Professor, Department of English, NEHU, Shillong from 1 July 2012 onwards.
Reader/ Associate Professor, Department of English, NEHU, Shillong from 14 December 2005 to 30 June 2012.
Lecturer, Department of English, NEHU, Shillong from 11 June 2003 to 13 December 2005.
Lecturer / Lecturer (Senior Scale), Department of English, Assam University, Silchar from 22 September 1994 to 10 June 2003.
Lecturer, AKD Dharmaraja Women’s College, Rajapalayam from 1990 to 1992
Area of Interest
Drama /Theatre / Performance Studies, Indian Fiction, Tagore Studies, Terror Studies, Gender Studies.
Courses Taught:
Shakespeare, English / British Drama (Medieval to Modern); American Literature; Indian Drama in English & Translation; Indian Fiction in English Translation; Modern Indian Drama.
Awards:
Received the IUC-IIAS (Shimla) Associateship for a research proposal on Women‘s Narratives on Terror and Sexual Violence, 2012-15.
Awarded the OUCIP (Osmania University Centre for International Programmes) Post-Doctoral Fellowship for 2010-11.
Recipient of the UPIASI - Asia Fellowship for a project proposal on Women in Chinese Theatre in 1999
Fulbright Fellowship in the Department of Theatre, Film & Dance in Long Island University, CW Post, New York, USA, 1995-96.
Madurai Kamaraj University Stipendary Fellowship as Research Scholar, Department of Theatre Arts, MKUniversity from 1992 to 1994.
Completed Project: as the Principal Investigator, of a sanctioned UGC Major Research Project (2015-18) for a proposal entitled “Gendering Terrorism in South Asian Narratives in the post 9/11 Era: A Select Study of Indian-Pakistani-Afghan and Srilankan Writings in English.” (Amount sanctioned – Rs. 12,79,800/-)
International. Renganathan, Mala. Gendering Terrorism in South Asian Narratives of the Post-9/11 Era. Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2025. ISBN. 978-1-0364-1150-3; ISBN (Ebook) 978-1-0364-1151-0.
International. Renganathan, Mala & Arnab Bhattacharya. Eds. Rabindranath Tagore’s Drama in the Perspective of Indian Theatre. London: Anthem Press, 2020. ISBN 9781785273940.
Renganathan, Mala. Ed. Violence and Terror: Narratives from North East India. New Delhi & Guwahati: DVS Publishers. 2020. ISBN: 9789385839351.
International. Bhattacharya, Arnab & Mala Renganathan. Eds. The Politics and Reception of Rabindranath Tagore’s Drama: The Bard on the Stage. New York and London: Routledge (Taylor & Francis), 2015. ISBN: 978-1-138-80462-3.
International Renganathan, Mala. Maria Irene Fornes' Theatre: A Study. Illinois: CG Publishers, 2010. ISBN. 1863357491 / 9781863357494.
Articles in Peer-reviewed Journals:
Renganathan, Mala & Deboshree Bhattacharjee. Book Review. New Postcolonial Dialectics: An Intercultural Comparison of Indian and Nigerian English Plays. By Sarbani Sen Vengadasalam. Cambridge Scholars Publishing: 2018. In IACLALS Journal. V. 6 (2020-23): 239-42.
Renganathan, Mala & Geeta Janet Dkhar. Book Review. “Kanaklata Baruah by Sheila Bora” Journal of North East Researches, Vol X (March 2019): 97-8.
“Theorizing stage, staging theory: Understanding the poetics of Indian Drama through a directorial exploration of Girish Karnad’s Nagamandala.” Roots: International Journal of Multidisciplinary Researches, Special Issue, 5.2 (2016): 127-31.
“Articulations of Terror from Contemporary Literary Texts – A Gender Perspective” English Forum: Journal of Department of English (Gauhati University). Vol. 5 (2016-17): ISSN 2279 0446.
“Women’s Theatre in America: A Historical Critical Study”. Literary Miscellany. 1(1) Jan-July 2012: 15-26.
“Reflections of Terror in Contemporary Women’s Writing in India - Bengal and North East.” Journal of North East Researches, III (3) March 2012: 1-25.
“Indian Woman at the Crossroads: A Study of Shashi Deshpande’s Heroines” Journal of Literature, Culture & Media Studies – Contemporary Women Writings (Multidisciplinary Referred International Journal. (Summer June 2009). Issue No. 1: 71-8.
“Exploring the Canon.” Rev. Jaydeep Sarangi’s New Explorations in Indian English Poetry. Kavya Bharati, 19 (2007): 176-8.
“Poetry from Shillong.” Rev. Anjum Hasan’s Street on the Hill. Kavya Bharati. 19 (2007): 168-75.
“Translation & Indian Drama: A Critical Perspective” Abstract of this paper included as part of the Proceedings of UGC sponsored National Seminar on Indian Writing in English Translation organized by the Department of English, Thiagarajar College, Madurai on 4/5 August 2005.
“Women as Director: Re-reading The Fire and the Rain” Girish Karnad's Plays: Performance and Critical Perspectives. Tutun Mukherjee. ed. Delhi: Pencraft International, 2005: 264-71.
“Family and Female Paralysis: Shashi Deshpande’s That Long Silence.” Families – A Journal of Representations. 1,2 (August 2002): 78-87.
"The Absurd Professor: Maria Irene Fornes’ Dr. Kheal,” Indian Journal of American Studies, 26, 2 (Summer 1996): 86-90.
“Tragedy and Women: Perspectives on American Feminist Theater,” Journal of Assam University, 1,1 (January 1996): 44-45.
Mala R. “The Sexual Predicament and Shashi Deshpande’s Women,” Indian Women Novelists, Vol. 5. New Delhi, Prestige Books, 1991: 50-59.
“Meetings with a Dramaturge,” College English Review, 3, 2(April-June 1990); 13-17.
Articles in Books
Renganathan, Mala. “Introduction.” In. Violence and Terror: Narratives from North East India. Edited by Mala Renganathan. New Delhi & Guwahati: DVS Publishers. 2020: ix-xix. ISBN: 9789385839351.
“Narrating Violence and Memory: Contemporary Indian Women’s Plays.” Indian Writing in English: A Reassessment. Eds. Rumpa Das & Madhumita Biswas. Kolkata: Avenel P, 2015: 25-34.
(International) “Drama as Pedagogy: Rabindranath Tagore’s The Post Office.” Eds. Arnab Bhattacharya & Mala Renganathan. The Politics and Reception of Rabindranath Tagore’s Drama: The Bard on the Stage. New York and London: Routledge (Taylor & Francis), 2015: 157-64. (International).
Bhattacharya, Arnab & Mala Renganathan. (International). (Joint Article) “Introduction: The Drama of Rabindranath Tagore (1861 – 1941).” Eds. Arnab Bhattacharya & Mala Renganathan. The Politics and Reception of Rabindranath Tagore’s Drama: The Bard on the Stage. New York and London: Routledge (Taylor & Francis), 2015: 1-17.
Renganathan, Mala. “Translation & Indian Drama: A Postcolonial Perspective.” Eds. Dipendu Das, Anup Kumar Dey & Saugata Kumar Nath. Drama: Theory, Text and Performance. New Delhi: Jnanada Prakashan (P&D), 2015: 229-46.
“Contemporary Indian Drama: Trends, Perspectives and Problems of Transition. Eds. Gitali Saikia & Subrat Jyoti Neog. Indian Drama: Tradition and Transition. Kolkata: Books Way, 2015 (1st edn, 2014): 17-29.
“Contemporary Indian Drama: Trends, Perspectives and Problems.” Gitali Saikia & Subrat Jyoti Neog. Eds. Indian Drama: Tradition and Transition. Jorhat: Bedakantha, 2013: 17-36
“To Keep My Light Burning': Representation of Women in Shashi Deshpande's Intrusion and Other Stories.” ed. Arnab Bhattacharya. Understanding India: Studies in Indian English Fiction. Kolkata: Books Way (January 2010): 108-23.
(International). Contribution of entry “Dramatists of India” to South Asian Literature in English – An Encyclopedia. Ed. Jaina C. Sangha. Connecticut, London: Greenwood P, 2004: 88-91.
(International). Contribution of Entries on Arambam, Deboo, Dossa, Krishnamoorthy, Raju and Thiyyam in Who’s Who in World Theatre. Ed. Daniel Meyer-Dinkgrafe, London & New York: Routledge, 2000.
PhD Awarded / Supervised:
PhD Awarded: Mala R. “Maria Irene Fornes’s Theater: A Study” in M.K.University, Madurai, 1999.
Bhattacharjee, Deboshree. “Representation of Women in Rabindranath Tagore’s Plays: A Semiotic Approach” (2024).
Moinao, Wungreiyon. “War,Violence, Memory: Politics of the Absurd in Samuel Beckett’s Plays”. (2023).
Goswami, Harajit. “Exploring the Personal, Social and Cultural Dynamics: Contemporary North Eastern Indian Women’s Short Fiction in English” (2017).
Marbaniang, Evangeline L. “Contemporary Social Concerns in Mahesh Dattani’s Plays: A Critical Study” (2017).
Dkhar, Geeta Janet. “Contextualising the ‘Female Imagination’: A Study of Shashi Deshpande’s Short Fiction (2017).
Begum, Fathema. “Representation of Women in Girish Karnad’s Play: A Study” (2014).
Gupta, Soma. “Resistance to Oppression: A Study of Mahasweta Devi’s Select Works” (2013).
Nameirakpam, Rita D.. “Woman’s Voice: A Study of the Poems of Emily Dickinson” (2012).
Dkhar, Jenneifer. “Re-inventing History: A Study of Amitav Ghosh’s Novels” (2011)
Awarded (M.Phil)
Marbaniang, Evangeline L. “A Study of Women Characters in the Selected Plays of Mahesh Dattani” (2008).
Brahma, Tamojoy. “Father Figure in Mahesh Dattani’s Plays: A Study of Where There’s A Will, Dance Like a Man and Final Solutions” (2001).
Nath, Saugata Kumar. “The Story and the Storyteller: A Study of Girish Karnad’s Select Plays” (2000).
Ongoing (PhD):
Bornalisa Buragohain. “City and the Spatialisation of Race in Contemporary Black British Drama” (Regd 2019)
Leitanthem Ricky Meitei. “The Second World War in Manipur: A Study of Representations from Select Texts from Manipur” (Regd. 2019, Thesis Submitted in November 2024 ).
V. Rachel Touthang. “Women and Disability: A Select Study of Multi-Ethnic American Women Authors” (Regd. 2021)
Ankur Bailung. “Representation of Humour: Comic Transgression in Select Post-War Plays” (Regd. 2025)
Lawansuk Syiemlieh (JRF) working on Contemporary British Fiction (Admitted March 2025)
Theatre Experience:
Participant, National Webinar on “Acting Systems in Theatre –II” held from 1 to 10 Oct 2020 organized by Chennai Theatre Academy, Chennai in partnership with some other theatre groups in Chennai.
Participant, National Webinar on Script and Acting held from 27 Nov to 6 Dec 2020 organized by Chennai Theatre Academy, Chennai in partnership with some other theatre groups in Chennai.
Directed the following plays: 1) two Children’s plays ‘The Boy Comes Home’ Vilaiyaattu Natakam’ as part of the Children’s Theatre Project (Dept of Theatre, MKU and TVS Lakshmi Hr. Sec. School, Madurai, 1992); 2)’She and Shakespeare’ (Assam University, Silchar, May 3, 2000); 3) Eugene O’Neill’s ‘Before Breakfast’ ( Dept of English, Assam University, Silchar, March 28, 2001).
Conducted 3 theatre workshops: a) National Seminar-cum-Workshop on Drama, March 2008 sponsored by NEHU, Shillong and ICSSR, Shillong b) Drama Leading to a Play in the Department of English, NEHU, Shillong, in August – September 2010 c) One day Theatre Workshop in Omna Theatre & Dance Academy, Brooklyn, New York City, in 2010.
Convener of the National Theatre Workshop “Drama in Performance” organized by the Department of English, NEHU, Shillong in collaboration with ICSSR-NERC, Shillong from 24 August to 17 September 2010.
Academic Affiliations:
Life Member, IACLALS (Indian Association for Commonwealth Literature and Language Studies), New Delhi.
Life Member, CLAI (Comparative Literature Association of India), New Delhi & Kolkata.
Administrative Responsibilities Undertaken:
Expert in several Selection Committees in other universities and colleges in Meghalaya.
Member of the Jury for the 2022 Sahitya AkademiYuva Puraskar Award, Sahitya Akademi.
External Member, School Board of Humanities, Assam University, Silchar.
Papers presented in Conferences / Seminars:
Conferences (Recent):
Chaired the technical session (Session II) on 4th April 2025 in the National Seminar on "Climate Justice: Exploring Climate Narratives for an Inclusive and Sustainable Future," organized by theDepartment of English, AMET University, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, held on 4th and 5th April 2025.
Chaired a technical session on North East Literature on 20th March 2025, in the National Seminar on “Northeast’s Contribution to Indian English Literature”, organized by the Department of English, NEHU, Shillong, held on 20th and 21st March 2025.
Resource Person, presented a paper on “The Real and the Imaginary Narrative: Representation/s of Srirangam in Tamil Writer Sujatha's Short Fiction" under the sub theme ‘Narratives of Place: Political Imaginaries of Place’ in the International Seminar on "Geophysical Imaginaries" organized by the Department of Philosophy, St. Anthony’s College, Shillong, on 7th March 2025.
Chaired a technical session (Session II) in the International Seminar on "Geophysical Imaginaries" organized by the Department of Philosophy, St. Anthony’s College, Shillong, held on 7th March 2025.
Chaired an online technical session on post humanism (Session VI) on 26th February, 2025 (11 am to 12.15 pm) in the Two Day National Seminar “Contemporary Trends in Studies of English Literature and English Language, organized by the Department of English and Communication Studies, ICFAI University, Meghalaya, and held on 25th and 26th February 2025.
Chaired a technical session on 27th September, 2024 in the International Seminar on “Literature. Community, and Culture” organized by Department of English, in collaboration with Departments of Khasi and History, at St. Edmund’s College, Shillong, and held on 26th and 27th September 2024.
Plenary Talk on “Gendering Violence in South Asia: A Critique of Select Sri Lankan Narratives on Terror” on 24th August 2023 in the National Seminar on “Narratives of South Asia” sponsored by ICSSR-NERC and organized by the Department of English, Assam University, Silchar.
Invited Lectures (Past 5 years):
Resource Person a talk on Temsula Ao’s Contribution to Indian Short Fiction in the Symposium on “Temsula Ao and the North East” organized by Sahitya Akademi and Department of English, NEHU, Shillong, held on 10th February 2025. (Ref: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bfOOJd3cewg).
Resource Person, Interaction Session on Theatre, June 5th, 2024, conducted by Mahaba 2024 Theatre Event comprising Interaction Session, Theatre Workshop and Performance
Resource Person, Delivered two lectures on “Violence and Indian Drama” on 9th September 2023, in the Refresher Course in English organized by the Department of English, NEHU, Shillong.
Resource Person, Online Refresher Course in English (from 2nd to 17th November 2022) organized by UGC-HRDC Osmania University, Hyderabad, and delivered a lecture on “Relevance of Folk Drama in the Modern World" on 15th November, 2022 at 1.40-1.10 pm.
Resource Person, Online Refresher Course in English (from December 1st to 14th, 2021) on “Indian Writing in English and in Translation” organized by Department of English, Pondicherry University, Puducherry and delivered a lecture on “Explorations into the Vast Arena of Indian Drama” on 8th December, 2021 at 10-11.30 am
Guest Lecture (offline) as Chief Guest on “Literature for the Millennium Youth” organized by the Department of English, Mannar Thirumalai Naicker College (Autonomous), Madurai, on 23rd October 2021.
Lecture as Resource Person in a National Webinar on “The Times’ Plague:: Reflection of Plague in Shakespeare’s Dramas” organized by the Department of English, V.O. Chidambaram College, Thoothukudi, Tamil Nadu on 29th October, 2021 at 5 pm. (Ref: >https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MG9kWVFbezs&t=36s)
Resource Person, Online Refresher Course in English (from December 1st to 14th, 2021) on “Indian Writing in English and in Translation” organized by Department of English, Pondicherry University, Puducherry and delivered a lecture on" Explorations into the Vast Arena of Indian Drama” on 8th December, 2021 at 10 - 11.30am.
International: Delivered a lecture on “Drama Teaching in Pandemic Situation” as Resource person in the International Webinar on “Pandemic Pedagogy: Issues and Challenges” held on 24th July 2020 organinzed by Department of English, Maharaja Bir Bikram University, Agartala, Tripura.
Delivered a lecture on “Women and Violence: A Comparative Discussion of a Few Indian Plays” on 16 March 2021, in the Refresher Course in “Comparative Literature and Cultural Studies” held online, organized by the Department of English, Tura Campus, NEHU, Tura and the UGC-HRDC, NEHU, Shillong.
Academic Assignments:
Content Editor for the Course ‘Folk Performances of the North East’ for the Certificate and Diploma Courses on North East Folk Performance of IGNOU, New Delhi.
Content writer for the Module “Women’s Theatre of India” Course on Performance Studies under Comparative Literature for the E-PG Pathshala Project of the UGC under MHRD’s National Mission for Education.
Member, Jury Committee, Sahitya Akademi, 2022.
Member, several selection committees in other universities.
Adjudicator of PhD theses in several universities.
Member, several national and state level confidential panels at several national and state level organizations and academic bodies.
UGC Assignments:
Member, UGC appointed Committees for confidential assignments on several occasions.
Member, UGC Expert Committee, a) for the consideration of applications for the award of “Ishan Uday” Special Scholarship Scheme for North Eastern Region scholarship for the year 2017-18 on 17th May 2018 in UGC, New Delhi.
Member, UGC Expert Committee, for grant of PG affiliation to various assigned colleges.
Member, UGC Committee as part of a UGC Team for visit to colleges on hostel buildings matters.
Member, UGC Review Committee for SAP Program in the Department of English, Mizoram University.
Member, Various Selection Committees appointed by Central Agricultural University, Imphal and NIT Arunachal.
Member of various UGC appointed Expert Committees, including Expert Committee for evaluation of Project Proposals, Conference Financial Assistance held by UGC-ERO, Kolkata.
Administrative Responsibilities Undertaken:
Chief Editor, Editorial Board, NEHU Compendium.
Member, University Disciplinary Council for 3 years, NEHU, Shillong.
Served as Member, Editorial Board, NEHU Annual Report Committee from 2021-22 and 2022-23.
Served as the Head, Department of English from 1 August 2018 to 4th May 2020, from 7th July 2021 to 25th October 2021.
Served as Campus Fulbright Representative from 2013 to 2021, NEHU, Shillong.
Served as both Member and Convener of the Cultural Committee for the University Foundation Day Celebrations in Assam University, Silchar from 1994 to 2003.
Member of Statutory Bodies
Served as External Expert, School Board, (English), Assam University, Silchar.
