Communication Studies Program Faculty - Dr. Shakuntala Rao

Communication Studies Faculty — Dr. Shakuntala Rao

Professor

Shakuntala Rao joined the Department in 1992 after completing her Ph.D. at University of Massachusetts-Amherst. Shakuntala's research and teaching interests are the areas of global media, journalism ethics, postcolonial theory, and popular culture. She has published extensively and influentially in both Communication and interdisciplinary journals such as Interventions: Journal of Postcolonial Studies, Women's Studies International Forum, Journal of Communication, Global Media Journal, Communication Review, Journalism: Theory, Practice, Method, Howard Journal of Communication, Journal of Broadcast and Electronic Media, American Journalism Review, Journal of Communication Inquiry, Asian Journal of Communication, and Journal for the Society of Social Research.

Shakuntala's past research has focused on the intersections between media studies and postcolonial theory. Her frequently cited article, "Where is the study of empire? Connecting international communication to postcolonial theory," published in the Journal of International Communication, dealt with issues of hybridity, identity, and colonial history. Her articles on media and postcolonial theory have appeared in the journals Global Media and Communication, Visual Communication Quarterly, and in the anthology, Media Ethics Beyond Borders (Rutledge).

Her current research has two foci. As part of a research group comprised of Herman Wasserman (Rhodes University, South Africa), Clifford Christians (U of Illinois-Urbana), and Stephen Ward (U of Wisconsin-Madison), Shakuntala has been working on a project titled, "Towards Global Media Ethics: Exploring new theoretical perspectives." The group jointly authored a monograph-length paper which appeared as a special issue in Ecquid Novi: African Journalism Studies. The group has also organized and hosted Roundtables for scholars and journalists at Stellenbosch University (South Africa) and Zayed University (Dubai, United Arab Emerates).  Her recent work in global media ethics have appeared in the journals Journalism Studies and Journal for Mass Media Ethics, and presented at International Communication Association conference (Singapore), Russian Communication Association conference (Moscow), International Association for Mass Communication Research conference (Instanbul, Turkey), Global Studies conference (Dubai), and MIT7: Media in Transition conference (Cambridge, Mass.). Her most recent article (co-authored with Pradeep Weerasinghe, University of Colombo, Sri Lanka) on global media ethics and South Asian journalism was published in the journal, Journalism Practice and a book chapter in the anthology, The Handbook of Global Communication and Media Ethics (Wiley-Blackwell). She is the co-editor (with Muhammad Ayish, Sharjah University, UAE) of a special issue of Journalism Studies tiled "Explorations in Global Media Ethics."

Shakuntala's second area of research is the globalization of the Indian film industry, popularly referred to as Bollywood. Her most recent scholarly work on Bollywood is a book chapter titled, "Shah Rukh Khan: A bollywood superstar and an icon of the postcolonial nation" which appeared in the anthology, Celebrity Colonialism: Fame, Representation, and Power in (Post)Colonial Cultures (Cambridge Scholars Press) and an article titled, "Glocalization of Bollywood" published in the Journal of International and Intercultural Communication. Her recent talks on Bollywood were at the Department of Cinema Studies, Universidad Central de Venezuela (Caracas, Venezuela), Apeejay Institute of Mass Communication (New Delhi, India), and at the College of Culture and Communication, Zhejiang Wanli University (Ningbo, China). She has written articles and columns on Bollywood for magazines, websites, and newspapers such as South Asia (Lahore, Pakistan), Alternatives Internationales (Paris, France), Center for Journalism Ethics on the web (Madison, Wisconsin), The Hoot: Watching Media in the Subcontinent (Delhi, India), and The Tribune (Chandigarh, India).

Shakuntala has received several grants and awards including the Ford Foundation Faculty Award, Senior Fulbright Scholarship, Fellow at the Stellenbosch Institute of Advanced Study (South Africa), Fellow at the Ethics Colloquia at the University of Missouri, Nuala Drescher Award, and the Presidential Research Grant. She has been on the board of peer-reviewers for Senior Fulbright Scholars Program in South Asia and has been involved in training and in conducting workshops on ethics for print and television journalists in India, Pakistan, South Africa, and Kazakhstan.

Shakuntala lives in Burlington, Vermont, and enjoys playing tennis with her son.

Education:

• Ph.D., University of Massachusetts at Amherst (1993)
• M.A., Pennsylvania State University
• B.A., University of Delhi

Teaching & Research Areas:

• International Communication
• Media Ethics
• Popular Culture
• Postcolonial and Feminist Theory

Contact Shakuntala Rao

Office: Yokum 108
Phone: (518) 564-4291
E-mail: Shakuntala.Rao@plattsburgh.edu