Sheetala Bhat
Assistant Professor
Office: Atkinson 640
Email: bsheetal@yorku.ca
Sheetala specializes in performance studies, migration and diaspora studies, labour, settler studies, Indigenous theatre in Canada, and South Asian culture and politics. Her articles have appeared in the Journal of Dramatic Theory and Criticism, Theatre Research in Canada, and the Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts. She is the author of Performing Self, Performing Gender: Reading the Lives of Women Performers in Colonial India.
Currently, she is working on a long-term project examining the interconnections between settler colonialism and performances of Hindu nationalism in Canada, supported by a SSHRC Insight Development Grant. Another ongoing study focuses on food delivery workers in Toronto, particularly South Asian migrant gig workers, and is supported by a SSHRC Explore Grant. She also provides research support to gig workers and organizers connected to Delivery Drivers United, and the Centre for Workers Organizing. In addition, she is co-writing a book that examines popular novels by women, their cinematic adaptations, and the emergence of female film stardom in Karnataka in the context of the formation of the Kannada linguistic state in 1956 and its cultural developments during the 1960s and 1970s.
She is the co-convenor of the Performance and Migration Working Group at the International Federation for Theatre Research (IFTR) and the Vice-President of the Association of Canadian College and University Teachers of English (ACCUTE).
Degrees
PhD, Western UniversityMA, Manipal University, India
Research Interests
- Robert Lawrence Prize, Canadian Association for Theatre Research - 2022
- Helsinki Prize, International Federation for Theatre Research - 2020
- Carl F. and Margaret E. Klinck Prize, Western University - 2022
- David G. Hartwell Emerging Scholar Award, International Association for the Fantastic in the Arts - 2019
Performing Self, Performing Gender: Reading the lives of Women Performers in Colonial India, Manipal University Press, 2017.
“‘Restart the play’: On Cyclicality and the ‘Indian Woman’ in the Theatrical Future of C Sharp C Blunt.” Routledge Handbook of CoFuturisms, edited by Grace Dillon, Isiah Lavender III, Taryne Jade Taylor, & Bodhisattva Chattopadhyay, Routledge, 2023, pp. 462-468.
“Hunting Down the Perceptual Logics of Whiteness: Indigenous Performance of Love Against and Beyond Settler Recognition in Vigil and The Unnatural and Accidental Women.” Australasian Drama Studies #85: Aroha atu, Aroha mai: Performing Love, Compassion, and Decolonisation, no. 85, 2024, 146-172.
"Making Home, Unmaking Domesticity: Love, Joy, and Other-than-Human Worlds in Kamloopa." Theatre Research in Canada, 44 (2), pp. 191-209.
Alvis, Cole, et al. “Radical Refusals and Indigenous Gifts of Love: A Conversation on Indigenous Theatre.” Theatre Research in Canada, University of Toronto Press, vol. 42, no. 1, 2021, pp. 100-119.
Bhat, Sheetala. “‘Did I Tell Your Story?’: Theatrics of Allyship across Caste and Religion in India.” Journal of Dramatic Theory & Criticism, Vol. 35, no. 2, 2021, pp. 93-98.
Bhat, Sheetala. “Watching the (Re)calling of a Princess on Stage: On I Call myself Princess and Bearing Witness to Indigenous Histories through the Fantastic in Theatre.” Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts, vol. 31, no. 1, 2020, pp.47-60.
Current Courses
| Term | Course Number | Section | Title | Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fall 2026 | AP/EN3255 3.0 | A | Indigenous Drama in Canada | SEMR |
| Fall 2026 | AP/EN1002 3.0 | A | Intertextualities | LECT |
| Fall 2026 | AP/EN1002 3.0 | A | Intertextualities | TUTR |
Upcoming Courses
| Term | Course Number | Section | Title | Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Winter 2027 | AP/EN4140 3.0 | M | Contemporary Drama | SEMR |
Sheetala specializes in performance studies, migration and diaspora studies, labour, settler studies, Indigenous theatre in Canada, and South Asian culture and politics. Her articles have appeared in the Journal of Dramatic Theory and Criticism, Theatre Research in Canada, and the Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts. She is the author of Performing Self, Performing Gender: Reading the Lives of Women Performers in Colonial India.
Currently, she is working on a long-term project examining the interconnections between settler colonialism and performances of Hindu nationalism in Canada, supported by a SSHRC Insight Development Grant. Another ongoing study focuses on food delivery workers in Toronto, particularly South Asian migrant gig workers, and is supported by a SSHRC Explore Grant. She also provides research support to gig workers and organizers connected to Delivery Drivers United, and the Centre for Workers Organizing. In addition, she is co-writing a book that examines popular novels by women, their cinematic adaptations, and the emergence of female film stardom in Karnataka in the context of the formation of the Kannada linguistic state in 1956 and its cultural developments during the 1960s and 1970s.
She is the co-convenor of the Performance and Migration Working Group at the International Federation for Theatre Research (IFTR) and the Vice-President of the Association of Canadian College and University Teachers of English (ACCUTE).
Degrees
PhD, Western UniversityMA, Manipal University, India
Research Interests
Awards
- Robert Lawrence Prize, Canadian Association for Theatre Research - 2022
- Helsinki Prize, International Federation for Theatre Research - 2020
- Carl F. and Margaret E. Klinck Prize, Western University - 2022
- David G. Hartwell Emerging Scholar Award, International Association for the Fantastic in the Arts - 2019
All Publications
“‘Restart the play’: On Cyclicality and the ‘Indian Woman’ in the Theatrical Future of C Sharp C Blunt.” Routledge Handbook of CoFuturisms, edited by Grace Dillon, Isiah Lavender III, Taryne Jade Taylor, & Bodhisattva Chattopadhyay, Routledge, 2023, pp. 462-468.
Performing Self, Performing Gender: Reading the lives of Women Performers in Colonial India, Manipal University Press, 2017.
“Hunting Down the Perceptual Logics of Whiteness: Indigenous Performance of Love Against and Beyond Settler Recognition in Vigil and The Unnatural and Accidental Women.” Australasian Drama Studies #85: Aroha atu, Aroha mai: Performing Love, Compassion, and Decolonisation, no. 85, 2024, 146-172.
"Making Home, Unmaking Domesticity: Love, Joy, and Other-than-Human Worlds in Kamloopa." Theatre Research in Canada, 44 (2), pp. 191-209.
Alvis, Cole, et al. “Radical Refusals and Indigenous Gifts of Love: A Conversation on Indigenous Theatre.” Theatre Research in Canada, University of Toronto Press, vol. 42, no. 1, 2021, pp. 100-119.
Bhat, Sheetala. “‘Did I Tell Your Story?’: Theatrics of Allyship across Caste and Religion in India.” Journal of Dramatic Theory & Criticism, Vol. 35, no. 2, 2021, pp. 93-98.
Bhat, Sheetala. “Watching the (Re)calling of a Princess on Stage: On I Call myself Princess and Bearing Witness to Indigenous Histories through the Fantastic in Theatre.” Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts, vol. 31, no. 1, 2020, pp.47-60.
Current Courses
| Term | Course Number | Section | Title | Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fall 2026 | AP/EN3255 3.0 | A | Indigenous Drama in Canada | SEMR |
| Fall 2026 | AP/EN1002 3.0 | A | Intertextualities | LECT |
| Fall 2026 | AP/EN1002 3.0 | A | Intertextualities | TUTR |
Upcoming Courses
| Term | Course Number | Section | Title | Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Winter 2027 | AP/EN4140 3.0 | M | Contemporary Drama | SEMR |
