Papers by Rohit K Dasgupta
Edinburgh University Press eBooks, Mar 27, 2018
Loughborough University eBooks, 2013
This book chapter is from: Masculinity and Its Challenges in India: Essays on Changing Perception... more This book chapter is from: Masculinity and Its Challenges in India: Essays on Changing Perceptions © 2014 Edited by Rohit K. Dasgupta and K. Moti Gokulsing by permission of McFarland & Company, Inc., Box 611, Jefferson NC 28640. www. mcfarlandpub.com. .
Regional cinemas 35 4.1 'Bengali' cinema: Its making and unmaking 37 Sharmistha Gooptu 4.2 Assame... more Regional cinemas 35 4.1 'Bengali' cinema: Its making and unmaking 37 Sharmistha Gooptu 4.2 Assamese cinema: Dreams, reality and dichotomies 51 Manoj Barpujari 4.3 Odia cinema at seventy-five 63 Shyamhari Chakra
Intellect Books, May 1, 2017
Journal of Intercultural Studies
This article is based on ethnographic field work conducted in Kolkata during 2019-2021 with queer... more This article is based on ethnographic field work conducted in Kolkata during 2019-2021 with queer and trans people during the COVID pandemic. This article develops a new framework of queer patchworks and discusses the various ways through which queer and trans communities are navigating survival during these non-normative times. This paper particularly responds to how digital media is being used by individuals and organisations as a form of witness, belonging, intimacy and care. Queer people in India live within different forms of marginality and precarity, homophobia, caste violence, unemployment and homelessness. This article brings together patchworks of whatsapp texts, broken zoom conversations, cooking gossip and addas on the banks of river Hooghly as a nod to these new realities which are reshaping queer identities; thus, offering new ways to also acknowledge, accommodate and 'queer' what counts as knowledge. A particular focus was moving away from totalising narratives and instead examine the tensions of being queer in contemporary India alongside the many contradictions. In turn, this engenders wider questions about queer desire, nationalism and belonging.
Information Systems Journal
Healthcare information technologies (HIT) have shown great potential for improving the effectiven... more Healthcare information technologies (HIT) have shown great potential for improving the effectiveness and quality of healthcare services. However, the inequal ability of older adults to use HIT may limit their exploitation of these benefits. To narrow the age‐based “digital divide”, this research further develops the concept of digital capability and emphasises the link between older adults and their social context. Based on a qualitative inductive study of 33 participants, who included Chinese patients and their family members, we generate a novel theoretical model for understanding the process by which social activities may shape older adults' digital capabilities. Based on the model, we suggest two strategies that might encourage older adults to engage with HIT. This research contributes to the information systems (IS) literature by strengthening digital capability as a conceptual lens to investigate individuals' engagement with information communication technologies (ICTs...
Although the motion picture industry in India is one of the oldest and largest in the world—with ... more Although the motion picture industry in India is one of the oldest and largest in the world—with literally thousands of productions released each year—films from that country have not been as well received as those from other countries. Known for their impressive musical numbers, melodramatic plots, and nationally beloved stars, Indian films have long been ignored by the West but are now at the forefront of cinema studies. With the prolific number of films available, it can be difficult to know what to watch. In 100 Essential Indian Films, Rohit K. Dasgupta and Sangeeta Datta identify and discuss significant works produced since the 1930s. Examining the output of different regional film industries throughout India, this volume offers a balance of box-office blockbusters, critical successes, and less-recognized cult classics. From early films by Satyajit Ray to contemporary classics such as Salaam Bombay and Lagaan, each entry includes comprehensive details about the film and situates the work in the context and history of the Indian canon.In addition to these notable productions, this book also examines key film directors and the work of major film stars in the industry. While many studies of Indian films focus on a single language’s contributions, this encyclopedia offers a comprehensive guide to productions from across the country in various languages, including Hindi, Bengali, Tamil, Malayalam, Assamese, Punjabi, Marathi, and English. 100 Essential Indian Films is an engaging volume that will appeal to both cinema scholars and those looking for an introduction to a vital component of world cinema
Styling South Asian Youth Cultures, 2018
The election of London's first ethnic minority mayor, Sadiq Khan, has tilted the political co... more The election of London's first ethnic minority mayor, Sadiq Khan, has tilted the political compass of the city in favour of the Labour Party. Does his election to offi ce herald a progressive future for British politics?
An extended essay discussing the field of style, fashion and media in contemporary South Asian yo... more An extended essay discussing the field of style, fashion and media in contemporary South Asian youth cultures. The chapter includes an outline of the articles in the book and how they contribute to the emerging field of South Asian dress cultures. Paperback, Ebook and Hardback available to order at: https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/styling-south-asian-youth-cultures-9781350154070/
Game of Thrones has been immensely popular in India since its launch in 2011. In India, however, ... more Game of Thrones has been immensely popular in India since its launch in 2011. In India, however, the series was unavailable for some time owing to strict censorship laws. Based on ethnographic research carried out between 2011 and 2015, this chapter looks at the popularity of the show by tracking its distribution through pirated content, viral memes and young audience reception. In addition to its popularity within youth groups, another unexpected fan group that has emerged in the last few years has been queer individuals in India who find the queer characters such as Brienne, Renly and Loras particularly engaging. This chapter uses a variety of fan reactions in India to illustrate the important role the show plays in fans’ daily world-making.
The Routledge Companion to Media and Class, 2019
Emotion, Space and Society, 2018
The question of refugee rights and immigrant entry to the UK presently has come under attack with... more The question of refugee rights and immigrant entry to the UK presently has come under attack with the rise of nationalist sentiment and the exit of the UK from the European Union. The figure of the Muslim migrant has been normatively constructed to represent a limit to UK's multiculturalism (and, arguably globally). Such anti-Mus-lim sentiment operates via displacing racialized bodies from UK public culture. This article situates the ways in which racialized queer Muslim subjects attempt to maneuver structural racism and heteronormativity in the UK. The article argues that queer Muslim immigrants perceive queer spaces in Central London as white spaces. Secondly , we will analyze how the racialized queer Muslim subject creates ethnoracial specific spaces that are located outside central London. We argue that queer migration needs to be understood as an embodied experience by paying attention to how racialized queer Muslim migrants moves through multiple spaces in the city. The article develops a mixed method approach through an analysis of Ian Iqbal Rashid's film A Touch of Pink (2004) alongside Raisa Kabir's recent exhibition In/Visible Space: Reflections on the Realm of Dimensional Affect, Space and the Queer Racialised Self (Rich Mix, April, 2013) and the narrative of a gay identified working class Muslim immigrant male from East London. We argue that queer Muslim migrants reside on the margins of British symbolic culture through a non-belonging to one's religious identity. Such non-belonging is a spatialized experience. An analysis of the film, exhibition and our ethnography reveals the ways in which sexuality is constructed and conferred through racialization and creates precariously situated queer Muslim migrant subjects within present day UK.
Cartographies of Affect: Across Borders in South Asia …
Cultural Trends
In this article, we offer a new concept of the “queer creative city”, through a critical examinat... more In this article, we offer a new concept of the “queer creative city”, through a critical examination of how a regional queer Bengali film culture has emerged in Kolkata as a result of the convergence of certain urban policies, queer political organising and cultural activism. We explore two queer film festivals in Kolkata – the Siddharth Gautam Film Festival and Dialogues, both having a very significant impact in transforming LGBTQ + lives in Kolkata. Through archival research, autoethnography and conducting extensive interviews with organising committees, venue sponsors and owners, and viewers, we show how these film festivals and a pre-existing Bengali film culture engendered the emergence of a prolific creative queer city, which became a site of resistance, and community building that created a solid base for queer counterpublics. Queer film festivals, we argue, are critical sites for charting the dynamics of the public sphere in contemporary India.
JOURNAL OF INTERCULTURAL STUDIES, 2022
This article is based on ethnographic field work conducted in Kolkata during 2019–2021 with queer... more This article is based on ethnographic field work conducted in Kolkata during 2019–2021 with queer and trans people during the COVID pandemic. This article develops a new framework of queer patchworks and discusses the various ways through which queer and trans communities are navigating survival during these non-normative times. This paper particularly responds to how digital media is being used by individuals and organisations as a form of witness, belonging, intimacy and care. Queer people in India live within different forms of marginality and precarity, homophobia, caste violence, unemployment and homelessness. This article brings together patchworks of whatsapp texts, broken zoom conversations, cooking gossip and addas on the banks of river Hooghly as a nod to these new realities which are reshaping queer identities; thus, offering new ways to also acknowledge, accommodate and ‘queer’ what counts as knowledge. A particular focus was moving away from totalising narratives and instead examine the tensions of being queer in contemporary India alongside the many contradictions. In turn, this engenders wider questions about queer desire, nationalism and belonging.
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Papers by Rohit K Dasgupta
This book explores South Asian youth cultures and fashion across this region and its diasporas from a transnational perspective, revealing the changing landscapes of contemporary South Asian fashion.
Through visual and textual analysis of film, photography and digital cultures, as well as ethnographic fieldwork, the book looks at how gender, sexuality, class, the media and faith intersect. It challenges tendencies to homogenise the region's diverse cultural modernity by establishing the heterogenous nature of South Asia and its youth cultures.
This book will be of great interest to scholars and researchers of gender studies, especially men's and masculinity studies, queer and LGBT studies, media and cultural studies, particularly new media and digital culture, sexuality and identity, politics, sociology and social anthropology, and South Asian studies.
Book available here: https://www.routledge.com/Digital-Queer-Cultures-in-India-Politics-Intimacies-and-Belonging/Dasgupta/p/book/9781138220348
Recent scholarship in different disciplinary fields as well as activist literature have brought attention to the political possibilities within friendship. The essays, memoirs, poems, and artwork in Friendship as Social Justice Activism address these political possibilities within the context of gender, sexuality, and economic justice movements.
Please not a redacted/shorter version of the introduction is available as a journal article in a special section of the journal SAHC. Available here: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/19472498.2014.999441