Dr. Sony Jalarajan Raj
As an academic my teaching philosophy has always been to produce and encourage socially aware, globally informed and conscious citizens, as well as able communication professionals. As such I hope to contribute in some small way to creating a new generation of journalists raised-on an appreciation and mastery of communicative rationality, the sharing of information, the democratization of knowledge systems and the equitable distribution of technologies. I have thirteen years of under graduate and Master’s degree teaching experience in the discipline of Journalism, Media and Communication. I began my academic career in teaching and research at the School of Communication and Information Sciences, Mahatma Gandhi University in India in 2001, and also lectured in Kannur University, University of Kerala. My research during that period was focused on public service broadcasting, foreign direct investment in Indian media, communication and media policies of the Government of India under the ‘Prasar Bharathi Corporation’, news production and consumption patterns in SAARC countries, and public communication campaigns. My M.Phil. Degree dissertation analyses the effects and impacts of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) on the Indian News Media and the license- liberalization policy of the Indian News Media industry. My PhD thesis investigated the communicative and representative aspects of Political slogans in India with special emphasis on ‘Public Sphere’ formation and ‘Civil Societies’ through Media and ‘Communicative Rationalities’.
Prior to joining St. Thomas University, Miami, Florida, USA, I was lecturing in the School of Arts and Social Sciences at Monash University, Australia, Sunway Campus at Malaysia and at the Department of Mass Communication at the Curtin University of Technology, Miri, Sarawak campus. On my association with the Curtin University of Technology, Miri campus in Malaysia I had undertaken a major research project on “Young people and news media literacy”, and had successfully completed. Currently I am accredited as the research supervisor in Monash University for the Higher Research Degree. As I am supervising Master’s Degree and PhD students for their research dissertations I am familiar with a wide range of research design and methodology, and have previously engaged in effects and impact studies on media product and media groups. As a lecturer I have been involved in a wide range of units related to global journalism, international communication flows, journalism/ media ethics and practices, audience analysis and media texts. Thrice I had received Monash University, PVC Award for Excellence in innovative Teaching and Learning methods. My experiment’s in class room include multimedia classrooms, usage of social media in delivery of teaching modules, virtual class room experiments through Prezi, Free mind, Zotero.
I have been the recipient for the Thomson Foundation (UK) & Commonwealth Broadcasting Association Fellowship for the studies in Television Journalism. I received the University of Kerala Gold Medal for the meritorious Post Graduate Studies. Awarded the National Merit scholarship by the Ministry of Human resources from the Government of India and qualified the UGC (NET & JRF) for the Ph.D. doctoral research in Mass Communication & Journalism. . I am trained and experienced as a journalist; I was employed both in the electronic and print news media. Worked as a professional journalist in Doordarshan, NDTV, All India Radio, Asianet News, Hindu Business line, Madhyamam daily.
Phone: 001-786-204-1031
Address: Dr. Sony Jalarajan Raj, Graduate Chair & Asst. Professor, Institute for Communication, Entertainment & Media ( ICEM) St. Thomas University, 16401 NW 37th Avenue, Miami Gardens, Florida 33054, USA
Prior to joining St. Thomas University, Miami, Florida, USA, I was lecturing in the School of Arts and Social Sciences at Monash University, Australia, Sunway Campus at Malaysia and at the Department of Mass Communication at the Curtin University of Technology, Miri, Sarawak campus. On my association with the Curtin University of Technology, Miri campus in Malaysia I had undertaken a major research project on “Young people and news media literacy”, and had successfully completed. Currently I am accredited as the research supervisor in Monash University for the Higher Research Degree. As I am supervising Master’s Degree and PhD students for their research dissertations I am familiar with a wide range of research design and methodology, and have previously engaged in effects and impact studies on media product and media groups. As a lecturer I have been involved in a wide range of units related to global journalism, international communication flows, journalism/ media ethics and practices, audience analysis and media texts. Thrice I had received Monash University, PVC Award for Excellence in innovative Teaching and Learning methods. My experiment’s in class room include multimedia classrooms, usage of social media in delivery of teaching modules, virtual class room experiments through Prezi, Free mind, Zotero.
I have been the recipient for the Thomson Foundation (UK) & Commonwealth Broadcasting Association Fellowship for the studies in Television Journalism. I received the University of Kerala Gold Medal for the meritorious Post Graduate Studies. Awarded the National Merit scholarship by the Ministry of Human resources from the Government of India and qualified the UGC (NET & JRF) for the Ph.D. doctoral research in Mass Communication & Journalism. . I am trained and experienced as a journalist; I was employed both in the electronic and print news media. Worked as a professional journalist in Doordarshan, NDTV, All India Radio, Asianet News, Hindu Business line, Madhyamam daily.
Phone: 001-786-204-1031
Address: Dr. Sony Jalarajan Raj, Graduate Chair & Asst. Professor, Institute for Communication, Entertainment & Media ( ICEM) St. Thomas University, 16401 NW 37th Avenue, Miami Gardens, Florida 33054, USA
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Papers by Dr. Sony Jalarajan Raj
Naatu” from the South Indian film RRR (2022) lies in its vibrant
spectacle that intertwines cultural history, political themes, and
gender expressions within the framework of Indian musicals.
Using textual analysis, this paper investigates how the semiotic
and performative aspects of “Naatu Naatu” created a new cultural appeal in the West by representing the postcolonial and
nationalist Indian subject in an ultra-modern post-globalized
environment. It reveals how the dance sequence’s entertainment value can overshadow its deeper cultural significance,
illustrating the tension between global appeal and cultural
authenticit
are becoming more innovative and competitive with each day.
Naatu” from the South Indian film RRR (2022) lies in its vibrant
spectacle that intertwines cultural history, political themes, and
gender expressions within the framework of Indian musicals.
Using textual analysis, this paper investigates how the semiotic
and performative aspects of “Naatu Naatu” created a new cultural appeal in the West by representing the postcolonial and
nationalist Indian subject in an ultra-modern post-globalized
environment. It reveals how the dance sequence’s entertainment value can overshadow its deeper cultural significance,
illustrating the tension between global appeal and cultural
authenticit
are becoming more innovative and competitive with each day.
often depict the struggles, challenges, sacrifices and spiritual journeys of nuns in different settings. The problem of gender inequality entrenched in Christianity is reflected through the existence of nuns as women who are conditioned to be submissive and quiet. Nuns are defined by their power to restrain from worldly desires, a perspective rooted in the interpretation of the biblical story of Eve's deception, which has been used to cast women as
transgressors.
defined by the caste system where individuals are segregated both physically and psychologically on the basis of their hierarchical position in the imaginary graded caste scale. People who were identified as the lower-castes were the “untouchables” or Dalits for whom
social interaction with the upper-castes (commonly Brahmins) was a socially punishable offense. The evil of untouchability haunts the past as well as its modern continuities in the Indian public sphere. Popular culture views the subaltern identity of Dalits through stereotypical angles and
discourses of the dominant culture 1 . The invasion of European powers created a colonial discourse of authoritarianism that nourished hegemonic sensibilities toward indigenous communities and their subaltern identities. The social and historical backwardness as an
aftermath of this oppressiveness remained and has often been reinforced within the fabric of social consciousness.
cinematic interventions blend fiction and reality. This study examines the infamous Bhopal gas tragedy in India in 1984, one of the worst industrial disasters in the world, as a cinematic text representing the cultural, environmental, and historical dimensions of the regional
spaces in shaping the perception of an Anthropogenic disaster. It explores whether such adaptations are effective in educating the masses about the problems associated with environmental disasters that are imminent threats to the future.
Keywords: Elevated horror, postmodernity, The Lodge, Hammer film, psychology
This traumatic experience has reflected in all forms of expression and, cinema is one among them. Indian cinema (consisting of various regional cinema) found immense stimulus and necessity to react and reflect almost immediately after this exodus. Loss and separation of families, religious conflicts, mass massacre, inter-religious love affairs, search for those separated, search for new home and identity- Indian cinema tried to portray the effects and impacts of this deadliest partition in all its socio-political and cultural significances. This chapter tries to analyse the ethical, political and geographical articulation of home away from home in the wake of this mass mobility and displacement. By contesting and debating the duality of the politics of nationalism, this chapter investigate the representation of displaced Muslims (who are forced to move out of India and who are in search of a new home in a reformed India) and the radical nationalistic discourses associated with it. This approach becomes inevitable as Bollywood being an Indian medium have almost neglected (unintentionally though) the confused and confounded political sympathies and identity of Indian Muslims in this displacement process. MS Sathyu’s debut feature film ‘Garm Hava’ (1973), Bhisham Sahni novel based film ‘Tamas’ (1988), Deepa Mehta’s Fire, Earth and Water trilogy film ‘Earth’ (1998), Kushwant Singh’s classic postcolonial novel based film ‘Train to Pakistan’ (1998), a Canadian co-production filmed in both British Columbia and on-location in India ‘Partition’ (2007) are some of the films selected to study on the brutality of India- Pakistan partition.
With the help of country-specific case studies, it captures a broad range of themes which foreground the publics and their real-life experiences of television in the region. The chapters in this book discuss gendered television spaces, women seeking solace from television in pandemic, the taboo in digital TV dramas, television viewership and localizing publics, changing viewership from television to OTT, news and public perception of death, redefining ‘the national’, theatrical television and post-truth television news, among other key issues.
Rich in ethnographic case studies, this volume will be a useful resource for scholars and researchers of media and communication studies, journalism, digital media, South Asian studies, cultural studies, sociology and social anthropology.
digital-social networking. Now, the pandemic context put forth questions on the hegemonic notions, media monopoly and balance of power enjoyed and rested with the western media systems. These questions encompass challenges to western media in their dominance in
economic, cultural and social realms exerted over the latter half of 20th century until now. Here, we exhibit and argue that the control and power of dominant western media have been diminishing in the socio-economic context created by the pandemic.