School of Media, Communication and Culture Annual Report 2011-2012 (1 April 2011-31 March, 2012) 1. A. Course Offered (Name of the Course, Duration of Course, No. of Students Enrolled): 1. UGC-approved Certificate Course on Radio Production ; 6 months; 21 students 2. Two undergraduate extra-departmental courses: Studies in Cultural Processes A (Semester 3) and Studies in Cultural Processes B (Semester 4); 2 semesters; 9 students 3. PhD; 3 to 5 years; 5 students (including one Junior Research Fellow under the State Fellowship scheme) B. Number of Faculty Members: Director: Prof. Partha Pratim Basu, Department of International Relations Joint Director: Dr. Dalia Chakrabarti, Department of Sociology No permanent faculty member; courses taught by 9 teachers from Jadavpur University and 17 from outside the University. 2. A. Area of Research Activities (Broad Areas): Media, consumerism and globalization Media in development and modernization Community Radio movement in India Indian television Media policy Media and public opinion in India New media and alternative forms of journalism Internet and network cultures New urban spaces Madrasah education in India Performing arts and communication Children s literatures and cultures New Indian documentaries B. Major Research Project (Department/Individual, Name of the Project, Funding Agency): The following are all School s projects: i) Child Radio Reporter UNICEF ii) East Kolkata Wetlands: A 360 View United States-India Educational Foundation
iii) Dhitang, Magazine for under-privileged Vikramshila Education Resource children of Calcutta studying in Society, Calcutta informal schools iv) Rabindra Post Centenary Golden Jadavpur University Jubilee celebration Tagore 150 v) Baseline Survey and Capacity building Department of Science Technology, Workshop on Science for Women s Govt. of India Health and Nutrition 3. A. Invited Lectures Delivered/Session Chaired (Name of the teacher, Type of Participants, Name of the Seminar/Conference etc. Place, Duration): Following are lectures delivered/ sessions chaired (related to the School s research interests) by the Director, Joint Director and others members of the School: Prof. Partha Pratim Basu 1. Chaired a session at a workshop on State and Democracy: WikiLeaks and Beyond, organized by School of Media Communication and Culture in collaboration with Jadavpur Association of International Relations, Calcutta, December 12, 2. Chaired the Keynote address delivered by Professor Partha Chatterjee at an international conference on Sports and the Nation, organized by School of Media, Communication and Culture, in association with Department of English, Jadavpur University, January 19, 2012. 3. Chaired a session at a seminar on The Trope of Women and Children Displaced: Issues and Challenges, organized by the Centre for Refugee Studies and School of Women s Studies, Jadavpur University, March 19, 2012. 4. Delivered two lectures in the Refresher course on Sociology as an Art Form, Department of Sociology, Jadavpur University, March 26, 2012. Dr. Dalia Chakrabarti 5. Lecture on Visual Method at the Refresher Course organized by Department of Sociology, Jadavpur University, March 30, 2012 Prof. Nilanjana Gupta 6. Madrasa Education: Changes and Innovations, Centre for Advanced Studies on India, University of Pennsylvania, December 2011 7. Regional News Channels and an Emerging Media Citizenry, New India Forum, Temple University, December 2011 8. The Rise of the Novel in India, Keynote Address at Daulataram College Golden Jubilee Seminar, New Delhi, July 2011 Prof. Ipshita Chanda 9. Two lectures on The Comparative Method and Intermediality at the Refresher Course on Comparative Literature and the Other Arts, organized by Academic Staff College, Jamia Milia Islamia, June 18,
Abhijit Roy 10. 'The Televisual Form' and Television, Postcoloniality and Consumer Cultures: The Instance of India, two lectures at the M.Phil. programme, Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Calcutta, April 20, 2011 11. Teaching Media, lecture at the 4-day workshop on Teaching Film Studies organized by The Media Lab, Department of Film Studies, Jadavpur University, Calcutta, July 24, 2011 12. Towards a Dialogue between Mass Communication and Cultural Studies, lecture at the UGC sponsored National Workshop on Communication through Photography & Video Production, Department of Journalism and Mass Communication, Vivekananda College, Thakurpukur, Calcutta, August 26, 2011 13. Televisual Afterlives, lecture at the UGC-sponsored Refresher Course on Texts and their Afterlives, Department of English, Jadavpur University, November 26, 2011 14. Chaired a session at a workshop on State and Democracy: WikiLeaks and Beyond, organized by School of Media Communication and Culture in collaboration with Jadavpur Association of International Relations, Calcutta, December 12, 2011 15. Television and the Indian State and Television and Globalization, two lectures at the UGC-sponsored Refresher Course on Film, Media, Politics, Department of Film Studies, Jadavpur University, March 12 and March 13, 2012 Dr. Iman Kalyan Lahiri 16. Islam in South East Asia with Special Reference to Malaysia, Nehru Center, Mumbai, October 14, 2011 17. Swami Vivekananda: His Message to the Contemporary Youth, Swami Ranganathananda Memorial Lecture, Ramakrishna Mission Ashrama, Narendrapur, West Bengal, January 12, 2012 18. Chaired a session at a seminar titled South Asian Security in the 21st Century, Surendranath College, Kolkata, February 14, 2012 F. Seminar/Workshop/Conference/Symposium Attended (Name of the Teacher, Name of the Paper Presented, if any, Name of the Seminar, Place, Duration): Following are seminar/workshop/conference/symposium (related to the School s research interests) attended by the Director, Joint Director and others members of the School: 1. Prof. Partha Pratim Basu presented a paper titled Media and Human Rights, at a seminar on Human Rights and the Indian State, Department of Political Science, Chakdah College, December 21, 2. Dr. Dalia Chakrabarti attended a two-day workshop on Everyday Life at Institute of Development Studies, Kolkata, November 3. Prof. Nilanjana Gupta presented a paper titled English Education: Then & Now at an international conference on Islam and English in India: Cultural, Literary, Pedagogic, Historical, Political and Philosophical Encounters, University of Hyderabad, September 4. Prof. Nilanjana Gupta presented a paper titled Taweej: Migrations in Colonial times at an international conference on Commodities and Migrations, New York University, December
5. Prof. Nilanjana Gupta made presentations at several conferences/seminars organized by colleges in West Bengal. 6. Abhijit Roy presented a paper titled (In)visible publics: Television and participatory cultures in India at the international seminar titled Cultural Studies in the Indian Context, Department of English and Cultural Studies, Panjab University, Chandigarh. March 2, 2012. 7. Dr. Iman Kalyan Lahiri presented a paper titled Terrorism in India: Some Implications at the UGC Sponsored National Seminar on Terrorsm, Jogesh Chandra Law College, Kolkata, December 9, 8. Amolina Ray presented a paper titled Community Radio: A tool for social change in India at the 37th All Indian Sociological Conference organized by Indian Sociological Society, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, December 11, This paper won the Best Abstract award in the Social Change and Development section of the conference. 9. Amolina Ray attended a one-day seminar on International Advocacy Consultation on Digitalization and Spectrum Issues organised by Commonwealth Educational Media Centre for Asia (Community Radio Facilitation Centre), Hotel Taj Ambassador, New Delhi, February 17, 2012. 10. Amolina Ray attended the 2 nd National Community Radio Sammelan organized by Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India, Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi, February 18-20, 2012. 11. Amolina Ray acted as a Consultant and Resource Person for the three day workshop on Community Radio Station Management and Sustainability Measures for Functional Stations in Bangladesh, organized by Commonwealth Educational Media Centre for Asia; Radio Mahananda, Chapai-Nawabganj, Bangladesh, March 27-29, 2012. G. Seminar/Workshop/Conference/Symposium Organized (Name of the Teacher, Name of the Paper Presented, if any, Name of the Seminar, Place, Duration): 1. Workshop on State and Democracy: Wikileaks and Beyond, in collaboration with Jadavpur Association of International Relations, Calcutta, December 12, 2. East Kolkata Wetlands: A 360 View, a seminar with film screening and discussion, showcasing the five films made by students of the university on East Kolkata Wetlands under the supervision of Prof. Sanjeev Chatterjee, University of Miami, as part of Fulbright-Nehru Visiting Lectureship programme. Birla Academy, Calcutta, December 16, 3. Baseline Survey and Capacity Building Workshop under the Science for Women s Health and Nutrition project for Community Radio, JU, in collaboration with Department of Science and Technology, Govt. of India. TEQIP building, Jadavpur University, December 17-22, 4. A two-day international conference on Sports and the Nation, in collaboration with the Centre for Advanced Studies, Department of English, H.L. Roy Auditorium, Jadavpur University, January 19-20, 2012. 5. Special Workshop on Representation of Children in the Media in collaboration with the UNICEF. Conclave, Calcutta. February 25, 2012.
6. A total of 5 workshops were organized under the Community Radio Child Radio Reporter project of the School. Current and prospective reporters, all children from mostly the underprivileged sections of the society, participated in these workshops. Professionals from various fields helped the participants acquire skills of reporting child issues and other relevant social issues for 90.8 Community RadioJU. Dates of the workshops: April 24, 2011, May 7, 2011, August 20-22, 2011, January 22, 2012, and January 29, 2012. 7. Two workshops were organized under the project Newsletter for Vikramshila Education Resource Society s Nabadisha Programme. The Peer-Assisted Learning (PAL) group of the project, comprising of 18 under-privileged children of the age of 8-14 years, were trained in these workshops for developing skills of writing, editing, publishing and bringing out a quarterly magazine for children. Dates of the workshops: May 27, 2011 and September 29, 8. A total of 5 workshops (one each on planning, fieldwork, scripting, shooting, postproduction) were held between July 28, 2011 and December 16, 2011, under the project titled East Kolkata Wetlands: A 360 View in which a group of Jadavpur University students worked towards researching and documenting the ecological value of East Kolkata Wetlands under the supervision of Prof. Sanjeev Chatterjee, University of Miami, as part of Fulbright- Nehru Visiting Lectureship Programme. The School of Media, Communication and Culture partnered with the United States-India Educational Foundation (USIEF) conducting the project and hosting Prof. Chatterjee for a period of 6 months (July-December, 2011). H. Orientation Courses/ Refresher Courses Attended (Name of the Teacher, Title of the Course, Duration, Place): I. Orientation Courses/ Refresher Courses Organized (Name of the Teacher, Title of the Course, if any, Duration, Place): 4. A. Books/ Monographs etc. Published (Name of the Teacher, Name of the Book, Name of the Publisher): 1. Locating Cultural Change: Theory, Method, Process, Editors: Partha Pratim Basu and Ipshita Chanda. Sage India, June, This is the outcome of one of the projects under the Cultural Processes segment of UPE (Phase-I) programme of Jadavpur University, affiliated to the School. C. Articles Published in Journals (Name of the Teacher, Name of the Articles, Name of the Journal, Date of Publication, Volume): 1. Partha Pratim Basu, Buddhism and Dalit Emancipation: A Study of Tagore and Ambedkar, Perception, Vol. 3, 2. Partha Pratim Basu, Minority Rights in India: A View from the Regional Press in Partha Pratim Basu and Ipshita Chanda (eds), Locating Cultural Change: Theory, Method, Process, Sage, New Delhi, June, 3. Partha Pratim Basu, The Indo-Bangla Enclaves and a Disinherited People, Jadavpur Journal of International Relations, Vol. 15,
4. Dalia Chakrabarti, Social Impact Assessment: Plea for a Broadband Approach, Jadavpur University Journal of Sociology, Vol.4, no.4, June 5. Dalia Chakrabarti, Medical Advertisement: An embodiment of culture, in Basu and Chanda (eds.) Locating Cultural Change: Theory, Method, Process, Sage Publications. June, 6. Dalia Chakrabarti, Keeping the Folk Together: Tactics of Mobilization in Changed Circumstances, Jadavpur University Journal of Sociology, Vol. 5, February 2012. 7. Nilanjana Gupta, Just for fun: Changing Notions of Social Forms of Leisure in Locating Cultural Change: Theory, Method, Process ed. Partha Pratim Basu & Ipshita Chanda: Sage, June, 8. Abhijit Roy, Jassi Jaissi Koi Nahin and the Makeover of Indian Soaps in Locating Cultural Change: Theory, Method, Process ed. Partha Pratim Basu and Ipshita Chanda, Sage India, New Delhi, June, 9. Ipshita Chanda, Kya humne pehley kabhi yahan aye hai: Returning to the Indian in Indian cinema through Farah Khan s Om Shanti Om in Locating Cultural Change : Theory Method Process, eds. Partha Pratim Basu and Ipshita Chanda, Sage, June, 2011 10. Ipshita Chanda, Longitudinal Study on the Implementation of Community Radio Policy and Establishment in Bangladesh, a report commissioned by Commonwealth of Learning, Canada, August, http://dspace.col.org/bitstream/123456789/453/1/progevalreport_cemca_commradio _Bangladesh_pdf 11. Ipshita Chanda, An Intermedial Reading of Paley's Sita Sings the Blues in Comparative Literature and Culture Web Volume 13 Issue 3 (September 2011) Article 12 <http://docs.lib.purdue.edu/clcweb/vol13/iss3/12> 12. Rajdeep Roy. Bollywood and the Mumbai Underworld: Reading Satya in Retrospect in Partha Pratim Basu & Ipshita Chanda eds. Locating Cultural Change: Theory, Method, Process, Sage India, June, 5. Collaborative Programmes: 1. Two workshops were organized under the project Newsletter for Vikramshila Education Resource Society s Nabadisha Programme. The Peer-Assisted Learning (PAL) group of the project, comprising of 18 under-privileged children of the age of 8-14 years, were trained in these workshops for developing skills of writing, editing, publishing and bringing out Dhitang, a quarterly magazine for children. Dates of the workshops: May 27, 2011 and September 29, 2. A total of 5 workshops (one each on planning, fieldwork, scripting, shooting, postproduction) were held between July 28, 2011 and December 16, 2011, under the project titled East Kolkata Wetlands: A 360 View in which a group of Jadavpur University students worked towards researching and documenting the ecological value of East Kolkata Wetlands
under the supervision of Prof. Sanjeev Chatterjee, University of Miami, as part of Fulbright- Nehru Visiting Lectureship Programme. The School of Media, Communication and Culture partnered with the United States-India Educational Foundation (USIEF) conducting the project and hosting Prof. Chatterjee for a period of 6 months (July-December, 2011). 3. Workshop on State and Democracy: Wikileaks and Beyond, in collaboration with Jadavpur Association of International Relations, Calcutta, December 12, 4. East Kolkata Wetlands: A 360 View, a seminar with film screening and discussion, showcasing the five films made by students of the university on East Kolkata Wetlands under the supervision of Prof. Sanjeev Chatterjee, University of Miami, as part of Fulbright-Nehru Visiting Lectureship programme. Birla Academy, Calcutta, December 16, 5. Baseline Survey and Capacity Building Workshop under the Science for Women s Health and Nutrition project for Community Radio, JU, in collaboration with Department of Science and Technology, Govt. of India. TEQIP building, Jadavpur University, December 17-22, 6. A two-day international conference on Sports and the Nation, in collaboration with the Centre for Advanced Studies, Department of English, H.L. Roy Auditorium, Jadavpur University, January 19-20, 2012. 7. A total of 5 workshops were organized under the Community Radio Child Radio Reporter project of the School. Current and prospective reporters, all children from mostly the underprivileged sections of the society, participate in these workshops. Professionals from various fields help the participants acquire skills of reporting child issues and other relevant social issues for 90.8 Community RadioJU. The dates of the workshops are: April 24, 2011, May 7, 2011, August 20-22, 2011, January 22, 2012, and January 29, 2012. 8. Special Workshop on Representation of Children in the Media in collaboration with the UNICEF. Conclave, Calcutta, February 25, 2012. 9. A number of BBC radio programmes were broadcast on 90.8 Community RadioJU as part of an agreement of RadioJU with BBC, London. 6. Major Achievements: 1) The programme Para Diary under the UNICEF project Child Radio Reporter has won the National Community Radio Award, 2012 (3 rd prize) for most creative/innovative programme content. The announcement was made at the National Community Radio Sammelan in New Delhi on February 18, 2012. 2) A website (http://kolkatawetlands.org) to promote understanding of the ecological and social value of the East Kolkata Wetlands (EKW) was launched in December, 2011, as part of the project East Kolkata Wetlands: A 360 View. This was a collaborative project of the School with the Fulbright-Nehru Visiting Lectureship programme. The website, since its launch, has generated widespread interactivity among scholars and users of EKW, enriching the current discourses on wetlands, environment and ecology.
3) Two issues (issue no. 2, April 2011, and issue no.3, September 2011) of Dhitang, a print magazine produced by under-privileged children of Calcutta studying in informal schools, were published. The school trained a group of children for this endeavor and helped Vikramshila Education Resource Society, Calcutta, publish the magazine.