JMI organizes online lecture by UCLA Professor Douglas Kellner
New Delhi. : The Department of English, Jamia Millia Islamia (JMI), organized the eleventh lecture of the Distinguished Lecture Series, “Culture Studies and Media Culture” by Prof. Douglas Kellner, Distinguished Research Professor of Education, UCLA, on Tuesday, 16th November, 2021.
Prof. Simi Malhotra, H.o.D., Department of English, JMI, Indian PI, delivered the welcome address, greeting the invited speaker, faculty, scholars, and students. She briefed about the lecture series and SPARC, “Scheme for Promotion of Academic and Research Collaboration” which aims to facilitate academic and research collaboration between higher education institutes in India and abroad. She, then, introduced the esteemed speaker, Prof. Douglas Kellner, who was greeted by a round of applause.
Through his lecture, Prof Kellner discussed how media culture is best grasped when seen as a contested terrain. Prof Kellner gave an overview of the long line of negotiation that media culture has undergone, beginning from oral culture to print literacy culminating in the growth of the book as global technology. Citing Marshall McLuhan, who anticipates a third stage of electronic culture, Prof Kellner demonstrated how all stories, myths and cultural battles today are contested in the media. Where on the one hand media culture affirms fascist and racist leaders, alternatively it also produces critiques of racism and fascism. In conclusion, he underscored the significance of critical media, digital literacy and consequent alternative modes of engagement.
The talk was conducted by, Ms. Zahra Rizvi, Ms. Shraddha A. Singh and Ms. Suman Bhagchandani, Ph.D. scholars, Department of English, JMI, and was enthusiastically attended by a large crowd of scholars, students, and faculty from all over the world and across various time-zones.
Supported by the Scheme for Promotion of Academic and Research Collaboration (SPARC), Ministry of Education, Government of India, the talk was organized as part of the ongoing academic collaboration with the Department of English and American Studies, University of Würzburg, Germany, and promises to be one in a line of successively pertinent lectures.
An engaging, in-depth Q/A session was organised after the talk which was coordinated by Ms. Sakshi Dogra, Ph.D. Scholar, Department of English, JMI. The event was brought to an end with a Vote of Thanks by Ms. Zahra Rizvi. To ensure a wide range of viewership and participation, the event was also live streamed on YouTube, and was attended by over a hundred participants
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