian Literature for Young People, In Contemporary Education Dialogue, December 6, 2018. Also for Biblio, The Indian Express, The Indian Review of Books, The Book Review, Interventions, etc.

1991-1996 Drama Critic for The Indian Express, New Delhi, for plays in , English and Bangla.

Select Drama Reviews 1. Century Theatre's production of Barnstormers, Indian Express, 10 May 1992. 2. NSD’s Hindi production of Chittaranjan Ghosh’s Nati Binodini, Indian Express, 1993. 3. Rangakarmee’s production of Mahasweta Devi’s Rudali, Indian Express, 1993. 4. Chingari's production of Hindi adaptation of Genet's Les Bonnes as The Maids, Indian Express, 16 February 1992. 5. NSD's production of Hindi adaptation of Lorca's House of Bernarda Alba as Din Ke Andhere, Indian Express, 19 January 1992. 6. Padatik's Hindi production of Tendulkar's play, Sakharam Binder, in Hans, (in Hindi) July 1991.

Editorial consultant Dunhuang Art, Tan Chung ed., New Delhi, Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts, 1993.

NGOs and Health Care, Saroj Pachauri, ed. The Ford Foundation, India. New Delhi: Sage Publicatons, 1994.

Invited member to editorial advisory board for a new book series, “New Directions in Comparative and International Education,” to be published by Bloomsbury Academic Publishing, 2016.

ACADEMIC TALKS

1. Invited Talks / Conference Papers / Keynote Address (from 2000 onwards)

29 February 2020. ‘Working with archives, languages and images’, Lecture & workshop at CPS Jawaharlal Nehru University.

26 February 2020. Public Lecture, ‘Beyond the Apparatus: Some early 20th century reconfigurations of work and play’, Centre for Political Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.

14 February 2020. Plenary Lecture on Literature and History, ‘The Secret Sharer: Betwixt Land and Sea’, English Society, Hans Raj College, Delhi.

26 December 2019. ‘Studio, stadia and an asram’, Seminar, Centre for Studies in the Social Sciences, Calcutta.

8 December 2019. ‘Aurality and movement’, Invited lecture at the Fifteenth International Short Film Festival, Shilpakala Academy, , Bangladesh.

Academic Talks (cont.) 14 June 2019. Paper presented at International Workshop ‘Ilha De Moçambique: Thinking Oceanically’, at Ilha De Moçambique, Moçambique.

24 April 2019. ‘Counter Seductions: The actress in the colonial metropolis’, Part of the lecture series entitled ‘Frontiers of History’, India International Centre, New Delhi.

9 9 April 2019. ‘The heart-mind dynamic’. Keynote address, for teachers from various parts of India DPS Society, New Delhi.

16 March 2018. ‘Discerning Childhoods’ (keynote address) at ‘No Child’s Play: Literature and/for Childhoods in Contemporary India’ (16-17 March, 2018), Lady Shri Ram College, New Delhi.

6 March 2018. ‘Rehearsing with Rabindranath: Memory, place and movement’ paper presented at the seminar ‘Time, Historicity and Memory’ (5-6 March 2018), National School of Drama, to be held at Jorasanko Thakurbari, .

10 Nov 2017. ‘Gender: Self and Society—The Visible and the Elusive’ at Faculty Development Programme at the Department of English, Delhi College of Arts and Commerce (DCAC), New Delhi.

2 November 2016. ‘Half-hidden in the Shadows: An Excursus into “Head Curry”’ at Culinary Routes/Roots, National Conference, Department of English, University of Delhi, 2-3 November 2016.

8 July 2016. General Seminar, ‘Mutations: Father, son & Sandesh’, Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Calcutta.

19 Nov 2015. ‘The pulse of violence: A long view of nature, technology and subjectivities’. 3-day Symposium on Childhoods in India: Traditions, Trends and Transformations, 19-21 November, Azim Premji University, Bangalore.

6 Nov 2015. ‘Man, machine and trajectories of violence: in image and text for young people’ International Conference on World War I: Across Generations, 5-7 November, Shiv Nadar University & United Service Institution of India, Delhi.

29 August 2015. ‘The literary trail in nineteenth-century performance practices’ at UGC Refresher Course on Literary Studies and Performance organised by the Department of Comparative Literature, Jadavpur University, Calcutta.

8 April 2015. Faculty seminar at CSSSC on ‘Subject: Lotuses and Fires: “Scenic Illusions” on the nineteenth century imperial stage.”

7 November 2014. ‘Genealogies of the utsav and Rabindranath Tagore’s choreography of participation in performance’. Invited talk at Ambedkar University, Delhi.

11 September 2014. ‘Child marriage and submarines in Sakha and Sandesh: Tones and half tones in magazines for children’. Invited speaker at Azim Premji University, Bangalore.

9 August 2014. ‘Many tongues, many realities: Children’s Literature in the Indian Subcontinent’, Plenary speaker representing India at the 3rd World Children’s Literature Convention (The Twelfth Asia Children’s Literature Convention), Changwan, Korea. PAPER PRESENTED Published as Conference Proceedings of Asia Children’s Literature Soceity in Literature Planting Dreams in Children, August 2014, pp. 127-44.

3 June 2014. ‘A note on inflecting “the Colonies” through the materiality of performance practice’. International conference on ‘Ireland and the Colonies, 1776-1947: Friendships, Alliances, Resistances,’ Institute of Collaborative Research in the Humanities, Queen’s University, Belfast, Northern Ireland.

5 March 2014. ‘Templates of Pluralism: The US, Dhan Gopal Mukerji and Juvenile Literature’. International conference on ‘The Futures of American Studies’, Department of English, University of Delhi, Delhi.

3 Sept 2013. ‘Bringing into translation: script sound signification’. Invited speaker at International Conference & Workshop on "Translation: Roles, Rights and Responsibilities", Jadavpur University, Calcutta.

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8 August 2013. “New Jungle Tales? Dhan Gopal Mukerji’s market, 1920s-1930s’. General Seminar at CSSSC, Kolkata.

19 Feb 2013 ‘Songs of sleep and the shadows of labour’, National Seminar on ‘Women’s texts and Historiography’, 19-20 Feb 2013, Dept at MIL and LS, University of Delhi, Delhi.

16 Aug 2012. ‘Reading Lies. In many tongues’. International conference on ‘The Humanities in Ferment: Strategizing for our Times’, MargHumanities and the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, New Delhi.

6 May 2012. ‘Variations on the aural’, National conference on Rabindranath Tagore, ‘Simankan’, Sahitya Akademi & Jnanprabhaha, Mumbai.

? April 2012. ‘Tracing the lineages of children’s literature in Bengal’. Seminar on Children’s Literature, Room to Read, India; New Delhi.

20 Jan 2012. ‘Figurations and Configurations’, International seminar on ‘Temporal spaces, corporeality and embodiment in Tagore’s theatrical works’, National School of Drama, Delhi.

9 Jan 2012 ‘Head Curry: Familiar Food’, International conference on ‘The Politics of Children’s Literature’, Ravenshaw University, Cuttack.

Oct 2011. ‘Playing with Time’, International conference on ‘Tagore, Neruda, Cèsaire: A View from the South’, IIAS, Shimla.

5 Feb 2010. ‘Comparative Literature and Translation’, Department of English, Tezpur University, Tezpur.

Feb 2010. ‘The subject and the subjective in histories of education’, National Conference on ‘Biography as History’, Department of History, Jamia Milia Islamia, New Delhi.

20 Feb 2009 ‘Visuality, Performance and Literature’, at a workshop on ‘Research in Literary Studies: New Directions’, Dept of English, University of Delhi.

26 Jan 2009 ‘Where Children Read’, National Centre for Children’s Literature, NBT, New Delhi. Invited talk.

16 Jan 2009 ‘The performance of identity and histories of representation’ National Seminar on ‘Literatures and Oratures as Knowledge Systems: Texts from the North-East’ CAS, Dept of Comparative Literature, Jadavpur University, Calcutta.

6 Jan 2009 ‘On the track and off: Fragment, Resonance and Fact’ Leverhume Translation Project (International), Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.

Sep 2008 ‘Scouting the transnational contexts of Dhan Gopal Mukerji’s Gay-Neck the Pigeon, 1927’.Dept of English, Seminar Series, University of Delhi.

Dec 2008. ‘Notes on the Verbal and the Visual in Chinese and Indian Traditions’ International Conference on ‘New Perspectives on Intercultural Studies’. Institute of Chinese Studies and IGNCA, New Delhi.

8 Sep 2008. Inaugural Address at International Conference on Children’s Literature: ‘Bind us Together: Global Perspectives in Multicultural Children’s Literature’. CLAI and Nirmala College for Women, Coimbatore.

11 Academic Talks (cont.) 22 Aug 2008. Keynote Address. National Seminar on "Writing in English: The literary response to psychological, cultural and socio-political changes n the latter part of the twentieth century.’ Shri MD Shah Mahila College of Arts & Commerce, Mumbai.

April 2008 ‘Shikar: Mughal miniatures and Kipling’s Jungles’ Franklin and Marshall College, Lancaster, US.

April 2008 ‘Durga and her Aunt: an Introduction to Ray’s Pather Panchali’. Franklin and Marshall College, Lancaster, US.

Mar 2008 ‘What’s dance got to do with it... Revisiting debates on morality in Bengal, 1920s-1930s’ International Conference on ‘South Asian Feminisms: Gender, Culture and Politics’ University of Pennsylvania.

7 Feb 2008. ‘On and Off the Proscenium: Notes on Mourning’ An Occasional Series, 2007-2008: Publics beyond Print: Technologies of Circulation in South Asia’, South Asia Colloquium, University of Pennsylvania.

June 2007. ‘“Play-texts” for Primary Schoolchildren: A Case Study from , India.’ Fourteenth International Conference on Learning held at University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa.

Dec 2006 ‘Creating space for creative space: the task of the textbook maker/teacher’. National conference on Illustrations for Children. Eklavya, Bhopal. Sir Ratan Tata Trust.

Nov 2006 ‘Reflections on Comparative Literature and Translation’, Gargi College, Delhi.

12 August 2006 ‘Translating Tagore: , novel and film’. International Conference on Translation, 11-13 August, 2006. Department of English, Faculty of Arts, University of Peradeniya, Kandy, Sri Lanka.

? Oct 2005 ‘Resonances in Representation: Questioning “Identity” through the lens of images’ National Conference on ‘Politics of Culture in Contemporary China & India’. Institute of Chinese Studies, CSDS.

? May 2006 ‘Multilingualism, visuality and the individual learner: the case for primary education’, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, May 2006. PAPER PRESENTED

Sep 2005 ‘Dhan Gopal Mukerji’s “superb epics of jungle life”: Perspectives on violence and children’s fiction in the 1920s.’ Dept. of History, University of Delhi, September 2005.

Mar 2005 ‘Performing Selves: Women’s auto/biographies and modernity in India’, University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, March 2005. LECTURE

Mar 2005 ‘Visual dimensions of text-making for primary school children: Notes from a project’. University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, March 2005.

1 Feb 2005 ‘Reading Violence: The Legacy of Don Quixote’, International Conference on ‘Cervantes and Don Quixote’ 31 January-2 Feb, Dept of Germanic & Romance Studies, University of Delhi, Cervantes Association and GRISO, University of Navarra, Pamplona. PAPER

18 Oct 2004 ‘Iconization and its discontents: the 19th century proscenium stage actress in Bengal’, SFB Colloquium Series, University of Konstanz, Germany.

Dec 2003 ‘Stories from Manipur’, Indic Religion Conference, New Delhi.

12 Academic Talks (cont.) Nov 2003 ‘Quests and Questions in the Mahabharata’, Conference on ‘Justice—Political, Juridical’, held at Jaisalmer, organised by Konrad Adaneur Foundation. PAPER PRESENTED

Feb 2003. International conference and workshop ‘Lovers Mothers Daughters Writers: The Woman as an Artist’ in UK-South Asian Women Writers’ Conference on “Voice, Dialogue and Visibility”, British Council, Delhi.

Jan 2003. International conference ‘Performance and Ethnicity: Towards Contextualising the “Northeast” in India’: International Federation for Theatre Research, Annual Conference on ‘Ethnicity and Identity Global Performance’, Dept of Dramatics, University of Rajasthan and Jawahar Kala Kendra, Jaipur.

Feb 2003 ‘Looking for a Subject? Biography and History’ Centre for Historical Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University.

May 2000 ‘Frames of Representation and Questions of Faith’. Dept. of English, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia.

3 May 2000. ‘Women and Modernity’, Maui Community College, Pacific and Asian Affairs Council, Hawaii, USA. LECTURE

May 2000 ‘Gender and Spectacle on the 19th Century Indian Stage’. Dept. of Drama, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia.

April 2000. ‘Fictions of Identity’: Keynote address, 17th Annual Spring Symposium, Center for South Asian Studies, University of Hawai’i at Manoa.

14 March 2000. ‘Autobiography and modern Indian women’, Twenty-First Century Club, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA.

III. Panel discussant /paper presented:

Nov 2017. Discussant, Panel titled Bengali Children’s Literature. Tata Trusts, Kolkata.

Nov 2011 Discussant, Workshop on ‘Environmental Transformations and the Politics of Place’. NMML, New Delhi.

Feb 2010 ‘Amrita — Vivan’ Discussant, Amrita Sher-Gil: a self-portrait in letters & writings, Tulika Books, IIC, New Delhi.

Sep 2009. Discussant, Writing Identities: Folklore and Performative Arts of Purulia, Bengal by Roma Chatterji, IGNCA, New Delhi.

3 Dec 2008. ‘A glimpse of subcontinental possibilities and the knowledge economy’ Panel organized by Dept of English & Thesis 11, University of Delhi, Delhi.

15 Nov 2008. ‘Image as Icon: Notes from the Proscenium Theatre in Bengal’ in Panel on ‘Gender Discourse in Asian History: Imaging Femininity and Masculinity’. International Association of Historians, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.

Mar 2008. “Between the colloquial and the stylized: Exploring the languages of narrative”. Language Workshop, Dept of South Asian Studies, University of Pennsylvania.

13 Presentations (cont.) Oct 2007. ‘Gleanings: Ramkinkar and the other arts’, ‘Ramkinkar: Contextualising the Indian Modernist’, School of Arts and Aesthetics, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.

Mar 2007. ‘Multilingualism/Multiculturalism?’ Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi.

Feb 2007. ‘Pedagogy, Research and Masculinities’. South Asian Conference on Exploring Masculinities. St. Alosiyus College & Akaar Trust, Thrissur.

Feb 2007. ‘Tones of the fantastic, a reader hears’. Benodebihari Mukherjee Retrospective, National Gallery of Modern Art, Delhi.

Jan 2004. Panelist on ‘Literature and Cinema’, International Seminar on Cultural Diversity, Katha, New Delhi.

Aug 2000. Panelist on ‘Gender in Discipline’. Orientation course at WSRC, MS University of Baroda.

Oct 1998. Panel presentation on ‘Staging Gender and Nation in South Asian Theatre’: Annual Conference of South Asian Studies, University of Madison, Wisconsin.

III. Public Lectures March 2000. ‘Celebrating the City: Kalighat paintings’ (Lecture with slides) for the Society for Asian Art, at the Academy Art Center, Honolulu.

14 March 2000. ‘Making Modern India: Luminous Lives” (on three women’s autobiographies from India from early twentieth century to the present) for the Twenty-First Century Club, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA. LECTURE

9 May 2000. ‘Films and the Imagination’, Kaiser High School, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA. LECTURE

April 2000. Rama Watumull Public Lecture.‘Subject, Actress, Fires: Spectacle on the 19th century Indian stage”

RESOURCE PERSON AND COORDINATOR OF REFRESHER COURSES 5 November 2016. Invited as Resource Person for a translation workshop on 5 November 2016. JNU Project (UPE) 'Traces of the Global: Displacement, Memory, and Cultural Citizenship'

Conceptualised and Coordinated. UGC Refresher Course for College Teachers on ‘Interdisciplinary Crossings: Theory, Research and Classroom Practices’, March 2007. Joint Coordinator for ‘National Workshop on English Language Studies’, Dept. of English, University of Delhi, 18-19 March 2002.

1998 - 2012 RESOURCE PERSON for Cultural Studies Workshops, Translation Workshops and UGC Refresher Courses: Panjab University, Chandigarh; Sambalpur University, University of Delhi, Jamia Millia University, Jadavpur University, S.N.D.T. Women’s University, Bombay, University of Pennsylvania, and MS University of Baroda.

Select list of lecture topics. UGC Refresher Course for College Teachers on “Indian Literature: texts and tradition’, Dept English, University of Delhi, Jan 2005.

UGC Refresher Course for College Teachers on ‘Teaching Novels in English Translation’, Dept. of English, Jamia Millia University, New Delhi, November, 2002.

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UGC Refresher Course for College Teachers on “Literature and Politics’, Dept English, Jadavpur University, February 2002. Topics: ‘On Conceptualising the “Indian” in English Studies’ ‘Working with versions and variations: models for pedagogy’

UGC Refresher Course for College Teachers on ‘Popular Culture’, Dept. of English, University of Delhi (South Campus), January 2002.

Panelist on ‘Gender in Discipline’. Orientation course at WSRC, MS University of Baroda, August 2000.

Translation Workshop, Dept of English, S.N.D.T. Women’s University, Bombay, and Katha, March 1999.

University Grants UGC Literature, Jadavpur University, February 1999. Topics: ‘India in Asia: Comparative Literature Reconsidered’ & ‘Literature and Theatre’

Workshop on ‘Nation, Women and Theatre: Stagings from South Asia, 1850-1930.’ South Asia Regional Studies, University of Pennsylvania, October 1998.

ACADEMIC SERVICE University and Departmental: • CSSSC. March 2015. Writing Workshop (in collaboration with two faculty members) for MPhil. & Ph.D. students. • 2001-2013 Member of Library committee, Ph.D. Admissions, Maintenace, Visiting Fellows, etc. • 2006 – 2011: Invited member to Committee on Equal Opportunity Cell (EOC):. • July 2001 - 2002: Member of sub-committees for the revision of the M.A. syllabus & Member of the Library subcommittee, Dept of English, University of Delhi. • January – March 1999: Conceptualised and coordinated Inter-Faculty Quiz Competition (in three phases) for students from all fourteen Faculties for the Golden Jubilee of the MSU, Baroda. • January 1998: Conceptualised and co-edited and produced special souvenir issue of the Shakespeare Society, Dept of English, M.S. University of Baroda.

WORK IN PRIMARY EDUCATION WITH GOVT ORGANISATIONS/NGOs

Nominated /Invited July-August 2014. Nominated as English Language ‘National Expert’ by MHRD on International Review Panel for the Tess-India Open Education Resources of material prepared by the Open University, UK. Evaluated and submitted report on OER.

December 2013. Invited to be on the National Book Trust Advisory Panel for the World Book Fair, New Delhi, 2014. Worked with M.Phil. students on children’s book illustrations.

2006-2007: Consultant with Eklavya, Bhopal, and Ratan Tata Trust on establishing proposed centre for research on children’s literature.

2003: Contributor to and copy editor of English textbooks for Delhi State govt schools, Classes 1-5, under the auspices of SCERT.

2000-2002: Resource Person of project on producing workbooks & other teaching- learning material for Classes 1-3 for DPEP, West Bengal.

15 1992-1998: Consultant and Researcher in Primary Education in India (in Assam, Bengal, Kerala, Uttar Pradesh, New Delhi, Tamil Nadu). Focus on curriculum development, textbook evaluation and visual composition and layout. Resource Person for SCERT, Delhi, in editing and contributing material to Classes 1-4 English textbooks.

LANGUAGE EXPERTISE

Fluency: English, Bangla, Hindi & Asomiya Competence: Chinese (Mandarin), French, Russian & Gujarati

1991-1992: Consultant (Chinese/Hindi/English) to Sino-Indian Cell, Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts, New Delhi.

June 1989: Interpreter (Chinese/Hindi/English) to Elcaps Capacitors Limited, Bhopal, India for a visiting team of engineers from Taiwan.

Sept 1985 – June 1986: Tutor in English as a Foreign Language to Chinese students in Taiwan.

FILM AND THE VISUAL ARTS

2013 - 2015: Worked with artist Vivan Sundaram and other collaborators on a performance project around art and life of painter sculptor, Ramkinkar Baij. Presented as ‘409 Ramkinkars’, a cross-genre intstallation and performance work at the Indira Gandhi Centre for the National Arts, Delhi, from March 24 - April 2, 2015.

2012 Student workshops on Illustrations for children for MPhil seminar on ‘Children’s Literature: Childhood, Pedagogy and Expressive forms’.

1994-1995: Script Consultant and Production Coordinator (Bangla & Hindi) for National Film Development Corporation produced film Char Addhyay in Hindi, based on Rabindranath Tagore’s novel of the same name. Directed by Kumar Shahani.

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