Curriculum Vitae Chitralekha Assistant Professor Centre for Media Studies, School of Social Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), New Delhi, India E-mail: d.chitralekha@gmail.com Profile My significant academic contributions include work on contemporary histories of participation in the Maoist insurgency in Jharkhand and Bihar, right wing extremism and violence in Gujarat; and the now mostly unarmed `militancy in Kashmir. I have published in reputed, peer reviewed journals and authored a monograph titled Ordinary People, Extraordinary Violence: Naxalites and Hindu Extremists in India (Routledge 2012). My current project is a book length work that links the `reflexive radicalization of the young in Kashmir, to the uneven but pervasive flows of a troubled modernity, describing its complex interventions with modern education, new media and institutionalized Islam. Education PhD (Sociology), JNU, New Delhi. 2009 Thesis: The Context of Extremism: A Comparative Study of Naxalism and Hindutva in Two Regions of India Supervisor: Prof. Dipankar Gupta M. Phil (Sociology), JNU, New Delhi. 2002 Dissertation: Naxalism in Bihar and Jharkhand: Emerging Contradictions in Ideology and Practice. Supervisor: Prof. Dipankar Gupta M.A (Sociology), Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. 2000 PGD, Indian Institute of Mass Communication, New Delhi. 1994 B.A. (Hons.) English, Delhi University. 1993
Summary of Experience 2012-2016 (ongoing): Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), Delhi Assistant Professor, Centre for Media Studies (CMS), JNU As the Centre s first full-time faculty member, intensively engaged in the collaborative foundational work of building CMS. These include supervision of students enrolled in the Centre s ongoing M. Phil.-PhD and Direct PhD programmes; developing and teaching a diverse basket of compulsory and optional courses for the Centre s M.Phil. programme; designing/ teaching new optional (school level) course at the M.A. level; initiating and running the CMS Lecture Series/ other seminars; administrative support to CMS; additionally academic support to the School as Member, Board of Studies, School of Social Sciences (nominated for a period of three years). 2010-2011: Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Mumbai Assistant Professor, Jamsetji Tata Centre for Disaster Management, TISS Main functions included designing and teaching (4) new courses for the Centre s postgraduate programme; supervision of (M.A.) research dissertations of students; supervision of field internship projects in Delhi and in Kashmir. In addition, conceptualized the driving theme for an International Roundtable on Conflict (Structuring Peace) and led the organization of this event. Engaged with several key allied academic functions of the centre, including as Member, Selection Panel for Admission Interviews and as Member, Marks Moderation Committee. Research Associate with Centre for Media and Cultural Studies, TISS Conducted an independent analysis of data collected by field researchers from different districts across Maharashtra for the Centre s Gender and Governance Project in Maharashtra. Edited the final report, compiled and critically reviewed data and wrote the introductory chapter titled `Women s reservation in PRI (Maharashtra): Implications for Gender and Governance Theory. 2000-2009: Doctoral Research, Centre for the Study of Social Systems, School of Social Sciences, JNU Based on extensive and painstaking ethnographic fieldwork with Naxalite armed cadre across seven districts in Jharkhand and Bihar, and later, participants in the 2002 riots in Gujarat, thesis was concerned with understanding of not just the historical, and formalized ideological contexts to left extremist or communal violence in India, but the often unread particularities of local contexts that inspire ordinary people to extraordinary violence. Located from the standpoint of the perpetrator or foot soldier, its findings contribute to the study of social mobilization, the politics of identity and, with far reaching implications, indicate deep commonalities in the life-worlds, and aspirations of those motivated to kill in the name of a cause in radically disparate contexts. Doctoral work published as a monograph by Routledge in 2012. A preceding M.Phil (JNU 2000-2002) documented emerging contradictions between ideology and practice in the Naxalite movement in Bihar and Jharkhand.
1994-2000: Films; Development and Social Issues Journalism; Media Research and Planning Numerous short films and documentaries for India s longest running television environment and social issues program Living on the Edge, winner of the international Panda Awards (or the Green Oscars), covering issues such as the left insurgency in Jharkhand and Bihar, displacement of adivasis from forested lands, hazardous medical practices in rural and small town India, environmental and wildlife conservation etc. Path breaking cover and other lead stories with Sunday (Ananda Bazar Patrika Group), New Delhi on difficult subjects including documentation of (then unheard) lesbian voices in India, investigations into luxury hospices, public healthcare and medical negligence, illegal import (and death of) of Bangladeshi children for camel races in Saudi Arabia, analyses of child viewership of television horror shows, religious programming on television etc. Early work experience with Mudra DDB Needham, then amongst India s largest and most reputed advertising agencies, on important accounts such as Lever-Johnson, Walt Disney, Larsen and Toubro etc. Was part of a senior team in Mudra DDB responsible for account planning research, strategy and new business development. Worked briefly with Thompson Social (social advertising wing of HTA), Delhi. Publications Books Ordinary People, Extraordinary Violence: Naxalites and Hindu Extremists in India. Routledge: April 2012. Peer Reviewed Journals Purpose versus Function: Which way for Public Libraries in India? Economic and Political Weekly, August 2, 2014, Vol. XLIX, No. 31: 24-27. Censorship for Counterinsurgency: Dilemmas for Citizenship in Kashmir. Economic and Political Weekly, May 24, 2014, Vol. XLIX, No. 21: 55-58. Committed, Opportunists and Drifters - Revisiting the Naxalite Narrative in Jharkhand and Bihar. Contributions to Indian Sociology. October 2010. 44:299-329.
Forthcoming A Reflexive Radicalism: Mapping the New Militancy in Kashmir. Routledge. Fieldwork with Rioters in Gujarat: Problems of Epistemology and Ethics in Maitrayee Chaudhuri and Manish Thakur (eds.) Doing Theory. Orient Blackswan, Delhi. Leader bhi ban sakte hai (I may even become a leader): Maoism, Recognition and Development in Ajay Gudavarthy (ed.) Maoist Politics in India. Sage Publications: New Delhi. Under Revision Coming to be `Maoist : Surviving Tropes, Shifting Meanings. Public Culture. Why does the subject speak? Prejudgement in fieldwork with Naxalites and Hindu Rioters. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute (JRAI). Select Conference Papers Sangh women in the Gujarat riots: Affect, memory and structures of violence. University of Lincoln- JNU- British Academy Conference on `Translations in Feminism: Methodologies, Politics and Affect. Jawaharlal Nehru University, 15 September 2015. Leader bhi ban sakte hai (I may even become a leader): Politics of Recognition in the Naxalite Movement. Seminar on `Understanding Maoist Politics in India. Centre for Political Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University. 24-25 th February 2014. Dramaturgy, performance and approximations of truth: Fieldwork and theory with Naxalites and Hindu Rioters. Workshop on `Theorising the Social: Locations and Hierarchies. Centre for the Study of Social Systems, Jawaharlal Nehru University. 22-23 January 2014. Censorship for Counterinsurgency: Dilemmas for Citizenship in India. Seminar on `Communicating Soft Power: Contrasting Perspectives from India and China. Communication and Media Research Institute (CAMRI), University of Westminster, London. 9-10 September 2013 (paper accepted/ was unable to attend). Learning from Arab Spring: So should we continue to censor media in Kashmir? International Seminar on `Media and Global Affairs: Exploring Indian Media in West Asia. Centre for Media Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi. 19-20 March 2013.
Libraries towards what Purpose? 1 st National Conference of Association of Media Libraries and Archives on `Managing Indian Media Libraries and Archives: Challenges, Opportunities and Best Practices. Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi, 4-5 th February 2013. Education for Peace: Teachers and Students in Kashmir: Perspectives and Possibilities. National Roundtable on Equity, Access and Quality in Education: Challenges before Jammu and Kashmir. WISCOMP (Women in Security, Conflict Management and Peace). Delhi, January 13-14, 2013. Classrooms for Counterpublics: Can teaching Sociology combat extremist propaganda and violence? National Seminar on `Challenges to teaching Sociology in 21 st Century India, Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi, February 2011. Other Publications Numerous writings in mainstream news magazines/ leading English dailies from 1997-2011, including in Sunday (Anandabazar Patrika Group)/ Hindustan Times (Comment page/ Grey Matter)/ Crest (Times of India) Edit Page. Several short films aired on national television with development and social issues programme Living on the Edge. Seminars Chaired/ Invited Lectures Social media New Web Tool for Communication or an Easy Weapon for Pseudo War. Chair, IDSA Fellows Seminar. Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (IDSA), Delhi, July 19, 2013. Naxalism and Communalism: A Structural Comparison. Special Lecture, Conflict Transformation and Peace-Building (CTPB) Programme. Lady Shriram College, Delhi, 2012. Sowing Seeds of Justice - What can the YWCA do? Keynote Address, 28 th National Convention of YWCA, Puri. 7-11 February, 2010. Does it Make Sense to Compare Maoists and Rioters? Invited Lecture, Centre for the Study of Society and Secularism (CSSS), Mumbai. 9 th November, 2009. The Context of Extremism: Comparing Naxalites and Hindu Rioters. Invited Lecture, Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research (IGIDR), Mumbai. 2 nd September, 2009.
Courses (designed/taught) 2014 onwards (JNU) 1. Media Theory (M.Phil Compulsory/ CMS) 2. Media, Politics and Violence (M.A. Optional/ School of Social Sciences) 3. Media, Politics and Violence (M.Phil Optional/ CMS) 2010/ 2011 (TISS) 1. Identity, Culture and Media (M.A. Compulsory) 2. Governance, Law and Policy in Disaster Management (M.A. Compulsory) 3. Conflicts and Conflict Analysis (M.A. Optional) 4. Conflict Transformation, Peace and Just Development (M.A. Optional) Research Projects A Reflexive Radicalisation: Politics and Identities of New Rioters in Kashmir: Engages with and contextualizes the changed dimensions of `militancy in Kashmir in recent years, manifest most visibly in the processions, and stone throwing mobs that thronged the valley in 2010, made up in the main of unarmed youth. The study delves into how, in a deeply layered and troubled context, young people in Kashmir `choose their ideas and their politics, contending with the divergent and often conflicting influences of at one level a pervasive globalization, increasing access to national mass media, virtual literacy, liberal education, and at another level, the simultaneity of continuing (physical) social insulation, alienation, rising unemployment and significantly widening sphere of influence of orthodox Islam. In the midst of these radically disjunct, almost schizophrenic influences, the study contextualizes how Kashmiri nationalism/ militancy relates now not just to the military s physical invasion of private spaces, but to increasing virtual surveillance and its resultant closure of channels of civil discourse. Fieldwork conducted in Srinagar/ Kupwara/ Baramullah/ Budgam districts. Currently in process of writing a book length work based on findings. Development for Counterinsurgency: Premised on extensive field research in CPI (Maoist) strongholds in Jharkhand, Bihar and Chhattisgarh, the study examines the relevance of both the state s retrospective model of human/ economic `development as counterinsurgency method, and dominant civil society discourses - to the lives and aspirations of affected people.
Consultancies 2012. WISCOMP (Women in Security, Conflict Management and Peace), Delhi for their Education for Peace programme in Kashmir. The consultancy involved intensive research in Srinagar city and a few villages in adjoining Budgam district with school-going children, college students, other young adults, and teachers in both government and privately funded educational institutions in Kashmir. The project gathered narratives of both young students, and their teachers in (Indian administered) Kashmir today, both in Srinagar city and its adjoining, mainly rural interiors. My objective was to gain insight into the ideas, aspirations, and (multiple/ often troubled) identities of Kashmiri youth today, and put together an independent documentation of the (range of) envisioning of the complex and deeply contested notion of `peace amongst the young, construction of the `other, relationships with the other/s, ideas of (Kashmiri/other) nationalism on the one hand, and lived experience of Indian/other) nation-state/s and citizenship on the other. 2012. PSBT (Public Service Broadcasting Trust), Delhi: Research advisory support to the Public Service Broadcasting Trust, a non-governmental, not-for-profit organization that works to empower independent documentary filmmakers across the country. Other Awards Jawaharlal Nehru Scholarship for Doctoral Studies (Nehru Memorial Fund Teenmurti) 2004-2006 Merit Scholarship at Indian Institute of Mass Communication, Delhi 1993-1994