Dr. Jaya Gupta

Present Position: Visitng Professor

Department of Language and Literature, School of Liberal Arts and Culture Studies

E-mail: jayati.gupta@adamasuniversity.ac.in

Education:

  • Ph.D. Department of English, Jadavpur University, 2003
  • M.Phil., (with distinction) Department of English, Jadavpur University, 1982
  • M.A., Department of English, Jadavpur University, 1976
  • B.A. English Honours, Calcutta University (Lady Brabourne College, Stood first from the College) 1971
  • Higher secondary Examination (WBBSE) From Modern High School for Girls,1968. Stood second in the Humanities Stream in WB, National Scholar.

Languages:

  • German – ‘Kleines Sprach Diplom’ of the Goethe Institut.
  • Mittelstufe I und II Examinations (intermediate level) of the Goethe Institut.
  • Latin – Certificate in Latin from the Amal Bhattacharya Centre for European Studies, Calcutta.
  • Sanskrit up to Class 11, Higher Secondary Course.
  • Hindi, working knowledge of the language and writing
  • Bengali was the First language in the Higher Secondary, had Bangla in College as subsidiary. Fluent in reading, writing and spoken Bengali. Translation work from Bengali into English.

Research Key Areas:

  • The European Enlightenment
  • Travel Writing
  • Eighteenth Century British Writing
  • Dalit Writing/ marginal writing
  • Gender Issues
  • Translation Studies
  • Environment and Ecocriticism

Research Highlights:

  • Nineteenth Century Bengali Women travellers and counterflows to colonialism
  • European travellers to India
  • Indigo and the indigo trade in India
  • Cultures of travel in Bengal
  • Marginalisation and Literature
  • Dalit/ Caste Writing
  • Environment and literature

Experience:

  • Visiting Professor, Department of English Language and Literature ( School of Liberal Arts and Culture Studies), Adamas University. August 2017-
  • Tagore National Fellow for Cultural Research at the National Library of India, Kolkata (2015-17)
  • Professor , Department of English, West Bengal State University, March 2009- August 2011. On Extension from 1st September 2011 (after superannuation) to 1st March 2015.
  • Joined West Bengal Education Service, April 1980. POSTINGS: Presidency College, Kolkata (1980-82), Lady Brabourne College (1982-86), Presidency College, Kolkata (1986-March 2009)
  • Head of Department of English, Presidency College, UG and PG Department 2003-2009.
  • Guest Faculty, Department of English, University of Calcutta 1998-2016.
  • Guest Faculty, Department of English, West Bengal State University. PG Courses on Dalit Writing and Miscellaneous British Poetry of the Eighteenth Century, Classical and Neo- classical Literary Criticism. Research Lectures on European Enlightenment and History of Ideas.

Research Publication (s):

  1. “London Through Alien Eyes” in ‘Literary London’, a refereed e-journal published by Goldsmith College, London University, March 2003. http://www.literarylondon.org/london- journal/march2003/gupta.html
  2. ‘Modernity and the Global “Hindoo”: The Concept of the ‘Grand Tour’ in Colonial India’ in The Global South, Spring 2008, Vol2, No.1, Indiana University Press/Journals. ISBN 1932 8656 http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/the_global_south/toc/gbs.2.1.html
  3. ‘One Hundred Years of American Travel Writing’ in JUSAS online : http://jusasonline.wordpress.com/2013/07/29/jusas-online
  4. “Pandita Ramabai and Swami Vivekananda in America: An Encounter of Civilizations” JUSAS online: https://jusasonline.wordpress.com/2014/07/
  5. “Whose Gitanjali Is It Anyway?” Muse India, Vol. 33, September-October 2010. ISSN 0975-1815 http://www.museindia.com/focuscontent.asp?issid=33&id=2141
  6. Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford, U.K. September 2012, entry for Krishnabhabini Das.
  7. “Many Journeys, Many Selves: The Travels of Margaret Elizabeth Noble” , Studies in Travel Writing Vol 20 No 2 (2016), Taylor and Francis DOI link: https://doi.org/10.1080/13645145.2016.1170373 Published: 2016-04-02
  8. “ The ‘Other’ Women in Tagore’s Travels to Europe” in Tagore’s Ideas of the New Woman: The Making and Unmaking of Female Subjectivity, edited by Chandrava Chakravarty and Sneha Kar Chaudhuri. Sage- Stree Publication: New Delhi, 2017.
  9. “ An Interview with Kalyani Thakur Charal” Followed by: “The Aesthetics of Dalit Literature: A Case Study” in Dalit Text: Aesthetics and Politics Re-imagined. Co-edited by Misrahi-Barak, Nicole thiara, K. Satyanarayana, Routledge: June 2019.
    https://www.routledge.com/Dalit-Text-Aesthetics-and-Politics-Re-imagined-1st-Edition/Misrahi-Barak- Satyanarayana-Thiara/p/book/9780367218416\
  10. “Creating Spaces and Identities : A Hundred Years of American Travel Writing” in Essays on American Literature and Art: Multiple Perspectives. Edited by Indrani Haldar and Parantap Chakraborty, Kolkata, March 2019.
  11. “ The Travels and Travails of Indigo in Bengal: Anglo-French Rivalry in the Early Nineteenth Century” in Desiring India: Representations through British and French Eyes1584-1857, edited by Niranjan Goswami, August 2020. Kolkata: Jadavpur University Press. Book Chapter. ISBN 978-93-83660-50-6
  12. “Interstices: Travel, History, Text” in Indian Travel Narratives: New Perspectives, Edited by Somdatta Mandal, January New Delhi: Pencraft International. Book chapter. ISBN 978-93-82178-33-0

Award/ Academic Recognition/ Major Professional Activity:

  • Visiting Fellow, University of Delhi Department of English ( 9-26 October 2017)
  • Tagore National Fellowship (2015-17)
  • UGC Major Research Grant 2001
  • UGC Minor Research Grant 1997
  • National Scholarship 1968-1971