International Knowledge Exchange Event

A two-day online seminar “Exploring Ethics in Transnational Media Collaboration” is scheduled for May 30th and 31st. Speakers from Sri Lanka, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, the UK, the USA, Canada, Germany, Africa and Nigeria will address a range of important topics, including storytelling, decolonising feminism, and the challenges of transnational media research. This seminar is the second in a series of interdisciplinary knowledge exchange events towards a decolonial imaginary around ethics in north-south transnational media collaborations.

Register for free via Eventbrite and join us on the 30th and 31st of May 2024

Overview of the Broader Research Project:

Developing a Media-Decolonisation Imaginary (DMDI) is a study which aims to​ advance new methodologies for transnational media research, Pedagogy and Practice. DMDI is developed in partnership with Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) Ghana, as well as scholars at the University of Florida and the London School of Economics’ (LSE), Africa Institute.  Also, in collaboration with us, are the Wole Soyinka International Cultural Exchange (WSICE), Lanka Cine (Media), Sri Lanka.

This interventionist work builds on the AHRC research project ScreenWorlds (2019 - 2025), and on Postcolonial interrogations of transnational research collaborations/allyship, to study how ethical north-south media research partnerships can be strengthened. Beginning in January 2024 and running till April 2025, it features a 12-month seminar series focalising themes of Postcolonialism, Intersectionality, and Indigenous Knowledge Theory. We believe that these are mobilisable for designing media-research methodologies which privilege intersectional diversity and inclusion in media landscapes, beyond superficial gestures. 

Opening Keynote (30^th May 2024):  Prof.  Jude William Genilo  

Pro Vice Chancellor, The University of Liberal Arts. Bangladesh

Topic: - Community-Based Communication Model for Development: An Update. 

Closing Keynote (31^st May 2024): Professor Nikita Dhawan

Professor of Political Theory & History of Ideas at the Technical University Dresden. Germany | Chair of Political Science with a focus on Political Theory and the History of Political Thought, Institute of Political Science, Technical University Dresden. Germany.

Topic: - One World, One Pain? Transnational Literacy and Planetary Ethics 

Chair for 30^th May 2024: Prof. George M. Bob-Milliar. Associate Professor in African Studies, at the Department of History and Political Studies, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Kumasi-Ghana.

Chair for 31^st May 2024: Imruh Bakari (Filmmaker and Senior Fellow at University of Winchester, UK).

Other speakers as follows

Dr. Nini Kerr

Lecturer in Counselling, Psychotherapy and Applied Social Sciences 

School of Health in Social Science.

The University of Edinburgh. UK

Topic: - Decolonising the University: An Impossible Task? 

Prof. Abu S.M. Dayen 
Department of Bangla [Language]
Jahangirnagar University. Bangladesh

Topic: - Rabindranath Tagore's Education Policy: Exploring the Attempts to Decolonise Bengal Pedagogy 

Dr. Rathitharan Kathiresu

Senior Lecturer, Department of Drama and Theatre Arts,

Sir Ponnambalam Ramanathan Faculty of Performing and Visual Arts.

University of Jaffna. Sri Lanka.

Topic: - Tamil Theatre Practices, with Some Attention to its History and its Characteristics as a Style of Stage/Screen Performance

Dr. Anisha Datta

Chair, Department of Sociology. Associate Professor of Sociology.

King's University College at Western University. Canada.

Topic: - Neoliberalist Slippages in Decolonisation in the Context of Transnationalism

Dr. Ayesha Siddiqua 

Associate Professor, Department of Media and Communication Studies.

National University of Modern Languages. Pakistan

Topic: - Exploring Pakistani Female Identities and how they Challenge Stereotypical Media Representations

Asim Rafiqui 

Photojournalist.

Ph.D., candidate in Social Anthropology at the TUDelft, Netherlands

Topic: - Trouble in the Field

Prof. Sunny Singh

Professor of Creative Writing and Inclusion in the Arts

London Metropolitan University. UK.

Topic: - Moving Beyond (Neo-)Colonial Paradigms: Centring Justice in Transnational Collaborations 

Dr. Kanchuka Darmasiri

Department of Fine Arts,
University of Peradeniya. Sri Lanka.

Topic: - A Trajectory of Sri Lankan Critical Feminist Locales in Precolonial, Colonial, and Post-Colonial Moments. 

Santhus Aroh

Visiting Lecturer; Lagos Business School, Pan Atlantic University. Nigeria.

Topic: - Focus on Nigeria’s Financial Responsibilities in Transnational Media Collaborations. 

Kyari Bukar 

Co-Founder, Trans Sahara Investment Corporation

Chairman (2015 - 2018): Nigerian Economic Summit Group

Topic: - In Conversation with Kyari Bukar: Sustainable Africa-Funded Research - Visiting Possibilities.

Bolanle Austin-Peters

Founder Terra Kulture, Nigerian Cultural Centre, Nigeria

Topic: Arts of the Peoples: Crafting Our Stories - from SARO! THE MUSICAL (2013), to FUNMILAYO (2024).

Prof. Aniko Imre

Professor of Cinematic Arts

University of Southern California. U.S.A

Topic: - European Semi-Peripheral Media and Research Production