Dr. Amitayu Chakraborty began his academic career as a UGC Junior Research Fellow (JRF) at Visva-Bharati, the Central University and Institution of National Importance founded by Rabindranath Tagore in Santiniketan, West Bengal. He subsequently served as Assistant Professor of English at Nirma University, Ahmedabad, Gujarat. He is currently Assistant Professor (Stage-2) in the Department of English at Durgapur Women’s College, a government-aided institution in West Bengal. Dr. Chakraborty earned his PhD from Visva-Bharati with a doctoral dissertation on Ngugi wa Thiong’o.
His monograph, Ngugi wa Thiong’o: Nationalism, Ethnicity, and Resistance (2024), is published by Routledge (Taylor & Francis), New York, in the Routledge Research in Postcolonial Literatures series. He has edited a scholarly volume Modernism Revisited: Texts and Contexts (2026) published by Bloomsbury Publishing, New York. His research engages Indigenous Studies, nationalism and ethnicity, modernism, postcolonialism, gender studies, African studies, children’s literature, and communication studies. His articles appear in leading journals indexed in Scopus, Web of Science, UGC CARE, and EBSCO, and are widely cited. His work on Ngugi has been referenced in academic materials at institutions including University of Warwick. He serves as a reviewer for the Journal of Postcolonial Writing and evaluates manuscripts for Vernon Press (USA) and Routledge (UK/USA). He has also organized seminars funded by the Ministry of Culture and the ICSSR, Ministry of Education, Government of India.
Qualification Details
First Class (61.12%) in B.A. (Hons) in English at Visva-Bharati in 2008;
First Class (62%) in M.A. in English at Visva-Bharati in 2010;
UGC-NET with Junior Research Fellowship (JRF) in 2012
Ph.D. in English at Visva-Bharati in 2017
Teaching Experience
Purnidevi Chowdhury Girls’ College as Guest Lecturer from 01.08.2011 to 30.09.2012;
Nirma University as Assistant Professor from 01.08.2013 to 20.05.2017;
Durgapur Women’s College as Assistant Professor from 13.06.2017 to the Present
Area of Interest in Teaching
Literary Theory
Literary Criticism
History of Ideas
Socio-Cultural History of Literature
Modernism
Romanticism
Postcolonial Literatures
Area of Research
Postcolonial Literatures
Indigeneity
Gender
Ethnicity
Book Publications
Ngugi wa Thiong’o: Nationalism, Ethnicity and Resistance, New York: Routledge, 2024
Chakraborty, Amitayu. “Writing/rewriting the ‘National History of Kenya’ in the Wake of Colonialism/neo-colonialism: Myth, History and Subversion in Two Works of Ngugi wa Thiong’o” in History in Literature–Literature as History: The Issue Revisited. Edited by P. Chakraborty, Kolkata: Levant Books, 2012, ISBN: 9789380663500,
Chakraborty, Amitayu. “Decoding the Ideal Woman in Rituparno Ghosh’s Unishey April” in Contemporary Gender Issues In India: Some Reflections, Edited by S. Begum and A. Mukherjee, New Delhi: Gyan Books, 2021, ISBN: 9788121219815
Journal Publication
Chakraborty, Amitayu. “Modes of Resistance in Ngugi wa Thiong’o’s Wizard of the Crow,” Rupkatha Journal on Interdisciplinary Studies in Humanities (Indexed in SCOPUS; Thomson Reuters Impact Factor: 0.309 in 2022; Current H-Index: 9) Vol.:4, Issue: 2, Pgs.: 180-188, 2012, ISSN: 09752935, Link: https://rupkatha.com/V4/n2/07_Ngugi_wa_Thiongo_Wizard_of_the_Crow.pdf
Chakraborty, Amitayu. “Nationalism, Ethnicity and Gender in Ngugi’s The Black Hermit,” Africology: The Journal of Pan African Studies, California, USA (Indexed in EBSCO), Vol.: 6, Issue: 9, Pgs.: 162-174, 2014, ISSN: 21565600, Link: http://www.jpanafrican.org/docs/vol6no9/6.9-12-Chakraborty.pdf
Chakraborty, Amitayu. “The Polemics of Class, Nationalism and Ethnicity in Ngugi wa Thiong’o’s Petals of Blood,” Africology: The Journal of Pan African Studies, California, USA (Indexed in EBSCO), Vol.: 9, Issue: 10, Pgs.: 277-293, ISSN: 21565600, Link: https://www.jpanafrican.org/docs/vol9no10/9.10-16-Chakraborty-ThePolemics.pdf
Chakraborty, Amitayu. “Contextualizing Transgression: Dynamics of Gender and Ethnicity in Ngugi’s A Grain of Wheat,” Gnosis: An International Journal of English Language and Literature, Vol.: 2, Issue: 2, Pgs.: 33-43, ISSN: 23940131
Chakraborty, Amitayu. “Encountering Postcoloniality: An Exploration of Ngugi’s Weep Not, Child,” Daath Voyage: An International Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies in English, Vol.:1, Issue:1, Pgs. 73-91, 2016, ISSN: 24557544
Chakraborty, Amitayu. “The Drama of Dissent: A Study of I Will Marry When I Want,” The Criterion: An International Journal in English, Vol.: 8, Issue: 1, Pgs.: 760-776, 2017, ISSN: 09768165
Chakraborty, Amitayu. “Rewriting of Lady Macbeth in Maqbool,” Yearly Shakespeare, Vol.: 11, Pgs.: 80-85, 2013, ISSN: 09769536
Chakraborty, Amitayu. “Nationalism and Ethnicity in Kenya: A Study of Ngugi’s The River Between,” Journal of Contemporary Research, Vol.: 2, Issue: 1, Pgs. :12-19, 2014, ISSN: 23209542
Chakraborty, Amitayu. “‘Lacerations Brandished like Flags of Defeat:’ Trauma of Partition in Ghassan Kanafani’s ‘The Child Goes to the Camp,'” Daath Voyage: An International Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies in English, Vol.: 3, Issue: 4, Pgs.:33-45, 2018, ISSN: 24557544
Chakraborty, Amitayu. “Trauma and Transformation: An Exploration of Mahasweta Devi’s Mother of 1084 through the Lens of Trauma Theory,” Middle Flight: SSM Journal of English Literature and Culture, Vol.: 8, Issue: 1, Pgs.: 86-96, 2019, ISSN: 23197684
Chakraborty, Amitayu. “Literature of Resistance: Locating Subversive Indigeneity in Select Works of Ngugi wa Thiong’o,” Journal of Adivasi and Indigenous Studies, Vol.: 9, Issue: 2, Pgs.: 25-32, 2019, ISSN: 23945524
Chakraborty, Amitayu. “Problematising ‘Indigeneity’ through Hansda Sowvendra Shekhar’s The Mysterious Ailment of Rupi Baskey,” (Indexed in SCOPUS; Thomson Reuters Impact Factor: 0.309 in 2022; Current H-Index: 9), Vol.: 11, Issue: 3, Pgs.: 1-15, 2019, ISSN: 09752935, DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v11n3.19
Chakraborty, Amitayu. “Colonial Essentialisation and Postcolonial Negotiation: A Critique of Satyajit Ray’s ‘Shonkur Congo Abhijaan,’” Literary Voice: A Peer Reviewed Journal of English Studies (Indexed in Web of Science), Number: 20, Vol.: 1, 2023, ISSN: 22774521
Conference/ Seminar Paper Presentation Data
Chakraborty, Amitayu. “Boyhood in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” UGC-Sponsored National Seminar on ‘Public and Private Space’: Remembering Tolstoy and His Contemporaries in Fiction” organised by the Department of English and OMEL, Visva-Bharati, West Bengal during December 5-6, 2009.
Chakraborty, Amitayu. “The Role of a Woman in Her Family: A Study of Rituparno Ghosh’s Unishe April,” UGC-Sponsored National Seminar on Rights of Women: Legal and Social Dimension organised by Purnidevi Chowdhury Girls’ College and Women’s Studies, Visva-Bharati, West Bengal during November 23-25, 2011.
Chakraborty, Amitayu. “Writing/Rewriting the National History of Kenya in the Wake of Colonialism/Neo-colonialism: A Study of Select Works of Ngugi wa Thiong’o” UGC-Sponsored National Seminar on History in Literature—Literature as History organised by the Department of History, Kulti College, West Bengal during January 11-12, 2012.
Chakraborty, Amitayu. “Tagore’s The Post Office and His Idea of Community” UGC-Sponsored National Seminar on Nation against Community: Exploration of Rabindranath’s Social Philosophy organised by SFS College, West Bengal during March 6-7, 2012.
Chakraborty, Amitayu. “Resisting Neocolonialism: Politics of Nationalism and Ethnicity in Select Works of Ngugi wa Thiong’o” International Conference on Contemporary Research in English Studies: Global Perspective organised by the Global Association of English Studies, Gujarat during February 4-6, 2016.
Chakraborty, Amitayu. “Ethnicity, Nationalism and Resistance in Ngugi wa Thiong’o” International Conference on Science, Technology, Women’s Studies, Business and Social Sciences organised by International Multidsciplinary Research Foundation, Goa during November 3-5, 2016.
Chakraborty, Amitayu. “Habitat, Livelihood and Resistance in Literary Works of Hansda Sowvendra Shekhar” International Seminar on Habitat, Livelihood and Culture: Demographic and Literary Responses organised by the Department of Geography, Kazi Nazrul Islam Mahavidyalaya, West Bengal on April 11, 2018.
Chakraborty, Amitayu. “Decoding the ‘Adivasi’ in the Context of Nation-building in India” International Conference on Nationalism, Ethnicity, Religion and Security in South Asia organised by the Department of Political Science, Kazi Nazrul University, West Bengal on September 9, 2018.
Chakraborty, Amitayu. “Politics of Resistance in Ngaahika Ndeenda” UGC-Sponsored National Seminar on ‘This Green Plot Shall be Our Stage’: Theatre in Classroom, Campus and Beyond organised by the Department of English, University of Calcutta, West Bengal during March 6-7, 2019.
Chakraborty, Amitayu. “Interrogating the Politics of Identity, Nation-building and Historiography in India through Hansda S. Shekhar” International Conference on Poetic Imagining(s) of Southasia: Borders and Nations organised by the Institute of South Asian Studies, South Asian University, New Delhi during April 22-23, 2019.
Chakraborty, Amitayu. “Myth, History and Resistance: Analysing the Politics of Representation of Mau Mau in Select Works of Ngugi wa Thiong’o” National Conference on Checking Past the Canon: New Mandarins in English, Film and Cultural Studies organised by the Department of English, Bankura University, West Bengal during July 25-26 2019.
. Chakraborty, Amitayu.”‘Something Torn and New:’ Representation of Violence in Select Works of Ngugi wa Thiong’o” International Conference on Representation of Violence in Literature and Media oragnised by School of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, Reva University, Bangalore, during May 30-31 2023.
Conference/ Seminar Proceedings
Chakraborty, Amitayu. “Literary Studies and Communication Skills: A Possible Integration” 2013 Nirma University International Conference on Engineering, NUiCONE 2013 (Indexed in SCOPUS; Thomson Reuters Impact Factor: 0.254 in 2015) IEEE
Chakraborty, Amitayu, and Goswami D. “Sensitizing Engineers: A Brief Study of the Role of Ethics in Engineering Education”2013 Nirma University International Conference on Engineering, NUiCONE 2015 (Indexed in SCOPUS; Thomson Reuters Impact Factor: 0.344 in 2017) IEEE
Delivered a lecture on invitation titled ‘An Introduction to Elaine Showalter’s “Towards a Feminist Poetics”’ to the UG and PG students of the Department of Language Studies, School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Assam Don Bosco University on the April 30, 2020.
Delivered a lecture on invitation titled ‘“Quest for Relevance:” Towards an Understanding of the Politics of Ngugi wa Thiong’o’ organised by Gnosis: An International Refereed Journal of English Language and Literature (ISSN: 23940131) on May 27, 2020 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7CzZ54jjag&t=3244s).
Delivered a lecture on invitation titled “Aesthetics of Fragmentation: Encountering Early Modernism and the Literature of the First World War” organised by Daath Voyage: An International Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies in English on October 13, 2020.
Delivered a lecture on invitation titled “Modernism and Fragmentation: Philosophy and Thought” organised by Daath Voyage: An International Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies in English on May 15, 2021.
Besides, Dr. Chakraborty likes to act in plays and sing Tagore’s songs as a hobby. He took part in many cultural programmes organised by Visva-Bharati, and many theatre groups like Rupkatha, Sahityika and Saptak in Santiniketan and surroundings during his student life. Dr. Chakraborty has been the Head of the Department of English, Durgapur Women’s College and served as a member of various administrative committees at the college and university level dealing with examination, admission, publication, cultural programmes etc. He has also been the Convenor of Examination Committee at the college. He is the Coordinator of the Internal Quality Assurance Cell (IQAC), Coordinator of NAAC Committee, Nodal Officer of NIRF, and Convenor of E-Committee and Film Club at the college. He has organised a National Seminar along with Several Youth Events including Debate, Essay-Writing and Poster-making Competitions and Cycle Rally sponsored by the Ministry of Culture, Govt. of India and the Institute of Social and Cultural Studies at Durgapur Women’s College (Report: https://dwceng.wordpress.com/2023/09/15/a-report-on-azadi-ka-amrit-mahotsav-krantiteertha/ ) Dr. Chakraborty has been a reviewer for prestigious journals such as the Journal of Postcolonial Writing (Taylor and Francis, UK and USA) and publishing houses namely Vernon Press (USA) and Routledge (Taylor and Francis, UK and USA). He is also editing a volume on modernism which is to be published by Bloomsbury Publishing, UK.
