COMMColloquium

Identity at the Limits of Representation

Aswin Punathambekar, Distinguished Lecturer, Professor, University of Pennsylvania

3 pm in 102 Mann

Reception to follow in the Hub

Given the continual and savvy recognition by the state and the media industries of various kinds of social and cultural difference, how should we approach breakthroughs in media representation? If racism in Western, multi-ethnic societies operates in the context of increased, not less, visibility, how do we make representation matter anew? I approach these questions by focusing attention on how Muslimness in Western television entertainment is being reimagined in the context of new industrial logics and techno-cultural possibilities enabled by streaming video services and social media platforms. Taking stock of shows including Ms Marvel (Disney+), Ramy (Hulu), Man Like Mobeen (BBC/Netflix), and We Are Lady Parts (Channel 4/Peacock), this talk will develop an account of diasporic worldmaking that captures marginalized communities’ deeply felt desires for being seen and heard, the representational moves that media workers are crafting, and the translocal networks that diasporic media professionals are forging in order to imagine and produce new cultural worlds.

Aswin Punathambekar is a Professor of Communication at the University of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg School for Communication, and Director of the Center for Advanced Research in Global Communication (CARGC). His work explores media and cultural change in postcolonial and diasporic contexts, with a focus on media industries and institutions, formations of audiences and publics, and cultural identity and politics. He takes cultural and historical approaches to studying global media and communication with focus on South Asia, the U.S., and the U.K. He has authored and edited several books including A Mobile Popular: Media, Culture, and Politics in Digital India (forthcoming, NYU Press) and Planet Digital (co-edited with Adrienne Shaw and Jonathan Gray, forthcoming from NYU Press), and Media Industry Studies (Polity). He is now shifting attention to a new book project, provisionally titled Television and British Asian Culture: From Broadcasting to Streaming Media.

arch 3

CRICKET AND THE IDEA OF INDIA

‘Cricket is an Indian game accidentally discovered by the English’, it has famously been said. Today, the Indian cricket team is a powerful national symbol, a unifying force in a country riven by conflicts. But India was represented by a cricket team long before it became an independent nation.

My lecture tells the extraordinary story of how the ‘idea of India’ emerged on the cricket field in the high noon of empire. Conceived by an unlikely coalition of colonial and local elites, it took twelve years and three failed attempts before a representative Indian cricket team made its debut on the playing fields of imperial Britain in 1911.

This historic tour, which took place against the backdrop of revolutionary protest in the Edwardian era, featured an improbable cast of characters. The team’s young captain was Maharaja Bhupinder Singh, the embattled ruler of Patiala. The other cricketers were chosen on the basis of their religious identity. Remarkably, for the day, two of the players belonged to a community denigrated as ‘Untouchable’.

Over the course of a blazing Coronation summer, these long-forgotten Indian heroes participated in a collective enterprise that epitomizes how sport— and above all cricket—helped fashion the imagined communities of both empire and nation.

Come to the LRC to practice your language skills and meet new people. Conversation Hours provide an opportunity to use the target language in an informal, low-pressure atmosphere. Have fun practicing a language you are learning! Gain confidence through experience! Just using your new language skills helps you learn more than you might think. Conversation Hours are open to any learner, including the public.

Join us to learn about opportunities for undergraduate students with the Einaudi Center for International Studies! This session will discuss how to successfully apply for programs like Global Internships and Laidlaw Scholars, and how to discover or strengthen global interests, including academic minors, weekly seminars, and language study.

Can't attend? Email programs@einaudi.cornell.edu for more information.