PRECONFERENCE #2
Sponsored
by the Center for Global Communication Studies, Annenberg School for
Communication, University for Pennsylvania, and Centre for Culture,
Media & Governance, Jamia Millia Islamia University, New Delhi
Title: India and Communication Studies
Time: Wednesday, May 20, 13:00 – 19:00 and
Thursday, May 21, 8:00 – 17:00
Limit: 50 persons
Cost: $100.00USD (Includes refreshment breaks, lunch and reception)
$50.00USD Students
Organizers:
• Monroe Price, Director, Center for Global Communication Studies,
Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania
• Biswajit Das, Director, Centre for Culture, Media & Governance, Jamia Millia Islamia University, New Delhi
• Aswin Punathambekar, Assistant Professor, Communication Studies, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
• Radhika Parameswaran, Associate Professor, School of Journalism, Indiana University, Bloomington
Overview:
India plays an increasingly important role in the processes of
globalization, including the global production of culture and the
communications technology industry. At the same time, the field of
communication studies in India is expanding. Yet there is no Indian
Communications Association and little in the way of considered and
formal review of contributions to the field.
This pre-conference is an effort to create a new coherence and a new
salience for this subject by mapping the area of communication and
culture studies in India; to strengthen ties among leading and emerging
scholars and institutions in India and elsewhere; to develop and
cultivate a research agenda for the field; and to explore the creation
of an Indian Communication Studies Association.
The pre-conference will take place over 2 days. The first day will
be dedicated to paper presentations from emerging scholars on a diverse
range of issues, including media and cultural representations, gender,
minorities, issues of nationalism and culture, and structural questions
of governance.
The second day will be centered around three panels, which will
address the development of communication studies in India; issues of
technology, governance and development; and a discussion of scholarship
about India. The organized panels will draw from academia, business,
civil society, and government/policy-making circles.
Schedule for India and Communication Studies ICA Pre-Conference:
May 20 (Day One):
13.00 – 13.15 Opening Remarks, Monroe Price and organizers
13.15 – 14.30 Paper presentations: Session 1
14.30 – 15.45 Paper presentations: Session 2
15.45 – 16.00 Break
16.00 – 17.15 Paper presentations: Session 3
Moderators for paper sessions: TBC
17.30 – 19.00 Reception for pre-conference participants and guests
May 21 (Day Two):
8.00 – 9.00: Breakfast for pre-conference participants
9.00 – 10.15 Opening Keynote Discussion -- India and Cultural Pathways: Reflections on Identity, History and Scholarship:
The opening keynote will address the history of communications/media
studies in and about India, placing it in the broader context of global
communication studies and globalization and international relations.
• Biswajit Das, Centre for Culture, Media & Governance, Jamia Millia Islamia University
• Radhika Gajjala, Bowling Green University
• Sevanti Ninan, Honorary Secretary, The Media Foundation (TBC)
• Arvind Singhal, University of Texas (TBC)
• Daya Thussu, University of Westminster
Moderator: Monroe Price, Center for Global Communication Studies, Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania
10.15 – 10.30 – Coffee Break
10.30 -- 11.45 Panel One: The Complex Challenge of Developing Communications Studies in India
This panel will seek to begin mapping the intellectual network of
scholars that has informed communications scholarship in and about
India. Panelists will discuss the history and development of "Indian"
communication studies, including the approaches taken towards this
subject; the competition between production and commercial goals and
theoretical study; and the institutional and other pressures and
challenges encountered by emerging programs..
• Biswajit Das, Centre for Culture, Media & Governance, Jamia Millia Islamia University
• Vinod Pavarala, University of Hyderabad
• Anjali Monteiro, Tata Institute of Social Sciences
• Atul Tandon, MICA
• Peng Hwa Ang, MICORE
Moderator: Noshir Contractor, Northwestern University
11.45 – 13.00 –Lunch
13.00 – 14.15 Panel Two: "Media, Technology & Governance"
This panel will be approached through cases as presented by the
panelists. It seeks to (a) open the door to the growing work on the IT
industry and ICT for Development; and (b) outline a tighter set of
analytics to encourage a stronger connection between academic research
& public policy in India.
• David Page or William Crawley (TBC), Media South Asia Project, Institute of Development Studies, Sussex University, UK
• Victoria Farmer, Department of Political Science and International Relations SUNY-Geneseo
• Steve McDowell, Department of Communication, Florida State University
• Sunil Abraham, Director (Policy), Centre for Internet & Society, Bangalore
Moderator:
Vibodh Parthasarathi, Associate Professor, Centre for Culture, Media
& Governance, Jamia Millia Islamia University
14.15 – 14.30 Coffee Break
14.30 – 15.45 Panel Three: Nodes of Contact: How to Map Scholarship about India
This panel aims to map the intellectual patterns and trajectories in
media and communications scholarship on India. Panelists will address
specific areas within communications research--gender and
interdisciplinarity, new media, diaspora, television, and media
production and reception--to chart and analyze the theoretical and
empirical terrain that scholars have covered, and to suggest new and
productive directions for future research.
• Radha Hegde, Department of Media, Culture, and Communication, New York University
• Shanti Kumar, Department of Radio-Television-Film, The University of Texas at Austin
• William Mazzarella, University of Chicago
• Ananda Mitra, Department of Communication, Wake Forest University
• Hemant Shah, School of Journalism & Mass Communication, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Moderator: Radhika Parameswaran, School of Journalism, Indiana University
15.45 – 16.15 Concluding Remarks and Wrap-up
This last part of the ICA Pre-Conference Program will feature open discussion and commentary from the organizers and audience.
For more information about this pre-conference, please contact Susan
Abbott, Associate Director, Center for Global Communication Studies: [email protected]
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Click here to read this information on the ICA website.
