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Dr Debarghya Sanyal

Dr Debarghya Sanyal

Assistant Pofessor

About

Debarghya Sanyal is an Assistant Professor of Comics and Cinema Studies at the School of Film, Media and Creative Arts, R V University, Bengaluru. He completed his PhD research on global visual cultures and media studies from the University of Oregon, USA, in 2022. His PhD dissertation was titled “Economies of Longing: Raising Superheroes as National Leaders of India.”

He has more than years of teaching experience across various Indian higher education institutes, such as Symbiosis International University, Pune, and Dr BR Ambedkar University, Delhi. He has also headed workshops and guest lectures across Universities such as the University of Chicago, New York University, etc. He was a graduate instructor and member of curriculum committees in University of Oregon, where he designed and taught several foundational and advanced-level courses in Film Studies, Comics Studies and Media Theory.

Besides his academic engagement, Dr Sanyal has worked as an analysis writer and multimedia reporter for one of India’s leading financial dailies, the Business Standard, where he covered the Education, Labour and Technology beats.

Debarghya’s research interests include popular visual narratives, comics studies, and transmedia aesthetics, wherein he explores the migration of visual iconographies across traditional, broadcast and new media, and the political and economic implications of this transmediality.

"The world is an image. And we are in it. Colour it well."

"A “Gag” Reflex: Explaining Theories of Humour through Comics and Cartoons," Humour, Power and Public Imagination, 2026. (Book Chapter)

“Sound of Silence: Blank Spaces, Fading Narratives and Fragile Frames in Comics”, Studies in Comics, vol. 10, no. 2, 2020. (Scopus Listed, Q1).

“The Desi Archie: Selling India’s America to America’s India”, The International Journal of Comic Arts, vol.21, no.1, 2019.

“Krazy Kolors: Exploring Identities and Ambiguities in George Herriman’s Krazy Kat”, ImageText, vol 10, no. 3, 2019.

“The Ghost of Bhakti: Amar Chitra Katha and Politics of the Cult”, The Indian Journal of Comparative Literature and Translation Studies, vol. 3, no. 1, 2015.

“A Burden of Tales: Memories, Trauma and Narratorial Legacies in The Best We Could Do and Munnu”, The International Journal of Comic Arts, vol.21, no.1, Spring-Summer 2019 (Roundtable with Isabelle Martin).

India's Animation industry and its focus on the child audience

Digital Darshana, or re-negotiating the divine space on your smartphone

An analytical study of male anger in recent Hindi films

Defining corporeality as a theoretical tool for the study of media depiction of human bodies.

Research Interests

Film Studies, Comic Studies, Animation, Popular Media, Media and Gender

The Ace Teacher Award, for excellence in teaching, Symbiosis Centre for Media and Communication, Symbiosis International (Deemed) University, 2024.

Culturally Responsive Teaching and Leadership Award for BIPoC Faculty and Graduate Instructors, Department of English, University of Oregon, 2021-22.

The Risa Palm Graduate Fellowship, College of Arts and Sciences, University of Oregon, 2020.

Dr Debarghya Sanyal

Assistant Pofessor

PhD

Media and Creative Arts

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