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CSSS organises a talk by Sangeet Kumar

CSSS organises a talk by Sangeet Kumar

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CSSS organises a talk by Sangeet Kumar
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Centre for the Study of Social Systems

School of Social Sciences

 

CSSS Colloquium

 

Sangeet Kumar

 (Associate Professor, Department of Communication, Denison University, USA)

 

Will be presenting a paper on

 

 The Cultural Power of Conventions on the Global Web

 

Date & Time: April 19th, 2018 (Thursday), 3.00 pm

Venue: Convention Centre - Room No: 108

 

Abstract: The global adoption and growth of the Internet and the subsequent rise of digital media cultures has spawned an ever-widening field of scholarship about the ways in which it is transforming all aspects of the human condition. Like all media technologies before it, the rise of the global web has been accompanied both by morbid prognostications about its damaging consequences as well celebratory narratives about a cyber-utopia of seamless communication, frictionless global solidarity and participatory democracy. This presentation will navigate these conversations in order to consider the nature of cultural power on the global web. As a media technology with a novel architecture of a distributed network, the effects of the global adoption of the web have arguably been unprecedented both in its speed and scale as well as in the wide-ranging aspects of social life it has transformed. The architecture that makes its effects so elusive and enduring also poses challenges for critical scholars interested in understanding the nature of power on the global digital network. Through analyzing specific case studies in the realm of knowledge, subjectivity and sovereignty, the goal is to showcase how the web has emerged arguably as the most effective instrument of global cultural power historically. In probing the consequence of that power, this presentation will try to imagine what a truly representative global digital network would look like. 

 

Bio: Sangeet Kumar is Associate Professor in the Department of Communication at Denison University, USA. His current research interests focus on the dynamics of power and agency on digital platforms to understand how their affordances shape and constrain the evolution of culture and new modalities of power. His recent research has appeared in journals such as Information, Communication and Society, International Journal of Communication, Popular Communication, and Global Media and Communication among others. He is currently finishing his book project tentatively titled The Digital Frontier that seeks to understand the operation of global cultural power on the Internet.

A warm welcome to the modified and updated website of the Centre for East Asian Studies. The East Asian region has been at the forefront of several path-breaking changes since 1970s beginning with the redefining the development architecture with its State-led development model besides emerging as a major region in the global politics and a key hub of the sophisticated technologies. The Centre is one of the thirteen Centres of the School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi that provides a holistic understanding of the region.

Initially, established as a Centre for Chinese and Japanese Studies, it subsequently grew to include Korean Studies as well. At present there are eight faculty members in the Centre. Several distinguished faculty who have now retired include the late Prof. Gargi Dutt, Prof. P.A.N. Murthy, Prof. G.P. Deshpande, Dr. Nranarayan Das, Prof. R.R. Krishnan and Prof. K.V. Kesavan. Besides, Dr. Madhu Bhalla served at the Centre in Chinese Studies Programme during 1994-2006. In addition, Ms. Kamlesh Jain and Dr. M. M. Kunju served the Centre as the Documentation Officers in Chinese and Japanese Studies respectively.

The academic curriculum covers both modern and contemporary facets of East Asia as each scholar specializes in an area of his/her interest in the region. The integrated course involves two semesters of classes at the M. Phil programme and a dissertation for the M. Phil and a thesis for Ph. D programme respectively. The central objective is to impart an interdisciplinary knowledge and understanding of history, foreign policy, government and politics, society and culture and political economy of the respective areas. Students can explore new and emerging themes such as East Asian regionalism, the evolving East Asian Community, the rise of China, resurgence of Japan and the prospects for reunification of the Korean peninsula. Additionally, the Centre lays great emphasis on the building of language skills. The background of scholars includes mostly from the social science disciplines; History, Political Science, Economics, Sociology, International Relations and language.

Several students of the centre have been recipients of prestigious research fellowships awarded by Japan Foundation, Mombusho (Ministry of Education, Government of Japan), Saburo Okita Memorial Fellowship, Nippon Foundation, Korea Foundation, Nehru Memorial Fellowship, and Fellowship from the Chinese and Taiwanese Governments. Besides, students from Japan receive fellowship from the Indian Council of Cultural Relations.