Transoceanic Cultures and Memories

Sayan Dey grew up in Kolkata, West Bengal and is currently working as an Assistant Professor in Postcolonial Literature and Cultural Studies, Alliance School of Liberal Arts, Alliance University. He is also a Faculty Fellow at The Harriet Tubman Institute, York University, Canada; and Critical Cultural Studies Faculty, at NYI Global Cultural, Cognitive and Linguistic Studies, New York.

Some of his published books are: Decolonial Existence and Urban Sensibility: A Study of Mahesh Elkunchwar (Manipal Universal Press, 2019), History and Myth: Postcolonial Dimensions (Vernon Press, 2021), Myths, Histories and Decolonial Interventions: A Planetary Resistance (Routledge, 2022), Green Academia: Towards Eco-friendly Education Systems (Routledge, 2022) and Black Existentialism and Decolonizing Knowledge: Writings of Lewis R. Gordon (Bloomsbury, 2023).

His forthcoming monograph is Performing Memories and Weaving Archives: Creolized Cultures Across the Indian Ocean (Anthem Press, 2023). His areas of research interests are postcolonial studies, decolonial studies, critical race studies, culinary epistemologies, and critical diversity literacy. He can be reached at: www.sayandey.com.

Dr. Payel Dutta Chowdhury has over two decades of experience in teaching learning, academic administration, and academic research in higher education. She has played key roles in building the schools of Arts and Humanities that she has been associated with. She acts as a subject matter expert (SME) for various corporate companies that deal with educational solutions. She also works as a consultant content developer and editor for several publishing houses and EdTech companies. She specializes in Cultural Studies, Gender and Sexuality Studies, and Film Studies. She takes active interest in the study of folk culture and literature from India’s northeast region.

Her published books include The Khasis of Meghalaya: Cultural Continuities and Transformations (2023); Lockdown Diaries: Stories of Unusual Times (2020); Folktales from India’s Northeast (2020); The Nagas: Social and Cultural Identity – Texts and Contexts (2019); The Women of Phoolbari and Other Stories (2019); and Dynamics of Self, Family and Community (2017). She has been featured in the July 2023 edition of Femina Magazine for her contribution towards preserving the rich culture and heritage of India’s northeast region.

Elizabeth Thomas teaches at the School of liberal arts at Alliance University, Bangalore. Her areas of research interests include issues of cultural difference and diversity in postcolonial societies, and law and justice studies in India. She received an M.Phil. in English from the faculty of arts Delhi University in 2006 and has a MA in English from Hindu College, Delhi University. Elizabeth has more than a decade of teaching and research experience in diverse fields connected to cultural studies.

From 2008 to 2013, she was associated as a researcher with the Higher Education Cell, and the Law, Society and Culture Programmes at the Center for the Study of Culture and Society (CSCS), Bangalore, from where she obtained a post graduate diploma in cultural studies. Prior to this she has taught at the undergraduate level in English departments in Mount Carmel College, Bangalore (2006-2008) and Maharaja Agrasen College, Delhi University (2004-2006). Her doctoral research which she is currently pursuing from the University of Humanistic Studies (UvH), Utrecht, The Netherlands, inquires into issues of pluralism and social justice in India.