Aswin Punathambekar
Founding Director, Global Media Studies Initiative
Associate Professor, Department of Communication Studies
University of Michigan
5427 North Quad,105 S. State Street, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1285
Email: aswinp@umich.edu; Ph: 734-615-0949
sites.lsa.umich.edu/aswinp-new
Education
2007 Ph.D., Communication Arts (Media and Cultural Studies), University of Wisconsin-Madison
2003 M.S., Comparative Media Studies, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
2001 M.A., Journalism and Mass Communication, University of Georgia
1999 B.E., Mechanical Engineering, University of Allahabad
Research and Professional Experience
2015-present Founding Director, Global Media Studies Initiative
2015-2018 Associate Chair and Director of Graduate Studies, Department of Communication Studies, University of Michigan
2013-present Associate Professor, Department of Communication Studies, Univ. of Michigan
2007-2012 Assistant Professor, Department of Communication Studies, Univ. of Michigan
Journal Editorship
2018-present Editor, Media, Culture and Society.
2011-2016 Associate Editor, Media, Culture and Society.
Book Series Editor
2015-present Editor, Critical Cultural Communication series, New York University Press (with Jonathan Gray and Adrienne Shaw).
Scholarly Publications
Books
Punathambekar, A. (2013). From Bombay to Bollywood: The Making of a Global Media Industry. New York: New York University Press.
Edited Books
Global Digital Cultures: Perspectives from South Asia (with Sriram Mohan), forthcoming, University of Michigan Press, 2019.
Punathambekar, A. and Kumar, S. (Eds.) (2013), Television at Large in South Asia. London: Routledge.
Punathambekar, A. and Kavoori, A. (Eds.) (2008), Global Bollywood. New York: New York University Press.
Special Issue Journal Editor
Punathambekar A. and Kavada, A. (2015). Debating Big Data. Special issue of Media, Culture and Society (Vol 37, Issue 7, October 2015).
Punathambekar, A. and Scannell, P. (2013). Back to the Future: Media and Communication Studies in the 21st Century. Special issue of Media, Culture and Society (Vol. 35, Issue 1, January 2013).
Journal Articles
Punathambekar, A. and Mohan, S. (2017). A Sound Bridge: Listening for the Political in a Digital Age. International Journal of Communication. Available online, vol. 11, pp. 4610-4629. http://ijoc.org/index.php/ijoc/article/view/7060.
Punathambekar, A. and Sundar, P. (2016). The Time of Television: Broadcasting, Daily Life, and the New Indian Middle Class. Communication, Culture and Critique, vol. 10, no. 3, pp. 401-421.
Punathambekar, A. (2015). Satire, Elections, and Democratic Politics in Digital India. Television and New Media, vol. 16, no. 4, pp. 394-400.
Wolock, L. and Punathambekar, A. (2015). Race and Ethnicity in Post-Network American Television: From MTV-Desi to Outsourced. Television and New Media, vol. 16, no. 7, pp. 664-679.
Punathambekar, A. and Scannell, P. (2013). Back to the future: Media and Communication Studies in the 21st Century. Media, Culture and Society, vol. 35, no. 1, pp. 2-8.
Punathambekar, A. and Kumar, S. (2012). Television at large, South Asian History and Culture, 2012, vol. 3, no. 4, pp. 483-490 (with Shanti Kumar).
Punathambekar, A. (2010). From IndiaFM.com to Radio Ceylon: New media and the making of the Bombay film industry. Media, Culture and Society, 2010, vol. 32 (5): 841-857.
Punathambekar, A. (2010). Reality TV and participatory culture in India. Popular Communication: International Journal of Media and Culture, 2010, 8(4): 241-255.
Punathambekar, A. (2010). Ameen Sayani and Radio Ceylon: Notes towards a history of broadcasting and Bombay cinema. BioScope: South Asian Screen Studies, 2010, 1(2): 189-197.
Punathambekar, A. (2005). Bollywood in the Indian-American Diaspora: Mediating a Transitive Logic of Cultural Citizenship. International Journal of Cultural Studies, 2005, 8(2): 151-175.
Book Chapters
Punathambekar, A. (2017). Programming Bollywood: Media and the South Asian-American Diaspora, 1965-2015. In The Routledge Handbook of the Indian Diaspora (Eds.) Radha Hegde and Ajaya Sahoo, New York: Routledge.
Punathambekar, A. (2017). Becoming Bollywood: Industrial Identity in an Era of Reform. In Adrian Athique, Vibodh Parthasarathi, and S. V. Srinivas (Eds.), The Indian Media Economy. New Delhi: Oxford University Press.
Punathambekar A. (2016) Media and Globalization. In Laurie Ouellette and Jonathan Gray (Eds.), Keywords in Media Studies, New York: NYU Press.
Punathambekar, A. (2013). Authoring hype in Bollywood. In Jonathan Gray and Derek Johnson (Eds.), The Companion to Media Authorship (Malden, MA: Blackwell).
Punathambekar, A. (2013). Diasporic media in an age of global media capitals. In Karin Wilkins, Joseph Straubhaar, and Shanti Kumar (Eds.), New Agendas in Global Communication (New York: Routledge).
Punathambekar, A. (2010). “Reality TV and the making of mobile publics: The case of Indian Idol.” In Marwan Kraidy and Katherine Sender (Eds.), Real Worlds: Global Perspectives on the politics of Reality television (New York: Routledge). [Won Best Essay Award from the Society for Cinema and Media Studies, 2011-12].
Punathambekar, A. (2010). From Bihar to Manhattan: Bollywood and the Transnational Indian Family. In Michael Curtin and Hemant Shah (Eds.), Re-orienting Global Communications (Urbana: University of Illinois Press).
Punathambekar, A. (2008). Introduction: Global Bollywood. In Anandam Kavoori and Aswin Punathambekar (Eds.), Global Bollywood (New York: New York University Press).
Punathambekar, A. (2008). “We’re Online, Not on the Streets: Indian Cinema, New Media, and Participatory Culture.” In Anandam Kavoori and Aswin Punathambekar (Eds.), Global Bollywood (New York: New York University Press).
Punathambekar, A. (2007). “Between Rowdies and Rasikas: Rethinking Fan Activity in Indian Film Culture.” In Jonathan Gray, et al (Eds.), Fandom: Identities and Communities in a Mediated World (New York: New York University Press).
Punathambekar, A. (2005). “MSSRF’s Information Village Research Project, Pondicherry.” In Balaji Parthasarathy and Kenneth Keniston (Eds.), Information and Communications Technologies for Development: A Comparative Analysis of Impacts and Costs from India.
Punathambekar, A. “PCOs in Rural Tamilnadu: Yarns of a Different Kind from Tiruppur.” White paper written for the
Telecommunications & Computer Networks Group, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT)-Chennai, 2002.
Works in progress
“The Digital Popular: Media, Culture and Politics in India” (Co-authored Book project in progress). Proposal to be submitted by April 30, 2018 and full manuscript by December 2018.
Localizing YouTube: Language, Cultural Regions, and Digital Platforms (accept with revisions, International Journal of Cultural Studies).
The Indian Television Industry (book co-authored with Shanti Kumar, under contract for the International Screen Industries Series, Palgrave Macmillan).
ADMINISTRATIVE AND ACADEMIC EXPERIENCE
Founding Director, Global Media Studies Initiative
Conceptualized and launched a global media initiative involving 5 faculty members and 8 PhD students.
Obtained grant funding from International Institute for 3-years to support “Global Digital Cultures” project ($45,000).
Launched Doctoral Institute on Global Media and Communication (biennial) in collaboration with the Social Science Research Council ($25,000). In collaboration with Dr. Katherine Sender, University of Michigan.
Launched Book Workshop for First Time Authors working on manuscripts related to global media and communication (biennial). In collaboration with Dr. Derek Vaillant and Dr. Katherine Sender.
Supervising Post-Doctoral Fellowship in Global Media & Communication (AY 2018-20).
Working closely with department chair to obtain gift funds to make the initiative sustainable.
Associate Chair and Director of Graduate Studies, Communication Studies
Develop and oversee best practices for recruiting, retaining and supporting a diverse PhD student body. Review of the graduate program.
Develop programming to support professional development and enhance mentoring of minority graduate students. Coordinate efforts to collaborate with Minority Serving Institutions for PhD recruitment.
Graduate Student Recruitment and Diversity: Successfully managed admissions for 3 years and recruited a diverse group of PhD students. Served as the Faculty Ally for Diversity in Graduate Education and represented the interests of the Communication Studies department at the University level (Rackham).
Budget: Steward a graduate program budget of approx. $450,000 composed of general funds, block grants, and gift funds.
Personnel: Lead a committee composed of 2 faculty, 1 staff member, and 2 PhD students to coordinate admissions, degree certification, program review, student awards, conference funds, research funds, and other student services.
Executive Committee Member, Center for South Asian Studies (2011-present)
Administer FLAS (Foreign Language and Area Studies) grants and manage the Federal National Resource Center Title VI budget.
Oversee MA program admissions for South Asian Studies.
Organize annual conference focused on South Asia.
Research grants and awards
(2016-2019) Enterprise Grant from the International Institute, University of Michigan-Ann Arbor ($45,000).
Social Science Research Council Inter-Asia Program grant for Doctoral Institute on Global Media and Communication (Biennial, $5000).
(2016) Rackham Spring/Summer Research Award ($6000).
Outstanding Young Scholar Award, Popular Communication Division of the International Communication Association (2014-15).
(2013-16). Marsh Fellowship, Department of Communication Studies, University of Michigan-Ann Arbor ($30,000).
(2013-14). Social Science Research Council grant for Inter-Asia program in ‘Media, Activism and the New Political’ ($4500).
(2012). Best Essay in an edited collection, Society for Cinema and Media Studies, 2012 (‘Reality TV and the Making of Mobile Publics’)
(2010-11) Research grant from Center for International Business Education, University of Michigan-Ann Arbor, $2500.
(2008-09), Rackham Faculty Grant. University-wide grant competition, University of Michigan-Ann Arbor ($15000).
University of Wisconsin Graduate School Prize Fellowship, 2003-04 and 2005-06.
(2006). Pearce Award for Academic Excellence, Department of Communication Arts, University of Wisconsin- Madison.
(2004-05). Dissertation Research Grant, Center for South Asia, University of Wisconsin-Madison.
(2004). McCarty Pre-Dissertation Research Award, Department of Communication Arts, University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Digital Academic Publications
“On the Ordinariness of Participatory Culture.” Symposium piece for special issue on Fan Activism, In Henry Jenkins and Sangita Shresthova (Eds.), Transformative Works and Cultures (vol. 10, 2012). http://journal.transformativeworks.org/index.php/twc/article/view/378
“A Conversation” (with Rohit Chopra and Manan Ahmed), in Seminar: A Country of Our Own, Issue no. 632, April 2012. http://www.india-seminar.com/2012/632/632_conversation.htm.
Indian Idol and Flash Fandom. In Media Res, Media Commons, November 2007.
A Family Drama: Television and the Fight for the National Family. In Media Res, Media Commons, April 2008.
What brown cannot do for you: MTV-Desi, diasporic youth culture, and the limits of television. FLOW, Vol.10, Issue 2. http://flowtv.org/?p=4028.
Television, participatory culture, and politics: the case of Indian Idol. FLOW, Vol. 10, Issue 5, http://flowtv.org/?p=4182
Colombo Calling: Radio Ceylon and Bombay cinema’s “national audience. FLOW, Vol. 10, Issue 8. http://flowtv.org/?p=4303
Works in Progress
The Indian Television Industry (book co-authored with Shanti Kumar, under contract for the International Screen Industries Series, Palgrave Macmillan).
“Programming Culture: Media and the Indian Diaspora, 1965-2015” (with Lia Wolock, invited contribution to Routledge Handbook on the Indian Diaspora, eds. Radha Hegde and Ajay Sahoo, New Delhi: Routledge).
“Mobile Publics: Media, Popular Culture, and Politics in Digital India” (Book project in progress).
Research Grants and Awards
Best Young Scholar Award, 2014, Popular Communication Division, International Communication Association.
(2013-16). Marsh Research Grant, Department of Communication Studies, University of Michigan-Ann Arbor ($30,000).
(2013-14). Social Science Research Council grant for Inter-Asia program in Media, Activism and the New Political ($4500).
(2012). Best Essay in an edited collection, Society for Cinema and Media Studies, 2012 (‘Reality TV and the Making of Mobile Publics’)
(2010-11), Research grant from Center for International Business Education, University of Michigan-Ann Arbor, $2500.
(2008-09), Rackham Faculty Grant. University-wide grant competition, University of Michigan-Ann Arbor ($15000).
University of Wisconsin Graduate School Prize Fellowship, 2003-04 and 2005-06.
(2006). Pearce Award for Academic Excellence, Department of Communication Arts, University of Wisconsin- Madison.
(2004-05). Dissertation Research Grant, Center for South Asia, University of Wisconsin-Madison.
(2004). McCarty Pre-Dissertation Research Award, Department of Communication Arts, University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Invited lectures/presentations
Listening for the Political: Public Culture, Sound, and Citizenship in Digital India. Invited lecture at Arizona State University, October 2017.
Re-Imagining Global Worlds: Media, Culture and Identity in the 21st Century. Keynote lecture at the “Media and Public Diplomacy” conference at Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, June 2017.
Visual Culture and Democratic Politics: Inter-Asian Perspectives. Invited lecture at Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, June 2017.
Reorienting Digital Studies: Globalization and the Futures of Media Studies. Invited lecture at Fudan University, Shanghai, June 2017.
Sound Clouds: Listening and Citizenship in Indian Public Culture. Keynote lecture at “Sounds of South Asia” conference at Northwestern University, April 14, 2017.
Mobile Publics: Media Audiences in Digital India. Lecture at Asian Studies Lecture Series at Bowling Green State University, April 2016.
Raging Soundbytes: Listening for the Political in Digital India. Lecture at “Sounds of South Asia” symposium at Northwestern University, February 12, 2016.
Politics after YouTube: Satire, everyday life, and political culture in digital India. Lecture at the Department of Communication, Boston College, April 2015.
Becoming Bollywood: Industrial Identity in an Era of Reform. Presented at conference on “India at Leisure,” Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi, February 2015.
Politics after YouTube: Digital Media and the Reshaping of Indian Public Culture. Presentation at conference on Media Activism, Social Science Research Council, University of Pennsylvania, September 2014.
On murderous and other kinds of rage: Participatory culture and politics in an age of globalization. Global Studies Seminar series, Denison University, April 2012.
Diasporic media in an age of media capitals. Department of Culture and Communication, Drexel University, September 2011.
Television, Participatory Culture, and Politics: The case of Indian Idol. Scholarly lecture series at The International Institute and the Center for South Asian Studies, University of Michigan, November 2009.
After Bollywood: Diasporic media in an age of media capitals. Symposium on New Agendas in Global Communications Research, Department of Radio-TV-Film, University of Texas-Austin, October 2009.
Looking L.A., Talking Bombay: Bollywood and the new media world. Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication, University of Georgia, April 2009.
From IndiaFM.com to Radio Ceylon: new media and the making of Bollywood. Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania, September 2008.
Conference presentations
YouTube Regions: Producing South India Through Online Video. Paper presented at the annual conference of the International Communication Association, San Diego, May 2017.
When was India digital? Towards a history of networked publics. Paper presented at the annual conference of the International Communication Association, San Diego, May 2017.
A Peninsular Imagination: Online Video and the Narration of South Indian Identity. Paper presented at the annual conference of the Society for Cinema and Media Studies, Chicago, March 2017.
How to Listen for the Political in Digital India. Paper presented at the annual conference of the Association of Internet Researchers, Berlin, Germany, 2016.
Entertaining the Political: Online Video and Political Culture in New India. Paper presented at the annual conference of the International Communication Association, Fukuoka, Japan, 2016.
The Time of TV: Broadcasting, Dailiness, and the New Indian Middle Class. Paper presented at the annual conference of the International Communication Association, Fukuoka, Japan, 2016.
Satire and democratic politics in digital India. Paper presented at conference on New Media and Democracy: Global Perspectives held at the University of Oregon, April 2015.
Symbolic Dimensions of Media Activism. Workshop presentation at the annual conference of the International Communication Association, May 2014.
Radio Ceylon in the Indian Ocean Arena: Towards a More Expansive Cultural Geography of Media. Presentation at the annual conference of the International Communication Association, May 2014.
On Murderous and Other Kinds of Rage: Mapping Cultural Politics in Digital India. Paper presented at the Media in Transition Conference, MIT, May 2013.
Television comedy, laughter, and the making of an Indian middle class. Paper presented at the annual conference of the International Communication Association, May 2012, Phoenix.
Participation first, politics next. Paper presented at the annual conference of the International Communication Association, May 2012, Phoenix.
Making room for television comedy: Television, the modern, and the everyday in 1980s India. Paper presented at annual conference of the Society for Cinema and Media Studies, March 2012, Boston.
Bollywood in the Indian Ocean Arena: An emergent geography of media power. Paper presented at ‘Beyond Normative Approaches: Media and everyday life in Africa’ conference at the University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, February 2012.
Moving beyond the ‘national’ in global media studies. Presentation at a pedagogy workshop (on teaching global media studies) at the annual conference of the International Communication Association, May 2011, Boston.
Breaking Waves: Media mobility beyond global flows. Panel organizer and chair (with Jonathan Gray) at the annual conference of the International Communication Association, May 2011, Boston.
Television and the struggle for the ordinary. Paper presented at Global Fusion Conference, October 2010, Texas A & M University.
Bollywood in the world: Diasporic entrepreneurs and the promise of digital media. Paper presented at annual conference of the Society for Cinema and Media Studies, March 2010, Los Angeles.
Provincializing Media Studies, organizer and panel chair, International Communication Association conference, May 2009, Chicago.
“The world isn’t flat, it’s Iggy:” Diasporic television in the post-network era, paper presented at annual conference of the International Communication Association, May 2009, Chicago.
Rethinking media circulation, plenary session co-organizer, Media-in-Transition conference, April 2009, MIT (with Jonathan Gray).
Indian Idol: Reality TV and the making of mobile publics. Paper presented at “Real Worlds: Global perspectives on politics of reality TV,” symposium at the Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania, November 2008.
Brokering Bollywood: Film journalism, new media and the production of locality, paper presented at Annual Conference on South Asia, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 2008. Organizer and panel chair.
Imagining the NRI Audience: Bollywood, Overseas Markets, and Dot-com Companies. Invited paper presented at annual conference of the International Communication Association, Montreal, May 2008.
Unboxing Ethnic Television. Workshop Panelist at annual conference of the International Communication Association, Montreal, May 2008.
Location Matters: Spatial Logics of Bollywood-Dotcom Convergence. Chaired panel and presented paper at the Society for Cinema and Media Studies conference, Philadelphia, March 2008.
Film history as a history of media convergence. Invited paper presented at South Asian Cinema conference, University of Pennsylvania, February 2008.
What Brown Can(not) Do For You: MTV-Desi and the Limits of Diaspora. Invited paper presented at Unboxing Television conference, MIT, Boston, November 2007.
Monetizing Citizenship: Bollywood, Dotcoms, and the NRI Market. Paper presented at the Society for Cinema and Media Studies conference, Chicago, March 2007. Panel chair and organizer.
Filmi Addas: Indian cinema, new media, and participatory culture. Paper presented at the Society for Cinema and Media Studies conference, Vancouver, March 2006.
Rahman Online: Notes on Film Music and Fan Collectives. Paper presented at the Media-in-Transition conference, MIT, May 2005.
Rituals of Translation: Bollywood cinema and Indian-American Youth Culture. Paper presented at the
Annual Conference on South Asia, University of Wisconsin-Madison, October 2004.
University and Department Service
Associate Chair-Director of Graduate Studies, Department of Communication Studies, 2015-2018.
Founding Director, Global Media Studies Initiative, 2015-current.
Knight Wallace Journalism Fellow Advisor, 2012-13, 2013-14, 2015-16.
COMM Strategic Budget Review Committee, 2015-16.
COMM Third-Year Review Committee, 2015-16.
Advisory Board Member, Asian and Pacific Islander Studies, Department of American Culture, 2015-present.
NCID Post-Doc Fellowship Reviewer, 2014-15, 2015-16.
OVPR Faculty Grants Reviewer, 2015-16.
Junior Faculty Manuscript Workshop, Invited Faculty Mentor, University of Pennsylvania, April 2016.
GSI Training (Inclusive Teaching Workshop), CRLT, University of Michigan, April 21, 2016.
Invited Faculty Mentor, Dissertation Workshop, Association of Asian Studies, March 2016.
Tenure and Promotion Reviewer – The New School, 2014-15.
Tenure and Promotion Reviewer – Michigan State University, 2014-15.
Tenure and Promotion Reviewer – The University of Oregon, 2014-15.
Tenure and Promotion Reviewer – Kettering University, 2014-15.
COMM Foote Dissertation Award Judge, 2013-14.
Tenure and Promotion Reviewer – Bentley University, 2013-14.
COMM Junior Faculty Mentor (Dr. Julia Sonnevend), 2013-current.
COMM Ad-Hoc PhD Curriculum Committee, 2013-14.
Member of Strategy/Planning Committee for LSA Winter 2014 India Theme Semester.
Member of Executive Committee, Center for South Asian Studies, University of Michigan (2010-current).
Faculty Search Committee (Global Media & Modernity), Department of Communication Studies, 2012-13.
Faculty Search Committee (Global Media & Modernity), Department of Communication Studies, 2011-12.
Fulbright Campus Review Committee, 2008, University of Michigan.
Graduate Admissions Committee, 2009-10, Center for South Asian Studies, University of Michigan.
Faculty Search Committee (Digital Environments), Department of Communication Studies, 2009-10.
Faculty Search Committee (Race, Ethnicity & Media), Department of Communication Studies, 2008-09.
Editorial Boards/Reviews
Editorial Board, Critical Studies in Media Communication.
Editorial Board, Television and New Media.
Editorial Board, Communication, Culture and Critique
Editorial Advisory Board, South Asian History and Culture, 2008-current.
Editorial Advisory Board, The Velvet Light Trap: A Critical Journal of Film and Television, 2007-current.
Editorial Advisory Board, Transformative Works and Culture, 2008-current.
Reviewer – International Journal of Communication
Reviewer –New Media and Society.
Teaching – Graduate Student Advisees
Dissertation Advisor/Chair
Seyram Avle (2014, currently TT-Assistant Professor at University of Massachusetts-Amherst)
Candice Haddad (2013, independent scholar, Chicago)
Lia Wolock (2017, TT-Assistant Professor at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee)
Annemarie Iddins (2017, TT-Assistant Prof. at Fairfield University, co-chair with Dr. Shazia Iftkhar)
Caitlin Lawson
Douglas Brunton-Wade
Sriram Mohan
Yuval Katz
Pratiksha Menon
Dissertation Committee Member
Bradley Jones
Helen Ho
Jimmy Draper
Andre Cavalcante
Andrea McDonnell
Will Youmans
Sridevi Nair (Women’s Studies and English)
Kitior Ngu
Kathryn Frank
Benjamin Pearson
Padma Chirumamilla (School of Information)
Nicole Hentrich
Courtney Ritter (Screen Arts and Cultures)
Dimitrios Pavlounis (Screen Arts and Cultures)
Yuki Nakayama (Screen Arts and Cultures)
Contact
Aswin Punathambekar
Department of Communication Studies
#5427, North Quad
105 N. State St,
Ann Arbor, MI 48109
Ph: 734-615-0949
Email: aswinp@umich.edu
Twitter: @aswinp