Bengali Lecturer Chaiti Basu, M.A.
Chaiti Basu has been the Bengali lecturer at the South Asia Institute since 2016. She holds a Master's degree in Comparative Literature from Jadavpur University, Kolkata, and another in South Asian Studies and English from Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Germany. Her research interests include colonial and postcolonial Bengali literature, with a particular emphasis on satire, as well as the representation of gender identities in film and media.
Doctoral Research
Project Title: Panchu Thakur: Indranath Bandyopadhyay’s Response to the Colonial Cultural Encounter in 19th Century Bengal
Summary: The work seeks to trace the Bengali satire of the late 19th century, with a particular focus on Indranath Bandyopadhyay and his writings. Although Indranath was a representative of the orthodox group of writers of his time, he was himself a product of the colonial education system. His opinions and thoughts found expression through the popular narrator Panchu Thakur, one of the many pseudonyms he used.
Many literary historians believe that Indranath was the author of the first satirical novel in Bengali. Considering these factors, his works provide a fitting lens through which to analyze the reactions of, and repercussions among, the middle-class Bengali intelligentsia—especially those from the more conservative social strata—towards the constant cultural exchanges that occurred during the colonial rule in late 19th century Bengal.
Contact
Department of Modern South Asian Languages and Literatures
South Asian Institute, Universität Heidelberg
Voßstraße 2, Building 4130
Room: 130.02.08
D-69115 Heidelberg
Phone: +49 (0)6221 54 15275
E-Mail: basu@uni-heidelberg.de
Consultation hours: by appointment via e-mail