Storytelling for the Digital Era
Course Objective
The idea of a story is central to human communication. Storytelling is an ancient art and culture, going back in time to traditional modes starting with oral narratives to print forms, further in audio- visual mediums, to narratives in digital mediums. With the enhanced intervention of soft- technologies and commercialized media spaces, stories have now entered as transmedia narrative experiences. We narrate stories at several levels, and with the arrival of digital media technologies, the entire idea of storytelling is going through a paradigmatic shift. With storytelling becoming a conscious technique of effective communication in a digital civilization, a new brand of professionals called media influencers have risen who excel in the profession of brand building and are known story-creators for companies and organizations. In South and South East Asia, storytellers have been an integral part, engineering civilizational change. In India, storytellers have been an ancient class of knowledge experts combining an array of sages, seers, and cultural thinkers.
With the innovations in digital media technologies, storytellers in India are going to be relevant in the 21st century with effective knowledge of ethics as well as art of storytelling.
This course will focus on the concept of storytelling in digital world. While the course will focus on understanding storytelling as a traditional cultural art, the choice of genre will largely pertain to digital media – comprising texts, audio, and video stories that are produced in the digital spaces, the aim is to celebrate the art of storytelling in itself.
Special Topic on Introduction to Theories of Digital Humanities
Course Objective
This course is a part of special topics in HSS set, and is titled “Introduction to Theories of Digital Humanities”. It primarily targets the doctoral students in Humanities and Social Sciences, who have an interest in developing their research in thematic areas that concern or are laterally connected to the Digital studies field. The course will attempt at developing a space in order to understand the conceptual threads related to the broad and emerging field of “Digital Humanities”. The attempt in this course is to understand the fundamental theoretical groundings of this field. We will intensively discuss theoretical and analytical texts that open various understandings of the field from the perspective of a humanities and social sciences collective. As a reading group, the plan is to “read” texts in detail and build a case for understanding the term “Digital Humanities” itself. We will begin by assessing the term techne, move into “technology” and further into “Digital technology” and its impact on human race. This course is also an attempt towards moving into a research cluster that creates a common primer for advanced studies in Digital Cultures and New Media.
Tropes of Time and Topography: Select Fiction from South Asia
Course Objective
The course brings fiction from the subcontinent for analysis, reflection, and interpretation. Intensive discussions, seminars, and lectures on select texts from South-Asian region. The focus is on the varied temporal, geographical, and spatial tropes of South Asia. The selected 6 novels for discussion are based out of Sri Lankan, Bangladesh, Indian, Pakistan, and Nepalese regions. Through the course we will question the idea of “South-Asia” as a collective “homogenous” entity, and understand their unique identity as a cluster of vibrant nations, as well as strong individual entities. The content will highlight cultural and literary elements in the novelistic medium. It is designed as a seminar course. Therefore, the discussion has to be led by students with inputs by the instructor on the individual texts.
Digital Cultures and New Media
Course Objective
The core focus of the course is to understand the significance of digital cultures and the role of new media in shaping public life and opinion. The discussion will revolve around creative dissent, strife, and the role of new media in the concerns for ‘peace’ and ‘justice’. The course will be conducted through a series of case-studies, field projects, and seminars.
Some of the modules proposed to be covered in the course are as follows: (a) The story of the print media (case-studies of The Young India, The Harijan, The Telegraph); (b) The role of television (case-study of Doordarshan, case-study of exit polls and television ad-campaigns, the national debates, and the media trials); (c) Films of peace and strife (Issues of Censorship; case-studies of Judgment at Nuremberg, Rang De Basanti, Mr. and Mrs. Iyer, Firaaq); (d) Digital media: (Hyper-text and Blogging; the role of blogs and freedom of expression; photo-journalism and documentaries); (e) Social networks and micro-blogging (case-studies of Jan Lokpal movement, creating a tribe called IIT through social networks and blogs)
Pleasures of English Studies
Course Objective
This course introduces engineering students to the nuances of literary studies. The course targets first year undergraduate students who need an exposure to literature and to language through literary texts. Following are the broad objectives of the course: Develop critical, creative, and analytical thinking abilities appropriate for responding to a variety of rhetorical situations and genres; Foster appreciation and sensitivity for some of the world’s seminal writings and creative projects; introduce the concept of using reading and writing as a process of inquiry; emphasize interactive and active learning. The selections of texts are from some of the best known poets, authors, and essayists of all times.
Research Communication
Course Objective
This course targets the new researchers joining IIT from across engineering and humanities streams. It has aimed to move beyond the stipulated grounds of communication skills and soft-skills. Research Communication is a completely unique system of academic communication and our attempt through this course is at finding a collaborative way of learning. Researchers have distinct needs and completely independent modes of thinking and communicating. Research Communication is tailor-made according to the needs of the academic community.
A Critical Journey Through Select Thoughts and Theories
Course Objective
The course targets doctoral students who would be interested in an intensive journey through the alleys of literary, scientific, philosophical, and anthropological-cultural theories. The objective of this course is to challenge students to trace some major theoretical concerns that have existed within the Western literary and philosophical traditions through ages.
English Studies
Course Objective
This course is designed to provide students with the necessary tools to improve their practical use of communicative English. To this end, the course will include the following four patterns of learning: Listening, Accurate, complete and coherent grasp of basic content in lectures as well as dialogues/ conversations; Speaking, Development of confidence in the use of English language for basic spoken expression at the interpersonal level; Reading, Culturally familiar semi- technical and non- technical readings for the purposes of basic comprehensions of content, as well as advanced comprehension of underlying compositional structures, development of ideas, and modes of assimilation (understanding, retention, analytical/ critical engagement); Writing, Vocabulary (scope and correctness/ appropriateness), correct grammatical expression (agreement, tenses, sentence structures), clear and coherent development of ideas in a composition through an understanding of the process of writing from pre-writing through revision.
Guided Independent and Project Courses, Humanities and Social Sciences (2013-2022)
| S.NO. | COURSE CODE | NAME | TITLE |
| 1. | IN-791 | Annie Rachel and Chirag Trivedi | Dalit Writings with a Focus on Mahatma Gandhi and B.R.Ambedkar |
| 2. |
HS-499 & HS-399 |
Manu Chaudhary | Stories of IITians from Eight IITs |
| 3. | HS-499 | Zainab Patel | Literature and Burma |
| 4. | HS-691 | Akash Nandalal | Network Society and Social Bots |
| 5. | IN-792 | Shivani Sharma | The Idea of Education: A Comparative Analysis of Plato’s The Republic and Dr.S.Radhakrishnan’s Educational Essays |
| 6. | HS-691 | Anurag Soni | Radio, a Cultural Narrative |
| 7. | IN-792 | Aparna Nampoothiri | Humour and New Media |
| 8. | IN-792 | Ankita Nair | Sarangi Media and Cosmopolitanism |
| 9. | IN-792 | C.Bhavya | Orientalism in the Early Twentieth Century Pulp Magazine |
| 10. | IN-792 | Deepika Kumari Meena | Women and their Representation in Television Soaps and New Media: A Study of Rajasthan and Haryana |
| 11. | IN-791 | Sohini Gayen | Representation of Women and Their Concerns: A Study of Mahatma Gandhi’s Young India in Gandhi Heritage Portal |
| 12. | HS-499/HS-399 | Khushboo Saharawat, Pratik Kayal, and Sahit Jayakrishna | Analysis of Climate Stories in Media Cultures |
| 13. | HS-399 | Mrinal Anand | Analyzing Climate Stories in Media Cultures |
| 14. | HS-499 | Khushboo Saharawat | Media Representation of Climate Change: An Analysis of 2016 News Reports |
| 15. | HS-499 (Summer Term Project) | Parth Daga and Prankush Agarwal | Water, Peace, and the Indian Context: A Digital Story |