Indian Journal of Gender Studies, Volume 30, Issue 3, Page 387-390, October 2023.
Smita Tewari Jassal, Islamic Conversation: Sohbet and Ethics in Contemporary Turkey, (Routledge Islamic Studies Series, Routledge, 2020), 161 pp., ISBN 978-1-138-39119-2.
Book review: B. S. Sherin, Gendering Minorities: Muslim Women and the Politics of Modernity
Indian Journal of Gender Studies, Volume 30, Issue 3, Page 390-393, October 2023.
B. S. Sherin, Gendering Minorities: Muslim Women and the Politics of Modernity. Orient BlackSwan, 2021, 240 pages, ₹615 (Hardbound). ISBN: 978-93-5287-669-3.
B. S. Sherin, Gendering Minorities: Muslim Women and the Politics of Modernity. Orient BlackSwan, 2021, 240 pages, ₹615 (Hardbound). ISBN: 978-93-5287-669-3.
Workplace Bullying: The Problem That (Still) Has No Name
Indian Journal of Gender Studies, Volume 30, Issue 3, Page 360-373, October 2023.
The article examines how workplace bullying of women employees tends to be unacknowledged and ignored because of the gap between statutory provisions and the selective policies and practices of individual organisations. The study on which this article is based found that there are disjunctures between state laws and organisational policies and that there is poor implementation of statutes that provide protection to women against bullying and harassment. It should therefore be mandatory for organisations to follow state laws. Further, to fully protect women employees at their workplaces it is necessary to explicitly follow rules for the prevention and redressal of bullying and harassment even of a non-sexual nature.
The article examines how workplace bullying of women employees tends to be unacknowledged and ignored because of the gap between statutory provisions and the selective policies and practices of individual organisations. The study on which this article is based found that there are disjunctures between state laws and organisational policies and that there is poor implementation of statutes that provide protection to women against bullying and harassment. It should therefore be mandatory for organisations to follow state laws. Further, to fully protect women employees at their workplaces it is necessary to explicitly follow rules for the prevention and redressal of bullying and harassment even of a non-sexual nature.
Population Control and Eugenics: Dhanvanthi Rama Rau and Margaret Sanger in the Making of India’s Family Planning Programme, 1930s–1960s
Indian Journal of Gender Studies, Volume 30, Issue 3, Page 330-349, October 2023.
This article explores the contribution of two pioneering women, Dhanvanthi Rama Rau and Margaret Sanger in shaping the official Family Planning Programme (FPP) of India. Rau, popularly known as the ‘Mother of India’s Family Planning’, was at the forefront of the debates on birth control. From the early twentieth century, Rau was in correspondence with Margaret Sanger—eugenist and the messiah of medicalised birth control from the United States of America (USA). Based on archival collections from various libraries in India and the USA, this article attempts to explore the concerns of Rau and Sanger in raising questions about population control and family planning in India. The concern of improving the health of mothers and children was, for them, a scaffolding on which to build the agenda of population control. As their advocacy of contraception was shaped by eugenic and neo-Malthusian ideas, they were successful in institutionalising a programme of family planning that called for an immediate reduction in the birth rate. This was to be achieved through gendered population control policies and practices.
This article explores the contribution of two pioneering women, Dhanvanthi Rama Rau and Margaret Sanger in shaping the official Family Planning Programme (FPP) of India. Rau, popularly known as the ‘Mother of India’s Family Planning’, was at the forefront of the debates on birth control. From the early twentieth century, Rau was in correspondence with Margaret Sanger—eugenist and the messiah of medicalised birth control from the United States of America (USA). Based on archival collections from various libraries in India and the USA, this article attempts to explore the concerns of Rau and Sanger in raising questions about population control and family planning in India. The concern of improving the health of mothers and children was, for them, a scaffolding on which to build the agenda of population control. As their advocacy of contraception was shaped by eugenic and neo-Malthusian ideas, they were successful in institutionalising a programme of family planning that called for an immediate reduction in the birth rate. This was to be achieved through gendered population control policies and practices.
Hijab Protests and Beyond: The State of Women’s Rights in Iran
Indian Journal of Gender Studies, Volume 30, Issue 3, Page 350-359, October 2023.
This essay examines the protests and movements of Iranian women, focusing on the main themes and issues that have emerged over the past few years. It discusses current protests with women at the vanguard, the progress and setbacks in their feminist struggles, and the present status of women’s rights and the Iranian women’s movement. In addition, it examines the Iranian government’s and society’s responses to the protests and movements by Iranian women, leading to an appreciation of their historical context, enduring inequalities, and future prospects.
This essay examines the protests and movements of Iranian women, focusing on the main themes and issues that have emerged over the past few years. It discusses current protests with women at the vanguard, the progress and setbacks in their feminist struggles, and the present status of women’s rights and the Iranian women’s movement. In addition, it examines the Iranian government’s and society’s responses to the protests and movements by Iranian women, leading to an appreciation of their historical context, enduring inequalities, and future prospects.
Catering to the impatient digital listener: Accelerated composition patterns in popular music, 1986–2020
Convergence, Ahead of Print.
The present study explored trends of compositional acceleration in top hit songs as a potential consequence of streaming platforms and digital habits of music consumption. Many media users have been shifting towards ‘Permanently online, permanently connected’ (Vorderer et al., 2018) behaviors and are thus likely to face choice overload in many episodes of music consumption. In turn, the creative audio industries seem to adjust strategically to altered audience demands that platforms can identify in their mass data traces. Extending a study by Léveillé Gauvin (2018), we investigate five compositorial features (main tempo, time before voice enters, time before title is mentioned, number of words in song title, and song duration) for Billboard top 10 songs (1986 to 2020) and ‘Spotify’ top 10 songs (2016 to 2020). Across features, long-term trends of accelerated composition have mostly continued in recent years, but only weak evidence was secured for a particular booster effect of the competitive ‘Spotify’ ecology on compositorial acceleration.
The present study explored trends of compositional acceleration in top hit songs as a potential consequence of streaming platforms and digital habits of music consumption. Many media users have been shifting towards ‘Permanently online, permanently connected’ (Vorderer et al., 2018) behaviors and are thus likely to face choice overload in many episodes of music consumption. In turn, the creative audio industries seem to adjust strategically to altered audience demands that platforms can identify in their mass data traces. Extending a study by Léveillé Gauvin (2018), we investigate five compositorial features (main tempo, time before voice enters, time before title is mentioned, number of words in song title, and song duration) for Billboard top 10 songs (1986 to 2020) and ‘Spotify’ top 10 songs (2016 to 2020). Across features, long-term trends of accelerated composition have mostly continued in recent years, but only weak evidence was secured for a particular booster effect of the competitive ‘Spotify’ ecology on compositorial acceleration.
Infinite media: The contemporary infinite paradigm in media
Convergence, Ahead of Print.
This essay argues that the contemporary media paradigm is defined by an infinite character and scale that emerge from the confluence of infinite-prone economic, technological, and cultural logics. Thus, it discusses the emergence, consolidation, and expansion of a state in which the media landscape and experience are assumed as practically infinite in its different dimensions, from the institutional to the cultural perspective. The argument of this article is based on the analysis of two cases: the deployment of an infinite production model in the media industry, particularly Hollywood; and the implementation of an infinite experience of approaching digital media, especially social media and streaming platforms. The essay maintains that the development of this clearly observable paradigm in media has granted the current possibility of having effectively infinite media and suggests that this propensity towards infinity in media could increase through the implementation of resources such as those offered by generative AI.
This essay argues that the contemporary media paradigm is defined by an infinite character and scale that emerge from the confluence of infinite-prone economic, technological, and cultural logics. Thus, it discusses the emergence, consolidation, and expansion of a state in which the media landscape and experience are assumed as practically infinite in its different dimensions, from the institutional to the cultural perspective. The argument of this article is based on the analysis of two cases: the deployment of an infinite production model in the media industry, particularly Hollywood; and the implementation of an infinite experience of approaching digital media, especially social media and streaming platforms. The essay maintains that the development of this clearly observable paradigm in media has granted the current possibility of having effectively infinite media and suggests that this propensity towards infinity in media could increase through the implementation of resources such as those offered by generative AI.
The narrativization of ludic elements in videogame fanfiction
Convergence, Ahead of Print.
Existing scholarship on videogame fanfiction focuses on how these fictions transform game characters and narrative settings. However, this misses out on an important trope in videogame fanfictions, where authors transplant game procedures, systems, mechanics, and play styles into their stories. We term this trope the narrativization of ludic elements. This article examines how three popular fanfictions based on the Chinese MMO Jian 3 narrativize ludic elements in a way that reinforces hegemonic masculinity. The article contributes to a fuller understanding of the rhetorical strategies of fanfiction writers and explores the ideological implications of the intermedial relation between fanfictions and their source texts.
Existing scholarship on videogame fanfiction focuses on how these fictions transform game characters and narrative settings. However, this misses out on an important trope in videogame fanfictions, where authors transplant game procedures, systems, mechanics, and play styles into their stories. We term this trope the narrativization of ludic elements. This article examines how three popular fanfictions based on the Chinese MMO Jian 3 narrativize ludic elements in a way that reinforces hegemonic masculinity. The article contributes to a fuller understanding of the rhetorical strategies of fanfiction writers and explores the ideological implications of the intermedial relation between fanfictions and their source texts.
Book review: Berta García-Orosa, Sara Pérez-Seijo and Ángel Vizoso, Emerging Practices in the Age of Automated Digital Journalism: Models, Languages, and Storytelling
Discourse &Communication, Ahead of Print.
Book Review: To Know is to Compare: Studying Social Media across Nations, Media and Platform
Convergence, Ahead of Print.