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CSLG organises a seminar by Aasim Khan

CSLG organises a seminar by Aasim Khan

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CSLG organises a seminar by Aasim Khan
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CENTRE FOR THE STUDY OF LAW AND GOVERNANCE

Jawaharlal Nehru University

 

SEMINAR SERIES

 

AASIM KHAN

 

 Assistant Professor, Department of Social Sciences and Humanities, Indraprastha Institute of Information Technology (IIIT-Delhi)

On

 

From Autonomy to Anonymity: Information technology policy and new media politics in Indian democracy

 

 Abstract

 

The prominence of information and communications technology (ICTs) in defining India’s media modernity can be gauged by the growing reach of online social media as well as continuing expansion of digital media channels and satellite broadcasting even in the early 21st Century. Policies concerning information technologies, from telegraph to satellite networks, have also been central to media politics and with the rise of new media, internet related policies have similarly become a pivotal question in Indian democracy. Drawing from a comparative media system perspective, this paper argues that while there has been no major constitutional or legal overhaul, as yet, new ideas and information technology policy activism are reshaping the contours of state action and ‘autonomy’ of the press in the country.

 

Comparing technology policy debates in an earlier era, when satellite networks swept across Indian media system, with the more recent deliberations around the liabilities for digital intermediaries, the paper unpacks the nature of change and locates its origins in the changing structures of policy deliberations and institutions since the early 2000s. Technology related ideas, the paper argues, now serve as institutions, able to function as a ‘coordinating discourse’ (Schmidt 2008) that have revived ideals of an autonomous media. Technology inflected ideas of anonymity also counter the ‘communicative discourse’ (ibid) of cultural nationalism which structured media autonomy in the ascendant phase of print and electronic media capitalism until the 1990s.

 

3.00 PM, Thursday, 14 February 2019

 

Conference Room, CSLG, JNU

 

About the Speaker: Aasim Khan is Assistant Professor (Social Sciences) at the Department of Social Science and Humanities, IIIT-Delhi. He completed his PhD in Politics and Public Policy (Contemporary India) from King's College London. Dr Khan holds an MA from the AJK Mass Communication Research Center, Jamia Millia Islamia and an MA from the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. His research themes concern the rise of new media and digital technology and their implications for politics, policy and more broadly democracy in contemporary world.

 

 PLEASE JOIN US FOR TEA AFTER THE SEMINAR

ALL ARE WELCOME

 

 

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.