News & Events

February 7 - 9, 2019  - Call for Papers

Abstract Submission | Registration Form

Department of Media and Communication Studies, housed in the Science and Technology faculty at Savitribai Phule Pune University offers M.Sc., M.Phil. and Ph.D. in Media and Communication Studies. Founded in 1990, the Department has promoted innovative research in media and communication studies, combining a variety of theoretical and methodological approaches. In the last few years the Department has organised various national conferences on themes such as Technology, Communication & Culture, Metamorphosis of New Media & Digital Culture, Changing Media & Changing Audiences, Questioning Community Radio in India and Historicizing Indian Television Post 1990.

Speakers for the conference:

1. Tejaswini Ganti - New York University
2. Shakuntala Banaji - London School of Economics
3. SV Srinivas - Azim Premji University, India
4. Richard W. Allen - City University of Hong Kong
5. Madhava Prasad - English and Foreign Languages University (EFLU), India
6. Swarnavel Eswaran - Michigan State University

More details with schedule of conference, and speaker bios and paper titles - To be announced on 26th January 2018.

Considering the growing global interest in Indian cinema- both as practice and an academic domain- Department has decided to incorporate it as an additional domain of its academic focus. Consequently, a post graduate diploma on ‘Indian Film Studies’ was launched earlier this year to provide an exclusive programme on Indian cinema and examine its location in contemporary socio-political and cultural formations within the media studies With the turn of the new millennium, Indian cinema has seen a slew of changes. The scholarship centring on Indian films and its audiences has also evolved in tandem with these changes.

Contemporary Indian Cinema incorporates a range of practices which are shaped by diverse aesthetic, technological, cultural and geographical contexts. Although the threads of identity that constitute the rich tapestry of contemporary Indian cinema are manifold but several strands are at risk of elision or obscurity due to the dominance of a few. Acknowledging that the identity of contemporary Indian cinema is shaped by a few dominant forms of cinemas, it is important to recognize several other forms of cinema that run parallel to the dominant discourse. It is also necessary to recognize that Indian cinema post 2000 is not hermetically sealed from the past, or from several other social and cultural contexts that might not be strictly deemed ‘Indian’.

It is in the backdrop of these slippages and ruptures as well as contestations and consolidations, the Department aims to intervene in key debates on ‘Indian Cinema’ within the scholarship of media studies by turning a critical lens on Indian cinema of the new millennium i.e. post 2000. It proposes to examine its aesthetic, cultural, political and technological underpinnings. We endeavour to explore the problematic associated with its definition, and examine the various currents and counter currents that exist in Indian Cinema from the turn of the new millennium.

In addition to, and as an extension of, this impetus, the Department is organising an International Conference from 7-9 February, 2019 that aims to address various dimensions of Indian Cinema under the title ‘Contemporary Indian Cinema: Contestations and Consolidations’ (CCC 2019). This conference is organised in collaboration with the National Film Archive of India, Pune, India.

We are inviting submissions that enumerate upon the shifting ground of the discourse around contemporary Indian Cinema. We propose an intense engagement with the politics of uptake and the critical value of knowledge production specific to contemporary Indian cinema as wide-ranging field.This conference intends to mark the new direction in laying the groundwork for a new research platform that will engage with, and intervene in, the ever-shifting topographies of Indian Film Studies.

Possible areas of inquiry include but are not limited to:

* Distribution/circulation/(in)formal economies of contemporary Indian films
* Anthropological and Ethnographic approaches to film and media
* Infrastructure and logistics of Indian films
* Political geographies and Indian Cinema
* Labour and film industries in India
* Aesthetic influences on contemporary Indian cinema
* Mainstream and parallel cinema and the erasure of boundary lines
* Construction of the nation-state in Indian cinema
* Politics of language in Indian cinema
* The shifting politics of realism in contemporary Indian cinema
* Sexuality and gender in contemporary Indian cinema
* Trends in current Indian cinema
* Cities and small towns in Indian cinema
* Changing technological practices
* Music, Songs and Dance in contemporary Indian cinema
* Indian Cinema’s negotiations with modernity
* Biopics and their many forms
* Archival Practices of Indian Cinema

Guidelines for Abstract Submission

Abstracts should be between 300 and 500 words and must be submitted through email to dmcs.icon@gmail.com, by 18th December 2018. A brief bio of the paper presenter (100-150 words) which includes full name, institutional affiliation and contact details should be submitted along with the abstract. Download the abstract submission form here.

Submitted abstracts will be evaluated by peer review committee on the basis of significance of topic, originality, theoretical contribution, methods and quality of writing.

Registration Fees:

* Masters, M. Phil. and Ph.D. Students - Rs. 1500
* Faculty Members, Freelancers, Industry Professionals - Rs. 3000
* Foreign Nationals - Rs. 6000
We regret to inform that no accommodation will be provided for the participants.

Demand Draft (DD) of the applicable amount should be drawn in favour of The Finance and Accounts Officer, Savitribai Phule Pune University and should be sent along with the registration form.

Deadlines and Important Dates

18 December 2018 - Deadline to submit abstracts
22 December 2018 - List of abstract selected will be announced
20 January 2019 - Last day for conference registration
25 January 2019 - Deadline for full paper submission
2 February 2019 - Announcement of the draft conference schedule
7-9 February 2019: CCC-2019 International Conference

We look forward to your engagement with our endeavour.

Madhavi Reddy
Conference Convener
Email: madhavirk@unipune.ac.in / emailtomadhavi@gmail.com

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