[Reader-list] CFP - Intersecting Contexts: Media Cultures, Politics and Identity in South Asia, 21st ECMSAS, Bonn, 2010

[Rashmi Sawhney]

With apologies for cross posting.

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Call for Papers:

We are seeking papers for the panel 'Intersecting Contexts: Media Cultures,
Politics and Identity in South Asia' to be convened as part of the 21st
European Conference on Modern South Asian Studies from 26-29 July 2010 at
the University of Bonn, Germany. The ECMSAS brings together scholars from
Europe, Asia and other parts of the world every two years, and provides a
great opportunity to share a perspective on the range of current research in
the area of South Asian studies, across disciplines. For more details on the
conference see
http://www.ecmsas.org/

Panel Description:

Intersecting Contexts: Media Cultures, Politics and Identity in South Asia

Recent international interest in 'Bollywood' often presents an exotic and
somewhat overwhelming discourse in relation to South Asian film and media
cultures. This particular formation of Indian film culture - which has come
to stand in for the general contemporary visual cultural idiom of South Asia
in some contexts - obscures other cultures of media production and reception
in the subcontinent. This panel seeks to present new research addressing the
cultural contexts of television and ‘marginal’ cinemas in South Asia, with a
particular focus on the politics of production, audiences and genre. We
encourage submissions that go beyond purely textual analysis and papers that
explore inter-disciplinary methodologies drawing from ethnography, media,
cultural and critical studies in addressing the production of content and
meaning in the subcontinent (and among the transnational/ transcultural
consumers of this media). Some indicative topics that would be relevant to
this panel (but not limited to) are:

•    The politics of power through production: how and by which groups of
media producers are historical and social events in South Asia being
represented to national and transnational audiences?

•    How are dominant 'national' histories of film and media rewritten,
challenged or unfixed through sub-cultures of production?

•    In what ways are discourses on gender, nationalism, sexuality,
ethnicity, race or class expressed by mainstream media texts across South
Asia and how do different sections of the public negotiate meanings from
these discourses?

•    Which political themes and concerns are expressed across different
media audiences and across borders in the subcontinent?

•    How can film and media cultures be understood through localized urban
culture: the spatio-temporal sites of cinema theatres and their
surroundings; the performative spaces of fanclubs; social networking and
digital technology as performative sites of media production and
consumption; the performative spaces of live shows and award ceremonies.


We particularly welcome transnational comparative studies; research that
focuses on specific regional case studies of production and reception; and
site-specific ethnographic and archive-based historiographical research.

The panel is being organized as a full-day event, comprising of a morning
and afternoon slot of 2.30 hours each; individual paper presentations should
be no more than 20 minutes.

Please submit a 250 word abstract along with a brief biographical note to
both the panel conveners (Rashmi Sawhney: rashmi.sawhney at dit.ie; Shakuntala
Banaji: s.banaji at ioe.ac.uk) by 30th November 2009 at the latest.

Thank you.

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Dr. Rashmi Sawhney, Centre for Transcultural Research and Media Practice,
Dublin Institute of Technology, Ireland.
E: rashmi.sawhney at dit.ie; W: www.ctmp.ie

Dr. Shakuntala Banaji, Centre for the Study of Children, Youth and Media,
Institute of Education, University of London, England.
E: s.banaji at ioe.ac.uk; W: www.childrenyouthandmedia.org.uk