Many Voices, Many Worlds

Faiz Ullah is an assistant professor at the School of Media and Cultural Studies, TISS, Mumbai, where he teaches courses in media studies, community media and journalism. He has published research-based articles on the political economy of media, work and labour, documentary film and participatory cultures in various journals and edited volumes. In 2016, he co-directed a short documentary, Under the Open Sky, featuring a young women’s sports initiative in Mumbai, focusing on women’s access to public spaces. In 2017, he co-translated noted Urdu writer Intizar Hussain’s cultural history of Delhi as Once There was a City Named Dilli. His feature pieces and book reviews have appeared in the Book Review India, Biblio, Scroll, the Wire, Mint, the Tribune, Kafila, Raiot and Art India, among others. Anjali Monteiro is a retired professor from the School of Media and Cultural Studies, TISS, Mumbai. She is involved in documentary production, media teaching and research. She played a key role in the setting up of the MA programme in Media and Cultural Studies at TISS, the first of its kind in India, and has done pioneering and innovative work in critical media education in India. Along with Professor K. P. Jayasankar, she has co-directed several award-winning documentaries that have been screened in festivals across the world. Professor Monteiro writes in the broad areas of censorship, documentary film and media and cultural studies and has contributed to scholarly journals and edited volumes. Her most recent publications are A Fly in the Curry: Independent Documentary Film in India, SAGE Publications, 2016, written jointly with Professor K. P. Jayasankar, which won a special mention for the best book on cinema in the National Film Awards, 2016, and DigiNaka: Subaltern Politics and Digital Media in Post-Capitalist India, co-edited with Anjali Monteiro, K. P. Jayasankar, Amit S. Rai (Eds.), Orient BlackSwan, 2020. Professor Monteiro is a recipient of many fellowships. She has been a Howard Thomas Memorial Fellow in Media Studies, a Fulbright visiting lecturer, an Erasmus Mundus scholar and an Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) Visiting Professor, all at various international universities. She is active in campaigns for freedom of expression. K. P. Jayasankar is a retired professor, School of Media and Cultural Studies, TISS, Mumbai. He is involved in media production, teaching and research and has played a key role in setting up the School of Media and Cultural Studies at TISS. Jointly with Professor Anjali Monteiro, he has made over 35 documentaries and won 33 national and international awards at documentary film festivals. Their most recent awards for their Kachchh trilogy are the Basil Wright Prize 2013 for So Heddan So Hoddan (Like Here Like There) and Commendation of the Jury, Intangible Culture Category, 2019, for A Delicate Weave at the Royal Anthropological Institute Festival, United Kingdom. Along with Professor Monteiro, he was an invited artist at the Kochi-Muziris Biennale 2018, where Saacha (The Loom) was showcased as an installation. Professor Jayasankar has served as jury and as festival consultant and director at several film festivals in India. He has mentored many student and fellowship documentary film projects as commissioning editor. His most recent publications co-authored with Professor Monteiro are A Fly in the Curry: Independent Documentary Film in India, SAGE Publications, 2016, for which he received a special mention for the best book on cinema in the President’s National Film Awards, 2016, and DigiNaka: Subaltern Politics and Digital Media in Post-Capitalist India, co-edited with Anjali Monteiro, K. P. Jayasankar, Amit S. Rai (Eds.), 2020. He is a recipient of several scholarships and awards, including the DAAD scholarship at Heidelberg University, the Howard Thomas Memorial Commonwealth fellowship at Goldsmith’s College, London, the Erasmus Mundus scholarship at Lund University and the Key Technology Partner scholarship at University of Technology, Sydney.

Foreword by P. V. Satheesh
Preface
Acknowledgements
Introduction: Other Worlds Are Breathing - Faiz Ullah, Anjali Monteiro, K. P. Jayasankar
SECTION I Waves of Freedom: Community Radio and Its Discontents
Negotiating ‘the Political’ in the Community Radio Sphere: Historical Choices, Contemporary Predicaments - Vinod Pavarala and Kanchan K. Malik
Dalits and Adivasis in Community Radio: Understanding Representation and Participation in Bundelkhand - Bidu Bhusan Dash
Understanding the ‘Community’ in Community Media: Women’s Experiences of Leadership in Mandakini ki Awaaz - Shweta Radhakrishnan
SECTION II In Their Own Moving Image: Community Video Practices
Collaborative Animation: Challenges of Participatory Film-making with the Bhil Community - Nina Sabnani
‘Sangam Shot’: Community Video as Assemblage - Madhavi Manchi
The Disability and Film-making Community in Film Practice-As-Research: The Case of We Make Film - Shweta Ghosh
Dalit Camera: Resisting Caste Atrocities Through Video - Raees Mohammed
Section III. Durable Margins: Asserting Citizenship
Community Media and Potential for Responsive Listenership on Campus - Nikhil Thomas Titus
Muslim Community Media and the Public Sphere: The Contribution of The Milli Gazette and TwoCircles.net - Mahtab Alam
Theatre for Community Education, Capacity Building and Research - Madhura Dutta
Doing Theatre, Fighting Stigma: Budhan Theatre and the Creative Struggle of the Chharas - Dakxinkumar Bajrange
SECTION IV Trajectories of Change: Spaces of Hope
A Delicate Weave: The Place of Local Wisdoms in Community Media Initiatives - Anjali Monteiro and K. P. Jayasankar
Notes on the Political Economy of Community Media: The Self-organizing Power of Communities - Faiz Ullah
Doing Feminist Community Media: Collectivizing in Online Spaces - Shilpa Phadke and Nithila Kanagasabai
‘Divided We Stand, United We Fall’: The Newfound Wisdom of Digital Age Communication Technology - Hemant Babu
Index