This webinar in the series “De-Westernising Media Literacy: Perspectives on Pedagogies, Practices and Theories of Media Education” will focus on India and its current media literacy landscape.
Media Literacy in India
15:00–16:00 p.m. CET (“Scandinavian time”), see time zone map
No pre-registration. The link to the webinar room will be available below on the webinar day.
Participants are kindly asked to keep their microphones closed and leave their questions to the chat. Selected questions are answered after each presentation.
Programme
Welcome (Maarit Jaakkola, Nordicom) (5 min), see slides
Keval J. Kumar: Media and Information Literacy in India: Public Policy and Private Initiative (10 min + Q & A)
Manisha Pathak-Shelat and Saesha Kini: Support Systems for Digital Engagement: Insights from Recent research (10 min + Q & A), see slides
Brian D. Hanley: Media Literacy in India: Empowering Communities (10 min + Q & A), see slides
News and announcements, wrap-up (5 min)
Speakers
Keval J. Kumar is Adjunct Faculty at the Mudra Institute of Communications Ahmedabad (MICA). Earlier, he was Reader at Pune University, Director of SIMC, and Founder-Director of Resource Centre for Media Education and Research. He is the author of Mass Communication in India (5th edition), Media Education, Communication and Public Policy and has contributed to Wiley’s International Encyclopaedia of Media Literacy and The Handbook of Media Education Research. He was chair of the media education section of IAMCR from 1998 to 2006 and Chief Adviser to NCERT for media studies in 2004. His research interests include communication theory, cultural studies, political communication and religious communication.
Manisha Pathak-Shelat is Professor at the Mudra Institute of Communications Ahmedabad (MICA). Prof. Manisha Pathak-Shelat has taught and worked as a media consultant and researcher in India, Thailand, and the US. She has a Ph.D. in Mass Communication with a minor in Gender and Women’s Studies from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA and in Education from the Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, India. Her research interests are media and information literacy, communication for social change, gender, young people’s media cultures, new media, civic engagement, and transcultural citizenship. She has shared her research globally as guest speaker and through her books, journal papers and book chapters. Her recent books include Raising a humanist: Conscious parenting in an increasingly fragmented world; Handbook of Media Education Research- an edited volume and Challenging discriminatory practices of religious socialisation among adolescents- Critical media literacy and pedagogies in practice. Awards and fellowships include The Soviet Land Nehru Award, Shastri Indo-Canadian Faculty Research Award, The Salzburg Seminar Fellowship, TATA Fellowship for the Study of Contemporary India, MICA AGK Award for meritorious service, and the lifetime achievement award for contribution to media and communication education by the Global Media Education Council.
Saesha Kini is a doctoral scholar at the Mudra Institute of Communications Ahmedabad (MICA). She has a degree in Communication with a specialism in media and journalism. Her research interests include new media communication, fat studies, new materialism, and children and youth media practices. She was awarded a Sahapedia Fellowship for her archival work on children’s television in India.
Brian Hanley is Regional Director for Internews, where he leads media development programs in more than 10 countries. As a senior professional, he has over 25 years of experience – including nearly 15 years in Asia – in foreign policy and development practice, providing technical and managerial leadership in civil, political, economic, social and cultural development. At Internews, Brian oversees strategic leadership and management of the Asia-Pacific portfolio in more than 15 countries, supervising a diverse team of more than 150 staffs across the region. Brian has a cat and speaks Tetum thanks to his days working in Timor Leste.
Webinar Recording
The recording will be added here after the webinar.
Links and Further Readings
Academic Literature
A) Books
Arora, P. (2019). The Next Billion Users: Digital Life Beyond the West. Harvard University Press.
Bhatia, K. V., & Pathak-Shelat, M. (2019). Challenging Discriminatory Practices of Religious Socialization among Adolescents: Critical Media Literacy and Pedagogies in Practice. Palgrave Macmillan.
Pathak-Shelat, M., & Bhatia, K. (2021). Raising a Humanist: Conscious Parenting in an Increasingly Fragmented World. Sage.
Silverblatt, A. (2014). Media Literacy: Keys to Interpreting Media Messages. Praeger.
B) Papers
Bhatia, K. V., Arora, P., & Pathak-Shelat, M. (2021). Good Girls Don’t Go Online: Unpacking the Quotidian Playful Resilience Influencing Girls’ Social and Digital Engagements. International Journal of Communication, 15, 19.
Kumar, Keval, J. (2019). Media Literacy in India. In: The International Encyclopedia of Media Literacy. Wiley Online Library.
https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118978238.ieml0152
Purani, G. M., & Lathangi, R. (2016). Examining Media Education in India. International Journal of Research and Review, 3(4), 62–65.
Sarwatay, D., Raman, U., & Ramasubramanian, S. (2021). Media Literacy, Social Connectedness, and Digital Citizenship in India: Mapping Stakeholders on How Parents and Young People Navigate a Social World. Frontiers in Human Dynamics, 3.
Organizations and Initiatives
Digital Empowerment Foundation
The Media Literacy Network FactShala
Follow these media educators in social media
#mediaeducationinindia – screenshots from a webinar on Indian media education (2021) by the Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC)
Do you have any further suggestions of users on Twitter and Instagram or some relevant hashtags to follow? Please mail us at editors@nordmedianetwork.org!
