Department Profile
The English Department welcomes alumni, current and prospective students, and visitors
from around the world to learn about its faculty and programmes, and to discover its range of courses, activities and events.
Established in 1989 with 03 faculty members and a few students the department has now grown considerably.
Its faculty members have pursued research and teaching in the first-rate varsities in the USA and the UK under
Commonwealth Fellowship, Fulbright Scholarship and Charles Wallace Fellowship. The department has the history of
developing critical and methodological openness. It has embraced new approaches to literary study without
surrendering traditional strengths. Supported by the Special Assistance Programme (DRS I) of the UGC,
a state-of-the-art language laboratory developed in collaboration with IIT, Kharagpur, and libraries with good collections,
the department is the most sought-after place for English and Cultural Studies in the south-western part of the state of West Bengal.
Courses for postgraduates and research participants range from Chaucer,
Shakespeare, T S Eliot, American and World Literatures in English to Critical
Theory and cultural studies focused on Dalit and Tribal texts and contexts. Courses link
students with interdisciplinary opportunities on campus, while a distinguished series of speakers, colloquia
and conferences provide a context for sustained learning and debate within the humanities. Students pursuing
research and postgraduate studies in the thrust area of the department’s DRS programme engage in extensive fieldwork
in tribal heartlands of the country. The department envisages a constructive outreach programme in training people of
the tribal communities in the preservation of their languages and cultures. Collaborations in this regard with Bhasha,
Baroda, Sahitya Akademi, Jadavpur University and North Bengal University have already been forged while a tie-up with the
University of Hawaii, Manoa, USA has been planned.
Apart from studies the students of the department have distinguished themselves in sports and co-curricular activities at both national and international levels.