Anirban Debsarma

Thesis

Supervisor: Professor David Barnett

Biography

Biography

Anirban Debsarma is a doctoral candidate in the School of Arts and Creative Technologies at the University of York, having commenced his studies in September 2025. His PhD research is supported by a fellowship from the Arts & Humanities Research Council (AHRC) through the White Rose College of the Arts & Humanities (WRoCAH) Doctoral Training Partnership. He holds an MPA in Theatre Arts from the University of Hyderabad.

Anirban's academic experience includes roles such as Assistant Professor of Performing Arts (Theatre) at Christ University (July 2022–May 2024), where he taught Historiography of Theatre and Acting. He also served as Assistant Professor (on-contract) at Central University of Jharkhand, teaching Indian Theatre, Direction, and Scenography to postgraduate students (April 2021–October 2021). Additionally, he was a Lecturer of Performing Arts at Samarpandeep B. Ed. College (November 2018–May 2021), and a Guest Faculty and Visiting Faculty member at institutions including Jyoti Nivas College and Ranchi University. His professional background includes industry experience as an Actor-Facilitator at the Janasanskriti Centre for Theatre of the Oppressed.

Research

Research Interests

Modern and Contemporary Indian Theatre, Postdramatic Theatre, Scenography

External activity

External activity

Conferences

• Presented a research paper entitled “The Gendered Subaltern, Migration and The Theatre of the Oppressed: Defining New Cultural Landscape during Pandemic in India” at the International Congress on Gender Studies (CGS21: Gendered Global Crisis), Turkey held from 10.11.2021 to 12.11.2021.
• Presented a research paper entitled “Revisiting Bengali Theatre in the Light of Bengal Renaissance” at the International Seminar on “Relevance of the Universal Mission of the Bengali Renaissance for a Sustainable Future for India and the World”, by Kolkata Society for Asian Studies in collaboration with Anthropological Survey of India, Kolkata held from 10.06.2022 to 11.06.2022.
• Presented a research paper entitled “Female Monster in Bengali Folklore: Exploring the Gender Paradigm” at the International Conference on Gender Perspectives and Representation: Breaking Barriers and Buildings Bridges, by VIT-AP School of Social Sciences & Humanities held from 20.06.2023 to 22.06.2023.
• Presented a research paper on “Rakkhosi Rani in Thakurmar Jhuli: Contouring the Monstrous Feminine in Bengali Fairytale” at the workshop on “Wonderland Fairytale” conducted by Kolkata Society for Asian Studies held from 04.08.2023 to 09.08.2023.

Publications

Research Articles in Journals

• Debsarma et.al. (2023). “Pandemic, Theatre and Performance: Democratizing the Subalterns through Theatre of the Oppressed”, Applied Theatre Research Journal, 11(2), 175-186. https://doi.org/10.1386/atr_00083_1 ISSN: 2049-3029.
• Debsarma, A. (2024). “Rakkhoshi Rani in Thakurmar Jhuli: Contouring the Monstrous Feminine in Bengali Fairytale,” Journal of the Kolkata Society for Asian Studies, 10(1), 43-47. ISSN: 2454-5694.
• Anirban Debsarma et. al. (2025) “Intersecting Queer Rights and Legislative Theatre in India: Advocacy, Narrative of Power, Justice and Expression”, Research in Drama Education: The Journal of Applies Theatre and Performance https://doi.org/10.1080/13569783.2025.2513608 ISSN 1356-9783.

Book Chapter

• Debsarma, A & Sarkar, S. (2024). “Revisiting Bengali Theatre in the Light of Bengal Renaissance” In Chakravarty, K. K & Basu, D. S (Eds.), Relevance of the Universal Mission of the Bengali Renaissance for a Sustainable Future for India and the World (pp. 120-130). Kolkata Society for Asian Studies. ISBN: 978-81-955545-3-9