The scholarly interest of Debanjana Nayek lies in the area of Comics and Graphic Novels. In her ongoing doctoral thesis she is delving into the “infinite canvas” (Scott McCloud) of the cyberspace to research on the diverse formats of digital graphic narratives, with an emphasis on the Webcomics. Through her work she is also investigating issues of representation, identity and the changing culture of graphic narration in the digital sphere.
Her related domains of specialization are in Digital Humanities, theories of visual culture and the New Media studies. In her M.Phil dissertation she has researched on the emerging sequential art forms of India, like webcomics, “grassroot” and war comics, where she argues that these visual narratives create a new kind of subculture in the genre of Indian graphic storytelling.
In her teaching career in a college under Calcutta University she has taught Shakespeare’s plays, Romantic, Victorian and Twentieth century poetry as well as Indian Writing in English.
She has taught in South Calcutta Girls' College, affiliated to Calcutta University, as an Assistant Professor from 2017 to 2018.
The areas she loves and wishes to teach are: Digital Humanities, electronic literature, Gender studies and Queer theory, Cyberfeminism in literature, art and theory, Graphic Narratives and Comics studies, Literature and Social Media, Cultural theory and Popular culture.
The papers she also teaches are: British Restoration and 18th century literatures, Romantic literature and Indian Writing in English.
Research Articles in peer reviewed journals:
“Shakuntala to Sanitary Panels: Women in Indian Graphic Narratives”, Feminist Encounters: A Journal of Critical Studies in Culture and Politics, Issue 6, April 2020.
"(Mis) Representations of The Transgender Identity: The Dominant Popular Narrative Culture Versus The Webcomics" in "Politics of Representation", Colloquium, Vol. 3 pp. 26-35.
“Subverting the Dominant Structure Through Graphic Narratives: From The Dissenting Printed Comics To The Subcultural Noise of Webcomics,”, Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics, Taylor and Francis, 2021.
Nayek, Debanjana. "Comics, Cartoons and the Politics of Censorship in Digital India", Critical Collective, 2022.
Book Chapters:
"Poiliticising The Body of The ‘Other’: India’s Gaze at Pakistan" in Beyond Partition: Film, Media and Representation in Post-Colonial South Asia (London: Routledge, 2021).
“Indian CyberFeminism: Digital Liberation or Selective Outrage?” in Contemporary Gender Formations in India (London: Routledge, 2024) .
Papers in Conferences:
“Panels of Revolution and Solidarity: Building resistance through graphic narratives”, “Comics and/as Resistance” at the University of Oxford (UK), 22 and 23 June, 2023
“What Comics Can Do in a Country of a Thousand Languages: Exploring the System of Indian Comics”, atUniversity of Cambridge, Joint Conference of the International Graphic Novel & Comics and the International Bande Dessinée Society, July 2023.
“Resisting and communicating through Art: Using Graphic narratives at
Protest sites and in Hashtag Activism” at University of Cambridge (Faculty of Education) in Joint Conference of the International Graphic Novels and Comics Conference
and the International Bande Dessinée Society, in June, 2021.
"Popping out of the pages of comic books: Cyber-feminism and Transmedia storytelling in Indian graphic narratives" a virtual symposium hosted jointly by representatives of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, the University of North Texas, Harvard University, and Michigan State University, September 2020.
"Visual communication through Digital Comics" in the first Twitter conference of India, organised by DHARTI (Digital Humanities Alliance for Research and Teaching Innovations), January 2020. You can find the paper here: https://twitter.com/i/events/1218839082760990720?s=20
“Reconstructing Mahabharata through ages: Creating a Storyworld from Ganesha to Grant Morrison & beyond” in Joint International Conference of Graphic Novels, Comics and Bande Dessineés, 20th Anniversary of the International Bande Dessinée Society and 10th Annual International Graphic Novel and Comics Conference, at Manchester Metropolitan University in June, 2019.
"Searching for the Gaming Unicorn in Indian visual narratives" in Games Lit 2019, organised by Presidency University, November 2019.
"Drawing A Subculture: The Dissenting Voices of The Indian Digital Graphic Narratives" in Transitions 8 – New Directions in Comics Studies Symposium at Birkbeck College, London, in November, 2018.
"Webcomics: An Aavant-Garde Way of Graphic Storytelling" in 'Doing Graphic Stories' at Jadavpur University, in January 2017.
"Graphic Novels, Web-Comics and the Encompassment of the Interdisciplinary ‘Sequential Art’ within English Literary Studies" in Young Researchers’ National Conference at The University of Burdwan, in December 2014.
Invited Lectures:
On "Women in Comics" in Comics in Bengal, held at Kolkata Centre for Creativity, on 2nd March, 2024.
"Identity and Resistance at the Margins of Art" in Resistance at the Margins: Selfhood, Identities, Communities, organised by Margins and Beyond, Presidency University, on 15th Sept., 2022.
On "Visual Analysis" in A Symposium on Research Methods in Social Sciences: Sharing Experiences from the Fields, organised by the Department of Political Science, Presidency University, on 4th-5th October, 2021.
On "Tintin and his adventures" in a Webinar on Popular Literature, Bhangar Mahavidyalaya, 28th Sept., 2021.
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