Gamifying Elections - A Case Study of Android ‘Games’ and Digital Propaganda in the Run-Up to the 2014 General Elections in the World’s Largest Democracy

Abstract

The  2014  General  Elections  in  India  have  seen  an  unprecedented  blitz  of  media propaganda, which has, given the growing access to digital media with the rise of smartphones  and  cheaper  computers,  spilled  into  new  media.  With  a  general atmosphere akin to that of gladiatorial games, it is not surprising to find a slew of android   application   which   encourages   people   to   cheer   for   their   favourite contenders. The run  up to the elections has seen a prolific use of digital media, online videos, photographs etc, extensive use of social networking sites and so on. The paper will look at the digital media  and games and try to decode how they are aimed at influencing voters. The contention is that rather in the spirit of the Roman  gladiatorial  games,  which  were  aimed  at  shifting  public  focus  from immediate  issues  and  calm  the  populace,  the  new  media  blitz,  alongwith  the gamifying  component  has  been  successful  in  shifting  focus  to  new  age  hero figures,  ‘Mahayodhas’,  and  the  competing  policies  and  ideologies  have  been brushed under the carpet.

Speaker: Siddhartha Chakraborti

Research Scholar, CES, SLL&CS, JNU

Venue:  Committee Room, Central Library, JNU

Date and Time: 6^th September 2014 (Saturday), 4:00 pm

"Folk Performance” from an Ethnocentric to an Aesthetico-political Understanding

Abstract

On part of the mutual learning program, this paper would like to familiarize audience with some of the key debates around “folk performance” in India. Most often, such performance is viewed from an ethnocentric perspective which not only denies its political dimensions but also obfuscates its artistic and aesthetic factors. Indeed, folk performances have both an artistic and a political dimension and both go together in its creative process. The aesthetico-political framework attempts to reconcile both these elements together in its understanding of folk performance and its broader connection with culture and society. Thinking through language, landscape, rhythm, body and movement, this paper would like to discuss the aesthetic and the politics of Indian folk performance and its ongoing appropriation in corporate cultural industries and marginalization in academic discourses. The paper suggests that Indian folk performance is not a homogenous category, and therefore, the hierarchies within the folk society also need to be recognized.

                                 Speaker: Dr. Brahma Prakash

School of Arts and Aesthetics, JNU

Venue:  Committee Room, Central Library, JNU

Date and Time: 17^th April 2014 (Thursday), 4:30 pm

Whatever happened to the Rupee

Abstract

Since early May 2013, there has been a significant fall in the value of the Rupee vis-a-vis the Dollar leading to a historic low at 67 rupees per dollar a few days back. US Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's statement appears to have caused a free fall in the value of the rupee, or so the RBI would have us believe. But the Indian Rupee has been falling in value quite consistently since August 2011. What are the factors behind this free fall? Are they domestic or are they international? Could it have been controlled? Can it at least now be controlled? These are a few questions that this talk would attempt to discuss. 

Speaker:  Dr. Rohit, Assistant Professor, CESP, JNU

Venue:  SSS-I Committee Room, JNU

Date and Time: 12^th September 2013 (Thursday), 4:00 pm

Celluloid Cinephilia: Film Society Cultures in India

Abstract

 This paper intends to narrate the unexplored history of the film society movement in India. It is an attempt to revisit a moment of organized cinephilia that was primarily centered on the appreciation of International and Indian art cinemas as well as the Indian New Wave movement. The period from the early 1960s through the 1970s is referred to as the high moment of such cultural activity marked by debates on the art and craft of cinema, institutional support from the government combined with increasing success in terms of screenings and memberships, which eventually waned out by the mid 1980s.  By examining the inception histories of significant film societies of the movement, specifically from Calcutta, Delhi, Bombay, Patna and Bangalore, this paper will map the collaborations and networks through which films were accessed, circulated and viewed as an alternative to the prevalent mainstream cinemas. Looking at stories and memories of film society members, this paper argues that the circulation of the celluloid film object and peoples’ experiences around it were as crucial to the momentum of the film society movement as the content of the alternative cinemas that was preferred. Therefore, this paper uses the prism of cinephilia to generate the variant film cultures engendered by film societies as they endeavored to make meaning of cinema and its relationship to modern society.

     Speaker:  

Abhija Ghosh, Research Scholar, Cinema Studies, SAA, JNU

Venue:  Committee Room, JNU Central Library

Date and Time: 22^nd March 2013 (Friday), 4:30 pm