The Department of English, St. Aloysius College (Autonomous) Mangaluru, in collaboration with UGC STRIDE Scheme (Scheme for Trans-disciplinary Research for India's Developing Economy), held a National Webinar on the theme “Folk in Theatre: Colonial Encounters and the Idea of a Genre” on 17 November 2020. The Resource person for the Webinar was Dr Dheeman Bhattacharyya, Assistant Professor in Linguistics and Comparative Literature at Visva-Bharati University.  

Rev. Fr Praveen Martis S.J., Principal of St. Aloysius College (Autonomous), delivered the presidential remarks and informed the participants about the purpose of the collaboration with STRIDE.
Ms Josna Susan delivered a brief introduction on the personal and academic life of Dr Dheeman Bhattacharyya, exploring his background and achievements.

Dr Bhattacharya, through his talk, attempted to de-marginalise the notion of ‘folk’ in theatre and explored the broader trajectory which is not part of the mainstream literary canon. His talk was accompanied by a PowerPoint presentation, along with the incorporation of short clips from a few movies.

The webinar witnessed participation from all over India and the MA English students of the college also took an active part.

The Webinar concluded with a question-answer session and Dr Girish N from the Department of English was the moderator for the session.

Ms Fathima Masna played hostess for the entire duration. Ms Rebecca Rex led the event through supplication, invoking the blessings of the almighty. Dr Ratan Mohunta, HOD of English, welcomed the gathering. Ms Shruthi delivered the vote of thanks.