Professor Sukanya Chakrabarti Receives Marcus Early Career Research Award

In its second year, the College of Liberal & Creative Arts’ Marcus Early Career Research Award will help five faculty members complete their book and film projects that explore social-justice issues in the U.S. and abroad.

The award, supported by the George and Judy Marcus Funds for Excellence in the Liberal Arts, provides a one-semester leave in 2021 – 2022. It funds projects in research, scholarship and creative activities. Probationary tenure-track faculty in their third, fourth or fifth year are eligible. Last year, three assistant professors won the award.

Observing the Bauls — traveling folk singers from the Bengal area of India — Sukanya Chakbrabarti will explore their performance in times of violent conflict. This will allow the Theatre Studies assistant professor to finish her book “Performing Dissent: Cosmopolitan Bauls in an Age of Extremism” (Routledge).

Chakrabarti’s book views the Bauls’ performances as political, subversive and cosmopolitan, in contrast to being considered as marginalized groups of mendicants and mystical performers.

Marking a return to her hometown, Chakrabarti plans to conduct fieldwork in Kolkata, India, this summer. She will do her research remotely if health protocols prevent her from traveling.