Tata Institute of Social Sciences

Faculty Member, Centre for Media and Cultural Studies

Professor

About

Dr. K.P. Jayasankar is Professor, Centre for Media and Cultural Studies, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai. He has an M.A. in German language and a Ph.D. in Humanities and Social Sciences, from IIT Mumbai and is involved in media production, teaching and research. A presiding thematic of much of his work has been a problematising of notions of self and the other, of normality and deviance, of the local and the global, through the exploration of diverse narratives and rituals. His films, jointly directed with Dr. Anjali Monteiro, have won twenty two national and international awards. These include the Prix Futura Berlin 1995 Asia Prize for Identity- The Construction of Selfhood, the Certificate of Merit at MIFF `98 and Best Innovation, Astra Film Festival 1998, Sibiu, Romania for YCP 1997 and the Best documentary award at the IV Three Continents International Festival of Documentaries 2005, Venezuela, for SheWrite. Their most recent awards are the Special Jury Award at the Signs 2007 Festival, held in Thiruvananthapuram, Certificate of Merit, Mumbai International Film Festival 2008, Indian Documentary Producers Associuation (IDPA) Gold for Best Sound Design, Gold for Best Script and Silver for Editing for the film Our Family. Dr. Jayasankar is an award winning cameraperson and editor and enjoys web and graphic design. Vibgyor Film Festival, Kerala and Bangalore Film Society have organised retrospectives of their work in 2006 and 2010, respectively.

Dr. Jayasankar was a Howard Thomas Memorial Fellow in Media Studies, attached to Goldsmith’s College, London and a DAAD visiting scholar at the University of Heidelberg. He conducts workshops in critical media education with groups ranging from school children to activist groups and also serves as visiting faculty to several media and design institutions in India and abroad. He has also served as jury to film festivals. He is actively involved in ‘Vikalp' and 'Films for Freedom', which are collectives of documentary filmmakers campaigning for freedom of expression.

Dr. Jayasankar also has several papers in the area of media and cultural studies and has contributed to journals such as Cultural Studies. His publications include:

Monteiro, A. and K.P. Jayasankar, The Spectator-Indian - An Exploratory Study of the Reception of News, Cultural Studies 10(1),January 1993.

Monteiro, A. and K.P. Jayasankar, India: The News of the State and the State of the News in Jensen, K.B. (ed.) The News of the World, Routledge, 1998.

Jayasankar K.P. and Monteiro A. Between the Normal and the Imaginary - The Spectator-self, the Other and Satellite Television in India, in Hagen, I and Wasko, (ed.,) Consuming Audiences: Production and Reception in Media Research, Hampton Press, 2000.

Jayasankar K.P. and Monteiro A., Documentary and Ethnographic Film, Elsevier Encyclopaedia of Social and Behavioural Sciences, Elsevier. 2001.

Jayasankar K.P., Warlis: Myth and Reality, International Gallerie, Vol.I, 2001.

Jayasankar K.P. and Monteiro A., The Plot Thickens – A Cultural Studies Approach to Media Education in India, in Tony Lavender, Birgitte Tufte and Dafna Lemish (eds.) Global Trends in Media Education, Hampton Press, 2003

Jayasankar K.P., The Speaking Subject: A Preamble to Jivatman, MICA Communications Review, Vol. I No. 2, 15- 33, 2003.

Jayasankar K.P. and Monteiro A., Censorship ke Peeche Kya Hai, in Nalini Rajan (ed) Practising Journalism, Sage, 2005.

Jayasankar K.P. and Monteiro A., Jai Ho Shanghai- The Invisible Poor in Slumdog Millionnaire in Kumar Ashwani et al eds Global Civil Society Yearbook, LSE and Sage, 2009.

Most recent Films:
Do Din Ka Mela (2009) http://atwodayfair.wordpress.com/

So Heddan So Hoddan (2011) http://LikeHereLikeThere.wordpress.com/

Association with Professional Organisations
* Member, Managing Committee, AVEHI, Mumbai
* Member, Navnirmiti Trust, Mumbai
* Member, Governing Board, Comet Media Foundation
* Member, Editorial Board, Routledge Media, Culture and Social Change in Asia Series, Sydney
* Member, Editorial Board, Journal of International and Intercultural Communication, USA

Visiting Faculty/ Consultancies:

* Has been visiting faculty at leading design and media institutions including the National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad, Sarojini Naidu School of Fine Arts, Performing Arts and Communication, University of Hyderabad, Industrial Design Centre, Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai, Asian College of Journalism, Chennai, where courses taught / workshops conducted include media and cultural studies, documentary theory and production
* Has taught at the Lahti School of Design, Finland (course on documentary production); have given talks and screened films at over 15 U.S. Universities and several Universities in the U.K., Finland, Norway and Germany.
* Actively involved in designing and conducting workshops in critical media education for a range of groups, including school and college students, teachers, activists etc.
* UNDP consultant for Technical training for the Addis Ababa University, School of Journalism and Communication, 2006.
* Video production for International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), 2001-02.
* Gender Sensitivity Consulatant, Population Services International
* Active in Vikalp and Films for Freedom, a campaign of over 250 documentary filmmakers opposing censorship in India.
* Commissioned by PSBT to produce and direct documentary films.
* Consultant to the Sir Dorabji Tata Trust for project evaluation.

Contact Information