Raman, Usha
There’s been a lot of talk in various forums about decolonizing media and communication studies and bringing more colour and diversity to scholarship. Alongside, various International bodies have been trying to bring in new perspectives and fresh voices to disciplinary conversations. As a long-time member of IAMCR, my effort as a potential Executive Board member and in the role of Vice-President would be to contribute in this direction. I have been involved with the Association for the better part of four decades, having attended my first conference in New Delhi in 1985, and intermittently over the years. When my Department had the opportunity to host the annual conference in India in 2014, as Co-Chair of the local organizing committee, I saw how things worked from the “inside” so to speak. I believe that such global organizations have a role to play not only as fora for intellectual exchange, but also in fostering open and collaborative academic systems—thus the need for a geographically and culturally diverse leadership. This, combined with my interest in how pedagogic and research processes draw from and give to disciplinary movements, is what motivates me to seek consideration for the role of Vice President of IAMCR.
Nominated by
- Pradip Thomas, University of Queensland, Australia
- Vinod Pavarala, University of Hyderabad, India
- Kanchan Malik, University of Hyderabad, India
- Kaarle Nordenstreng, Tampere University, Finland
- Marjan de Bruin, Jamaica
