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The University of Southampton
Transforming Creativity Research Group

"Connections" Seminar: 'Race, representation and cultural production' Event

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Time:
15:00 - 16:30
Date:
3 September 2018
Venue:
Harvard Lecture Theatre, Winchester School of Art

For more information regarding this event, please email Dr Dan Ashton at d.k.ashton@soton.ac.uk .

Event details

Transforming Creativity Research Group "Connections" Seminar on 'Race, representation and cultural production': Why representation is no longer enough in studies of race and the media: towards a new model of cultural production.

Anamik Saha: “Race, Media and Social Justice”

Even though most people would agree that the media plays an important role in shaping society’s attitude towards race, the study of media and race together is still a relatively marginal field of research. In the sociology of race, analysis of the media features only rarely, with some implying that discussions of issues of cultural representation and commodification are relatively trivial in relation to more urgent questions regarding the forms of exploitation and racial subjugation that racial and ethnic minorities experience.  In critical media studies, with questions of media power and resistance at its core, it is even more surprising to find researchers very rarely venturing into the question of race. In this talk I will make a case for why centralising the media is absolutely crucial for both research into race and racism and critical media studies. I argue that taking the question of race and media more seriously not only contributes to anti-racist struggle, but more broadly, gives us a more nuanced perspective of how ideology and power operates in the cultural industries.

Biography

Anamik Saha is a Lecturer in the Department of Media and Communications, Goldsmiths, University of London and co-convenor of MA Race, Media and Social Justice. After completing his PhD in Sociology at Goldsmiths, Anamik worked in the Institute of Communication Studies at the University of Leeds, firstly as an ESRC Post-Doctoral Research Fellow, then as a Lecturer in Communications. He has held visiting fellowships at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Trinity College, Connecticut. Anamik’s research interests are in race and the media, with a particular focus on cultural production and the cultural industries. He has had his work published in journals including Media, Culture and Society, Ethnic and Racial Studies, and European Journal of Cultural Studies. With David Hesmondhalgh (2013) he co-edited a special issue of Popular Communication on race and ethnicity in cultural production, and with Dave O’Brien, Kim Allen and Sam Friedman (2017) he co-edited a special issue of Cultural Sociology on inequalities in the cultural industries. His new book Race and the Cultural Industries came out in early 2018, published by Polity Press.

 

Lipi Begum: “Creative, British and Bangladeshi: Negotiating diversity, precarity and networks”

Since the 1990s British Bangladeshi’s have been breaking into non-traditional creative sectors and are increasingly becoming renowned for their creativity e.g. Akram Khan and Nadiya Hussain, yet participation of Bangladeshis within the creative economy of the UK is under-recognised. Creative practices of architecture, theatre, dance, poetry, textile and crafts that have a long tradition in Bangladesh and Bengal are lesser-known, understood, or are reflective of the lives of the community in the UK. Bangladesh is the second largest garments and apparel exporter globally, yet representation of British Bangladeshis within the fashion creative industries remain limited. In this talk, I focus on lived experiences of creative Bangladeshis working in London, and the complex challenges and barriers they face in terms of cultural diversity, precarity and artistic labour. I discuss ways forward through a critical lens on networks and skills development.

Biography

Lipi Begum is Programme Leader in Fashion Management at the Winchester School of Art, University of Southampton. She has worked as a United Nations global consultant for the ready-made garment sector in Bangladesh and has developed fashion education globally including for the BGMEA University of Fashion and Technology, Bangladesh. She is co-founder of the Muslin Trust UK, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and Open Space editor for the International Journal of Fashion Studies. She has published widely on cultural diversity, recent publications include: Styling South Asian Youth Cultures: Fashion Media and Society (co-eds: Dasgupta, K. R and Lewis, R. 2018); Beyond the Creative Class, Mapping the Collaborative Economy of Bangladeshi Creative Industries: Case study of Oitij-jo, South Asian Popular Culture Journal (with Anjum, M. Vol 14: 3, 2016).

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