Graduation Term

2023

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Department of English

Committee Chair

Katherine Ellison

Abstract

This interdisciplinary research project reassesses the genre of postcolonial Indian graphic narratives through a case study of an independent publisher in South India, Tara Books. Following a sociocultural and materialist approach to literary and cultural studies and drawing from scholarship in postcolonial studies, graphic narrative studies, and museology, the study analyzes the important contributions of postcolonial Anglophone graphic narratives in the twenty-first century. Specifically, through this project, I examine the unique ways subaltern subjects construct and take charge of their narratives to create and curate an alternate space for binary cultures to interact, partner, co-construct, and share histories and stories. By using select graphic narratives published by Tara Books, this research project reassesses the genre of postcolonial Indian graphic narratives as it experiments with its mode of storytelling, representation, and presentation of the book form. It locates these narratives within the contemporary twenty-first-century global market of cultural artifact circulation and argues these books as objects (or tools) of cultural resistance to hegemonic colonial narratives.

Access Type

Dissertation-Open Access

DOI

https://doi.org/10.30707/ETD2023.20231004061829633933.999953

Available for download on Monday, September 22, 2025

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