Dr. Sharmila Chhotaray
Designation- Fellow
Email- sharmilahcu@gmail.com
EPBAX-
Duration of Fellowship Jul 2018 to Jul 2019
Research Project Bengali Jatra: Mapping a popular folk theatre from the 16th to early 21st century in West Bengal.
About:Research Project: Situating Popular Theatre in varied Social Histories: A Comparative Study of Jatra in Bengal, Odisha, Assam and Tripura
Sharmila is teaching Sociology since 2011 in Tripura University and in Ravenshaw University. She also worked with Archives and Research Centre for Ethnomusicology at American Institute of Indian Studies in Gurgaon. She is a recipient of ICSSR-NEHU post-doctoral program and DAAD grant.
Sharmila has a Ph.D in Sociology of Popular Theatre from University of Hyderabad in 2010. Her publications and presentations focus on the question of identity in popular performance art. Sharmila’s forthcoming book is “Cultural Politics of Odia Jatra: Structure & Representation”. Expanding from her previous research, she is currently engaged in exploring the socio-cultural history of Popular Bengali Jatra and its predominant influences on Jatras of other Eastern Indian regions at Indian Institute of Advanced Studies in Shimla as a fellow. Living in North East India her new research interests are on gender, sanitation and social history of Tripura tribes on the border of Bangladesh.