I am a theatre and performance studies historian, and my research centers on an interdisciplinary approach to understanding performance, emphasizing cultural identity, politics, and community-based practices. I do this by:

​

• Conducting archival research and analyzing historical texts, scripts, reviews, and oral histories to trace their evolution and socio-political significance.

• Conducting ethnographic fieldwork, attending performances, and documenting practices within cultural and historical contexts.

• Contributing to decolonizing theatre studies by promoting inclusive language and elevating marginalized performance traditions.​

 

Central to my work is exploring non-canonical performance forms, such as Bengali performance traditions like jatra.

 

Jatra, my primary area of specialization, is a historically significant and resilient performance form that celebrates cultural identity while highlighting caste, class, and gender relations in Bengal, India. The global reception of jatra cannot be understood without considering class and caste-based criticism in postcolonial Bengal’s critical and cultural traditions.

​

My book, Intersectionality in ‘Folk’ Performance through Identity and Expression (under contract), will be the first to provide a critical appreciation of how jatra was understood as a revolutionary form and has since been received by audiences within a Bengali society segregated by class and caste-based discrimination.

 

Offering a groundbreaking exploration of jatra, it examines its modalities through the lens of class and gender dynamics. By tracing the genealogies of this performance tradition, the book illuminates its evolution as a site of negotiation between social hierarchies and cultural expression. This study situates jatra within broader conversations on performance and politics, demonstrating how its transformations reflect shifting class structures and gendered power relations.

​

​

I’d love to connect—reach out to learn more about my research or to share your own.

​