Higher Education in Media
Contributors/collaborators are welcome
Sunday, May 30, 2010
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Monday, May 03, 2010
Tuesday, April 06, 2010
INTERNSHIP DETAILS FOR 2nd FEP students
IMPORTANT- THE INTERNSHIP DIARIES ARE A MUST.... ENTRIES MADE IN ANY OTHER NOTEBOOK WILL NOT BE COUNTED.
(refer facebook- FEP 2011 group)
Internship Guidelines
· The students of the Communicative English programme are required to undertake an internship of not less the 30 working days at any one of the following media organizations-
o Television,
o Radio organizations;
o PR firms,
o Advertising agencies,
o Event management companies;
o Theatre groups/organizations;
o Any other organization approved by the programme coordinator.
· The internship, which is a mandatory requirement for the completion of the Communicative English programme is to be undertaken during the fourth semester break.
· Faculty members from the department will be assigned to groups of students as guides.
o 08D4401- 08D4418 – Ms. Abhaya, (abhaya.nb@christuniversity.in)
o 08D4419 - 08D4434 – Ms. Tana, (tana.trivedijoshi@christuniversity.in)
o 08D4435 - 08D4448 – Dr. Sagarika, (sagarika.golder@christuniversity.in)
o 08D4449 - 08D4463 – Mr. Anil Pinto, (anil.pinto@christuniversity.in)
o 08D4464 - 08D4479 – Ms. Renu, (renu.elizabeth@christuniversity.in)
· The students will have to be in touch with the guides during the internship period either by meeting them in person, speaking over the phone and through the internet.
· The students will have to give the guide weekly reports of the work they have done at the organization.
· Regular contact with the guide, submission of regular weekly reports and maintaining regular internship diary/record carry 10 marks.
· At the place of internship, the students are advised to be in constant touch with their mentors.
· The students should work towards creating a portfolio of the work they have done for the organization.
· At the end of the required period of internship the students will submit a written report of their internship. The report should be submitted when the University opens for the V semester.
Format of weekly report to be emailed regularly to the guide
Joining report:
Personal Details
· Your contact no (mobile):
· Your personal email:
· Your current address:
· Home Phone:
Organisation Details
· Name:
· Address:
· Phone:
· Mail:
Job Details
· Department in which you are appointed:
· Job profile:
· Working Hours:
· Name of your immediate boss:
· Email:
· Mobile:
Ist weekend report
Please include whatever is relevant out of the following details in this report. A brief write-up on each topic is fine:
Rough organizational structure. (Owner, MD, Heads,.....)
Your time schedule
Details of your responsibility in the organization/department
Summary of your responsibilities and daily programme
Projects that you have completed/on going in this week
New leanings from the organistion
Relationship with your immediate boss in the organisation
Difficulties that you have faced in organisation
to interact with boss, management, team workers...
to understand the industry working situation
to keep time
travel and food
Team work
Challenges
Plan for the next week, if any.
Any other relevant detail.
IInd weekend report
Please include whatever is relevant out of the following details in this report. A brief write-up on each topic is fine:
· Project done/in progress
· Include the links/evidence of your projects/article (if any)
· Organisational work culture...
· New learnings/Innovative ideas
· Challenges/difficulties that you are facing in the organisation/team if any.
· some details on next project/s
· Any other relevant detail.
IIIrd weekend report
Please include whatever is relevant out of the following details in this report. A brief write-up on each topic is fine:
Project done/in progress
Include the links/evidence of your projects/article (if any)
How do you understand/look at the organization today as compared to your first impression?
New learnings/Innovative ideas
Challenges/difficulties that you are facing in the organisation/team if any.
some details on next project/s
How do you compare the class room learning (theory and practical) with industry exposure
Any other relevant detail.
Things that you need to get from the organization
Notes,
Rough draft of work done
Cuttings of printed articles
Photographs
Proof of ideas/your contribution
Note- If the organization does not permit students to keep copies of their work (some client work may be confidential), a letter describing the work done by the student must be provided by the organization.
In case, evidence is not available for the work/soft skills, the student shall get letters duly signed from the mentor or persons under which they have worked. For this the student needs to consult with the guide.
Your internship diary must be maintained everyday according to the format given and duly signed by your mentor every day. In case getting a signature everyday is difficult get it signed at the end of each week.
The report along with other mention items should also contain a letter in a sealed envelope from the organization, evaluating the students’ work. So please remember to get a letter from the organization before you leave.
Format of the Final Report
The report shall have the following parts.
· Title Page
· Declaration of the Student
· Declaration of the Guide (get signature from HOD and Guide from University)
· Letter from college
· Certificate/letter from Organization
· Acknowledgments
· Content page
· Introduction to the Course
· Aims and Objectives of the Internship
· Reasons for choosing the organization
· Profile of the Organization
· Organizational structure
· Job Description
o Appointment
o Duration
· Tasks undertaken
· Task Analysis
· Challenges/limitations of the Internship
· Retrospection/Conclusion
· Appendices (Attested portfolio of work done in the organization)
Style Sheet: The format for the internship report
Title page: Centered and Bold – 14 & 12 – Times New Roman
Logo of the college in title page: black, uniform in size
Page numbers: Roman numerals
I. Student’s declaration
II. Declaration of the guide
III. Letter from the College
IV. Employer’s letter (letter of successful completion)
V. Acknowledgement
Content page
· Do not number this page
· CONTENTS : bold +centered + caps
· Items: regular
Introduction to the Course
Page number begins form this page
Aims and objectives of the internship
Reasons for the choice of work place
Keep it precise
Profile of the work place
Max 3 pages
Brief history
Important facts
Organizational structure
Job description/nature of work
Duration of internship
Manner of employment
Working hours
Reported to
Assigned tasks by
Worked under/Mentor in the organization
Areas of work
Task and analyses
· Divide the task into categories and describe them: analyze all the tasks together
· Main title: Tasks And Analyses : 14 + bold + centered
· Subtitle : Tasks : 12 + bold + left aligned
· Task description and the analysis should be in third person and passive voice. (The intern was…)
Task analysis
What did you learn?
What skills did you acquire?
How did your course help you to do the work?
Challenges faced/Limitations of the internship
List the challenges you faced during the internship
Conclusion and retrospection
Narrative in first person.
Max 2 pages
Appendices
Signed proof of all your work done
The students must discuss with the guide the contents of appendix.
Any evidence in your appendix which is not signed is invalid.
Neatly label your appendices I, II, III, IV…
Proof read the entire report,
Page numbers: centre + bottom,
Paragraphs should be justified,
For bibliography footnotes follow MLA Style.
Headings- size 14, in bold and underlined
Body Font- Times New Roman, size 12, 1.5 spacing.
Dates of submission
First draft due on June 15th , 2010
Second draft due on July 1st , 2010
Final Reports due on July 15th , 2010
(refer facebook- FEP 2011 group)
Internship Guidelines
· The students of the Communicative English programme are required to undertake an internship of not less the 30 working days at any one of the following media organizations-
o Television,
o Radio organizations;
o PR firms,
o Advertising agencies,
o Event management companies;
o Theatre groups/organizations;
o Any other organization approved by the programme coordinator.
· The internship, which is a mandatory requirement for the completion of the Communicative English programme is to be undertaken during the fourth semester break.
· Faculty members from the department will be assigned to groups of students as guides.
o 08D4401- 08D4418 – Ms. Abhaya, (abhaya.nb@christuniversity.in)
o 08D4419 - 08D4434 – Ms. Tana, (tana.trivedijoshi@christuniversity.in)
o 08D4435 - 08D4448 – Dr. Sagarika, (sagarika.golder@christuniversity.in)
o 08D4449 - 08D4463 – Mr. Anil Pinto, (anil.pinto@christuniversity.in)
o 08D4464 - 08D4479 – Ms. Renu, (renu.elizabeth@christuniversity.in)
· The students will have to be in touch with the guides during the internship period either by meeting them in person, speaking over the phone and through the internet.
· The students will have to give the guide weekly reports of the work they have done at the organization.
· Regular contact with the guide, submission of regular weekly reports and maintaining regular internship diary/record carry 10 marks.
· At the place of internship, the students are advised to be in constant touch with their mentors.
· The students should work towards creating a portfolio of the work they have done for the organization.
· At the end of the required period of internship the students will submit a written report of their internship. The report should be submitted when the University opens for the V semester.
Format of weekly report to be emailed regularly to the guide
Joining report:
Personal Details
· Your contact no (mobile):
· Your personal email:
· Your current address:
· Home Phone:
Organisation Details
· Name:
· Address:
· Phone:
· Mail:
Job Details
· Department in which you are appointed:
· Job profile:
· Working Hours:
· Name of your immediate boss:
· Email:
· Mobile:
Ist weekend report
Please include whatever is relevant out of the following details in this report. A brief write-up on each topic is fine:
Rough organizational structure. (Owner, MD, Heads,.....)
Your time schedule
Details of your responsibility in the organization/department
Summary of your responsibilities and daily programme
Projects that you have completed/on going in this week
New leanings from the organistion
Relationship with your immediate boss in the organisation
Difficulties that you have faced in organisation
to interact with boss, management, team workers...
to understand the industry working situation
to keep time
travel and food
Team work
Challenges
Plan for the next week, if any.
Any other relevant detail.
IInd weekend report
Please include whatever is relevant out of the following details in this report. A brief write-up on each topic is fine:
· Project done/in progress
· Include the links/evidence of your projects/article (if any)
· Organisational work culture...
· New learnings/Innovative ideas
· Challenges/difficulties that you are facing in the organisation/team if any.
· some details on next project/s
· Any other relevant detail.
IIIrd weekend report
Please include whatever is relevant out of the following details in this report. A brief write-up on each topic is fine:
Project done/in progress
Include the links/evidence of your projects/article (if any)
How do you understand/look at the organization today as compared to your first impression?
New learnings/Innovative ideas
Challenges/difficulties that you are facing in the organisation/team if any.
some details on next project/s
How do you compare the class room learning (theory and practical) with industry exposure
Any other relevant detail.
Things that you need to get from the organization
Notes,
Rough draft of work done
Cuttings of printed articles
Photographs
Proof of ideas/your contribution
Note- If the organization does not permit students to keep copies of their work (some client work may be confidential), a letter describing the work done by the student must be provided by the organization.
In case, evidence is not available for the work/soft skills, the student shall get letters duly signed from the mentor or persons under which they have worked. For this the student needs to consult with the guide.
Your internship diary must be maintained everyday according to the format given and duly signed by your mentor every day. In case getting a signature everyday is difficult get it signed at the end of each week.
The report along with other mention items should also contain a letter in a sealed envelope from the organization, evaluating the students’ work. So please remember to get a letter from the organization before you leave.
Format of the Final Report
The report shall have the following parts.
· Title Page
· Declaration of the Student
· Declaration of the Guide (get signature from HOD and Guide from University)
· Letter from college
· Certificate/letter from Organization
· Acknowledgments
· Content page
· Introduction to the Course
· Aims and Objectives of the Internship
· Reasons for choosing the organization
· Profile of the Organization
· Organizational structure
· Job Description
o Appointment
o Duration
· Tasks undertaken
· Task Analysis
· Challenges/limitations of the Internship
· Retrospection/Conclusion
· Appendices (Attested portfolio of work done in the organization)
Style Sheet: The format for the internship report
Title page: Centered and Bold – 14 & 12 – Times New Roman
Logo of the college in title page: black, uniform in size
Page numbers: Roman numerals
I. Student’s declaration
II. Declaration of the guide
III. Letter from the College
IV. Employer’s letter (letter of successful completion)
V. Acknowledgement
Content page
· Do not number this page
· CONTENTS : bold +centered + caps
· Items: regular
Introduction to the Course
Page number begins form this page
Aims and objectives of the internship
Reasons for the choice of work place
Keep it precise
Profile of the work place
Max 3 pages
Brief history
Important facts
Organizational structure
Job description/nature of work
Duration of internship
Manner of employment
Working hours
Reported to
Assigned tasks by
Worked under/Mentor in the organization
Areas of work
Task and analyses
· Divide the task into categories and describe them: analyze all the tasks together
· Main title: Tasks And Analyses : 14 + bold + centered
· Subtitle : Tasks : 12 + bold + left aligned
· Task description and the analysis should be in third person and passive voice. (The intern was…)
Task analysis
What did you learn?
What skills did you acquire?
How did your course help you to do the work?
Challenges faced/Limitations of the internship
List the challenges you faced during the internship
Conclusion and retrospection
Narrative in first person.
Max 2 pages
Appendices
Signed proof of all your work done
The students must discuss with the guide the contents of appendix.
Any evidence in your appendix which is not signed is invalid.
Neatly label your appendices I, II, III, IV…
Proof read the entire report,
Page numbers: centre + bottom,
Paragraphs should be justified,
For bibliography footnotes follow MLA Style.
Headings- size 14, in bold and underlined
Body Font- Times New Roman, size 12, 1.5 spacing.
Dates of submission
First draft due on June 15th , 2010
Second draft due on July 1st , 2010
Final Reports due on July 15th , 2010
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Cultural Studies and Cynicism
My course has technically come to the end. All the classes are over, except for one, and now, I have only the dissertation left. Over the last few weeks, I have been feeling a slight uneasiness towards the discipline of Cultural Studies. I will try to establish why.
The USP of Cultural Studies is that is under constant critique, that it critiques itself, and the world, constantly, at every moment, instant and oppurtunity. This is a good thing, because a closure means an end; a definite and certain end to critique, analysis and therefore, an end to challenging existing norms of production of knowledge and power. This is also necessary, because himan society can never reach a point of complete and unhindered Utopia where everyone has what they want and are content, and perfectly happy, constituting a perfectly happy planet!
However, there are moments of triumph; moments that deserve celebration. There are moments of achievement, when something theory has been striving for for so long has actually been percieved and given importance in practice. Take the establishment of the field of Cultural Studies itself, for example. It did not suddenly crop up into the world and begin existing in a benign and easy manner. It had to face much struggle, and much opposition from people who thought otherwise (or didn't think at all) and fight for its existence, before it was accepted as a discipline or a field, whatever the technical name one might attribute to it. But the fact that such a discipline is able to sit comfortably within a system, and critique that system from within is hardly acknowledged or celebrated today. Yes, it is another move towards the ideal, and we are getting there, but not yet... It is in persistent unrest. Critique is unrest. Critique is temporary, becuase once the thing that is critiqued changes, the new thing can be critiqued, and so on...
Sometimes, I feel like this unrest can even turn into cynicism. I know it isn't. I know that it is not the intention. But it is critiquing to the point of dissilusionment. At the end, (if there is an end at all), it doesn't allow any lend itself to an absolute answer, because it is so scared of the fact that it can lead to a different domination by a different kind of power, which can be dangerous, and therefore, unhealthy for the system. So, I feel like I'm stuck in this whirlwind of critiques, with no way out, with the structure of the discipline itself restricting it from looking for an end, in this mess and chaos, with no way out, and with no answers. Dissilusioning to the point of cynical. Don't know where to go from here.
Monday, March 29, 2010
4th FEP- Radio question paper pattern
Section A - 3 out of 4 (10 mks each)
1. DJ Script/ Magazine programme
2. Radio Documentary/ Interview
3. Radio drama/ Talk
4. News
Section B- 2 out of 3 (5 mks each)
1. 2 theory questions
2. PSA/Ad
Section C- 5 outof 7 (2 mks each)
Refer terms I posted!
All the best :)
1. DJ Script/ Magazine programme
2. Radio Documentary/ Interview
3. Radio drama/ Talk
4. News
Section B- 2 out of 3 (5 mks each)
1. 2 theory questions
2. PSA/Ad
Section C- 5 outof 7 (2 mks each)
Refer terms I posted!
All the best :)
Sunday, March 28, 2010
4TH FEP-Radio Section C questions
Radio Glossary
· Actuality: live recording of a real event, sounds recorded on location
· Ad lib: unscripted announcement, off-the-cuff remark
· Anchor: person acting as the main presenter in a programme involving several components.
· Back –announcement: where the names and details of an interview or record are given immediately after the item.
· Back –timing: the process of timing a live programme backwards from its intended closing time to ensure it ends on time.
· Byte: a string of 8, 16, 32 or more binary electrical pulses or bits representing a specific piece of data
· Cd: compact disc. Digital recording and playback medium.
· Copy: written material offered for broadcasting e.g news copy, advertising copy.
· Cue: the prearranged signal to begin – visual light or gesture. Verbal. Musical or scripted words
· Cue, in and out: the first and last words (effects or music) of a programme or item.
· Cume: cumulating audience measurement.
· DAT: digital audio tape. Sound recording and playback system in digital mode using small tape cassette and rotating heads – as in a video recorder.
· Dry run: programme rehearsal, especially drama not necessarily in the studio and without music, effect or movement to mic.
· Log: written record of station output. Can also be recorded audio.
· Multi-tracking: two or more audio tarcks are recorded separately and subsequently mixed for the final result.
· Package: edited programme or insert offered complete with links ready for transmission
· Pick – up: gramophone record reproducing components which convert the mechanical variations into electrical energy.
· Post-echo: the immediate repeating at lowlevel of sounds replayed from a tape recording.
· PPL: phonographic performance ltd. Organization of british record manufactuers to control performance and usage rights.
· Prefade: the facility for hearing and measuring a source before opening its fader, generally on a studio mixing desk.
· Promo: on-air promotion of station or programme.
· Reach: term used in audience measurement describing the total number of different listeners to a station or service within a specified period. Most often expressed as a percentage of the potential audience. Weekly reach.
· Running order: list of programme items and timings in their chronological sequence.
· Sibilance: an emphasis on the‘s’ sounds in speech. May be accentuated or reduced by type and position of microphone.
· Slug: short identifying title given to a short item, particularly a news insert. Also catchline
· Spot fx: practical sound effects created live in the studio
· Sweep: the process of audience survey for a particular station or service within a given time scale.
· Traffic: station department responsible for scheduling and billing commericial advertising.
· Trail: broadcast items advertising forthcoming programme. On- air promotion or promo.
· Actuality: live recording of a real event, sounds recorded on location
· Ad lib: unscripted announcement, off-the-cuff remark
· Anchor: person acting as the main presenter in a programme involving several components.
· Back –announcement: where the names and details of an interview or record are given immediately after the item.
· Back –timing: the process of timing a live programme backwards from its intended closing time to ensure it ends on time.
· Byte: a string of 8, 16, 32 or more binary electrical pulses or bits representing a specific piece of data
· Cd: compact disc. Digital recording and playback medium.
· Copy: written material offered for broadcasting e.g news copy, advertising copy.
· Cue: the prearranged signal to begin – visual light or gesture. Verbal. Musical or scripted words
· Cue, in and out: the first and last words (effects or music) of a programme or item.
· Cume: cumulating audience measurement.
· DAT: digital audio tape. Sound recording and playback system in digital mode using small tape cassette and rotating heads – as in a video recorder.
· Dry run: programme rehearsal, especially drama not necessarily in the studio and without music, effect or movement to mic.
· Log: written record of station output. Can also be recorded audio.
· Multi-tracking: two or more audio tarcks are recorded separately and subsequently mixed for the final result.
· Package: edited programme or insert offered complete with links ready for transmission
· Pick – up: gramophone record reproducing components which convert the mechanical variations into electrical energy.
· Post-echo: the immediate repeating at lowlevel of sounds replayed from a tape recording.
· PPL: phonographic performance ltd. Organization of british record manufactuers to control performance and usage rights.
· Prefade: the facility for hearing and measuring a source before opening its fader, generally on a studio mixing desk.
· Promo: on-air promotion of station or programme.
· Reach: term used in audience measurement describing the total number of different listeners to a station or service within a specified period. Most often expressed as a percentage of the potential audience. Weekly reach.
· Running order: list of programme items and timings in their chronological sequence.
· Sibilance: an emphasis on the‘s’ sounds in speech. May be accentuated or reduced by type and position of microphone.
· Slug: short identifying title given to a short item, particularly a news insert. Also catchline
· Spot fx: practical sound effects created live in the studio
· Sweep: the process of audience survey for a particular station or service within a given time scale.
· Traffic: station department responsible for scheduling and billing commericial advertising.
· Trail: broadcast items advertising forthcoming programme. On- air promotion or promo.
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Essay- Australian Literature and Candian Comparison
A short summary made by Abhaya ma'am.
The Field
Highlights the similarities between Canada and Australia
Both are English – language, culture, politics- dominated nations
Indigenous cultures have been ignored
British dominance has given way to the dominance of US
Ian Willison points out the similarities between North America and Australia; these nine points are important – from here the writers trace other books that compare formation of Australian and Canadian cultures; as they discuss these books they summarize the points the books make. This part explains the critical legacy Diana Brydon and Helen Tiffin inherit. They also say how and why they move from the already established critical stance.
The questions that get answered in these paragraphs
Why Australia and Canada should be studied together?
Common elements between Canada and Australia
Problems of Critical Stance: Locating the Critic
This section is little complicated because arguments of critics from Australia and Canada are combined. So read carefully.
Primarily, the understanding/construction of ‘home’ is highlighted
A transplanted culture wants to create a home in the image of earlier home in a different geographical location; the topography comes in the way of recreation
Colonial enterprise, which is run for the benefit of the others, does not allow any development.
(Shift from sense of home to finding home in literature and how this search for home through writing has shaped the national literature in Canada and Australia)
In such a scenario how do writers negotiate to develop their sense of style, genres
Home does not just refer to sense of belonging; what they inherited as literature, style, genres…
Nationalist position – argues that the writers should anchor themselves in their sense of place; interpret the world from that position; should not mimic the English literature
Internationalist position – assumes a universal stance; exposure to the best that has been produced will enable the colonial writer to write well – the assumption is best comes from the ‘west’ – the writer will position himself outside his own provincial culture
After indicating these two positions the writers list out the important writers from both the countries who belong to which group.
Locations in Time and Space: Literary History and Geography
This section focus on the anglo-centric images and symbols that Canada and Australia inherit and how this legacy affect the writing. Premises for writing of literary histories are considered for discussion
The Postcolonial Context
The problems both the countries face as they struggle for Self-definition – finding real Australia/Canada in the ‘wild’, ‘bush’, ‘outback’ instead of city – still both are urban societies
Comparisons
Canada’s efforts to differentiate oneself from the US
Australia and the implication of its geographical location.
The Field
Highlights the similarities between Canada and Australia
Both are English – language, culture, politics- dominated nations
Indigenous cultures have been ignored
British dominance has given way to the dominance of US
Ian Willison points out the similarities between North America and Australia; these nine points are important – from here the writers trace other books that compare formation of Australian and Canadian cultures; as they discuss these books they summarize the points the books make. This part explains the critical legacy Diana Brydon and Helen Tiffin inherit. They also say how and why they move from the already established critical stance.
The questions that get answered in these paragraphs
Why Australia and Canada should be studied together?
Common elements between Canada and Australia
Problems of Critical Stance: Locating the Critic
This section is little complicated because arguments of critics from Australia and Canada are combined. So read carefully.
Primarily, the understanding/construction of ‘home’ is highlighted
A transplanted culture wants to create a home in the image of earlier home in a different geographical location; the topography comes in the way of recreation
Colonial enterprise, which is run for the benefit of the others, does not allow any development.
(Shift from sense of home to finding home in literature and how this search for home through writing has shaped the national literature in Canada and Australia)
In such a scenario how do writers negotiate to develop their sense of style, genres
Home does not just refer to sense of belonging; what they inherited as literature, style, genres…
Nationalist position – argues that the writers should anchor themselves in their sense of place; interpret the world from that position; should not mimic the English literature
Internationalist position – assumes a universal stance; exposure to the best that has been produced will enable the colonial writer to write well – the assumption is best comes from the ‘west’ – the writer will position himself outside his own provincial culture
After indicating these two positions the writers list out the important writers from both the countries who belong to which group.
Locations in Time and Space: Literary History and Geography
This section focus on the anglo-centric images and symbols that Canada and Australia inherit and how this legacy affect the writing. Premises for writing of literary histories are considered for discussion
The Postcolonial Context
The problems both the countries face as they struggle for Self-definition – finding real Australia/Canada in the ‘wild’, ‘bush’, ‘outback’ instead of city – still both are urban societies
Comparisons
Canada’s efforts to differentiate oneself from the US
Australia and the implication of its geographical location.
4th Semester Post colonial Literatures paper portions
Poems-
1. This Southern Land of Ours
2.Australia
3. The House Left in English
4. On the Borders
5. Cry of the Hillborn
6. In the Secular Night
7. Come Thunder
8. Cry of birth
9. New York
Play- The Summer of the Seventeenth Doll
Novel- Arrow of God
Essays-
1. Introduction to post- colonial literatures
2. Australian Canadian Comaprison
3. Towards a National Culture
1. This Southern Land of Ours
2.Australia
3. The House Left in English
4. On the Borders
5. Cry of the Hillborn
6. In the Secular Night
7. Come Thunder
8. Cry of birth
9. New York
Play- The Summer of the Seventeenth Doll
Novel- Arrow of God
Essays-
1. Introduction to post- colonial literatures
2. Australian Canadian Comaprison
3. Towards a National Culture
Friday, March 19, 2010
MPhil Media Studies: RMS236 Research Methods in Media Studies Course Plan
Course Introduction: This course will hone the reading, writing and analytical skills of the participants. Teaching methods would include lectures, presentations, and workshops. The course will also involve intensive reading and writing exercises.
Course Objectives
• To introduce the participants to the various research methods in media studies.
• To equip students with the skill of analysis
• To hone research writing skills
Session 1: Notions of Research
Session 2: Visual Methodologies
Session 3: Ethnographic Methods
Session 4: Interviewing
Session 5: Proposal Writing
Session 6: Proposal Analysis
Session 7: Proposal Analysis
Session 8: Exposition, Compare and Contrast
Session 9: Cause and Effect; Argument
Session 10: Discourse Analysis
Session 11: Oral History as a Research Method
Session 12: Archival Methods
Session 13: Research on Audiences
Session 14: Research on Institutions
Session 15: Quantitative Methods
Session 16: Designing Quantitative Research
Session 17: Research on Texts
Session 18: Researching Messages: Rhetorical, Cultural,
Session 19: : Researching Messages: Psychoanalytic, Feminist, Queer
Session 20: Researching Media Industries
Note:
• Each session is of two hours duration.
• Writing sessions will draw upon the work of MAR Habib in research writing. The sessions will follow workshop methodology
CIA I – A short research paper of about five pages on a topic of your choice.
CIA II - Presentation and report based on sessions
CIA III – Presentation and report based on sessions
Note: The reports should summarise the presentation and discussion in respective seminars. The reports should strictly adhere to standard academic writing formats.
Bibliography
Bertrand, Ina and Peter Hughes. Media Research Methods: Audiences, Institutions, and Texts. New York: Palgrave-Macmillan, 2005.
Gibaldi, Joseph. MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers. 6th ed. New Delhi: East-West Press. 2004.
Gibaldi, Joseph. MLA Style Manual and Guide to Scholarly Publishing. 3rd ed. New York: Modern Language Association, 2008.
Griffin, Gabriele. ed. Research Methods for English Studies. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2005.
Ott, Brian L. and Robert L. Mack. Critical Media Studies: An Introduction. Oxford: Wiley Blackwell, 2010.
Priest, Susanna Horning. Doing Media Research: An Introduction. 2 ed. Los Angeles: Sage, 2010.
Somekh, Bridget and Cathy Lewin. eds. Research Methods in Social Sciences. New Delhi: Sage/Vistaar, 2005.
The Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association. 5th ed. New York: American Psychological Association. 2001.
Course Objectives
• To introduce the participants to the various research methods in media studies.
• To equip students with the skill of analysis
• To hone research writing skills
Session 1: Notions of Research
Session 2: Visual Methodologies
Session 3: Ethnographic Methods
Session 4: Interviewing
Session 5: Proposal Writing
Session 6: Proposal Analysis
Session 7: Proposal Analysis
Session 8: Exposition, Compare and Contrast
Session 9: Cause and Effect; Argument
Session 10: Discourse Analysis
Session 11: Oral History as a Research Method
Session 12: Archival Methods
Session 13: Research on Audiences
Session 14: Research on Institutions
Session 15: Quantitative Methods
Session 16: Designing Quantitative Research
Session 17: Research on Texts
Session 18: Researching Messages: Rhetorical, Cultural,
Session 19: : Researching Messages: Psychoanalytic, Feminist, Queer
Session 20: Researching Media Industries
Note:
• Each session is of two hours duration.
• Writing sessions will draw upon the work of MAR Habib in research writing. The sessions will follow workshop methodology
CIA I – A short research paper of about five pages on a topic of your choice.
CIA II - Presentation and report based on sessions
CIA III – Presentation and report based on sessions
Note: The reports should summarise the presentation and discussion in respective seminars. The reports should strictly adhere to standard academic writing formats.
Bibliography
Bertrand, Ina and Peter Hughes. Media Research Methods: Audiences, Institutions, and Texts. New York: Palgrave-Macmillan, 2005.
Gibaldi, Joseph. MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers. 6th ed. New Delhi: East-West Press. 2004.
Gibaldi, Joseph. MLA Style Manual and Guide to Scholarly Publishing. 3rd ed. New York: Modern Language Association, 2008.
Griffin, Gabriele. ed. Research Methods for English Studies. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2005.
Ott, Brian L. and Robert L. Mack. Critical Media Studies: An Introduction. Oxford: Wiley Blackwell, 2010.
Priest, Susanna Horning. Doing Media Research: An Introduction. 2 ed. Los Angeles: Sage, 2010.
Somekh, Bridget and Cathy Lewin. eds. Research Methods in Social Sciences. New Delhi: Sage/Vistaar, 2005.
The Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association. 5th ed. New York: American Psychological Association. 2001.
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Semiotic Significance of Alter Ego in Girish Karnad’s “Broken Images”
Semiotics is the study of signs. It involves studying representations and the processes involved in representational practices. Semiotics represents everything which has meaning within a culture. When we analyse a text on the basis of semiotics our “initial analytical task is to identify the signs within the text and the codes within which these signs have meaning.”1 The codes may be specific codes, non-specific codes, and mixed codes. Semiotic analysis also focused on the structural analysis like syntagmatic and paradigmatic analysis. Another significant aspect of semiotics is intertextuality, which means to identify the relation to one text with the historical significance, where this text applied before etc. Theatricality is the next major concern in semiotic analysis. Theatricality is how the audience feel the acting as their’s own experiences. It can be through body politics of the actor, power of communication or art, visual or written representation, social acts etc. In other words we can be said it as method of exaggeration. “Finally you need to discuss the ideological functions of the signs in the text and of the text as a whole. What sort of reality does the text construct and how does it do so? How does it seek to naturalize its own perspectives? What assumptions does it make about its readers?”2
Girish Karnard’s monologue Broken Images takes up a debate, the politics of language in Indian literary culture, specifically in relation to the respective claims of the modern Indian language and English. This we can see as in the stream of social semiotics, because it is mainly focused on the writers who attempts to write in both languages, vernacular and in English also. In this novel Manjula Nayak ia appreciated for her achievement for writing a novel in English. She in the beginning of the play speaks the two major questions about the writers who were writing both in vernacular language and in English also. She says that the English novel
“that transforms her into the Literary Phenomenon of the Decade, the breakthrough arouses admiration, but also dismay and resentment that she has ‘betrayed’ Kannada for the sake fame, fortune and a vastly expanded audience. Manjula’s conversation with her own television image soon reveals that she is an impostor who has passed off her dead Malini’s novel as her own. The switch to English, hailed as an inspired act of self-fashioning on the author’s part, turns out in reality to be an act of dishonesty, desperation, and cowardice, the implication being that the material lure of English as a medium can only lead the Indian – language author to prostitute herself.”(xxvii)3
This may be implication for the title Broken Images. Her ‘image’ in one level well appreciated. But in her actual life she steeled her sister’s work. So she is having a ‘broken image’ throughout the play.
Girish Karnard’s Broken Images explores the dilemma of Indian writers who choose to write in English. When we analyse the play in the light of semiotics, we can see the different approaches of semiotics through out the play. This monologue it self stands as a syntagm. “A syntagm is a collection of interrelated parts. The parts and relationships that comprise the system are distinguished from the rest of the world (or the environment) by a boundary”.4 The different paradigms used to make the syntagm are the title, Broken Images. It is a sign which signifies dilemma of Indian writers who choose to write in English, and signified is Manjula the protagonist. Again Manjula itself is another paradigm. She signifies the inner conflicts of writers, who were appreciated for others work. Here it is important because the novel which she written is actually her sister’s. The ‘image’ is again a sign which signifies the inner consciousness of a writer and the signified is again Manjula.
Another important aspect of semiotics which is prevailed in Broken Images is rhetorical tropes or figures of speech. In this play we can see Manjula stands as a metaphor for all those writers limited to their native language (Kannada), not out of responsibility, but due to lack of choice. The image of Malini, her sister projects the Indian English writer who is ostracised for his stupendous success because the native writer (Manjula) has to settle for second place. Given an opportunity, Manjula steals Malini’s work in English, though she pretends to be addicted to the Kannada language. The sisters’ rapport with Pramod (Manjula’s husband) symbolises their bond with their motherland. Manjula is with him out of the matrimonial ties of responsibility, and fails to live up to her responsibilities of a wife, as Pramod continuously pines for attention. “Finally, the image on the screen becomes real in comparison to the deceptive human being on the other side. The image of Manjula morphs into Malini at a climatic juncture in the play.”5
When we consider the ‘codes’ of semiotics, specific, non-specific, and mixed codes, the opening of the play itself is described through codes. Codes are interpretive frameworks which are used by both producers and interpreters of texts. The description of the television studio, the red bulb, and different television sets etc. are example for space related codes. The description of Manjula Nayak, her gestures, etc. stands for actor related codes. This actor related code that is Manjula undergoes transformations and we can see that this code produces different texts which in turn modifies the code. This is clear when in the middle and then throughout the play, Manjula speaks about her inner conflicts which the ‘image’ calls as Freudian Unconscious6 is another concept in semiotics called intertextuality.
Poly-functionality is another major concern in the play. The ‘image’ in the play stands for many other things. It may be for Manjula who now wrote in English which was originally her sister’s work. Image may be for Manjula’s years of revenge for her sister Malini. Another symbol of image is her stolen identity of her sister. Another symbol of image is “the age-old conflict between writing in one’s own language and a foreign language, through the objective correlative of the writer’s confrontation with her own image”.7
When we consider the theatricality of the play, there are good examples. Theatricality is how the audience feel the acting as their’s own experiences. It can be through body politics of the actor, power of communication or art, visual or written representation, social acts etc. In other words we can be said it as method of exaggeration. In Broken Images, body politics can be seen how a vernacular writer expresses her views about the modern technology. How she says about her husbands relation with Malini. Most importantly to show Manula’s inner consciousness Karnard used the technique, to create a character which is her image itself. This theatricality we can see when the image asks about her husband’s relation with Malini. Then Manjula becomes very angry to ‘image’. ‘Image’ calls it as Freudian Unconscious. This mention we can consider as the concept called intertextuality in semiotic analysis.
Broken Images is enriched with the semiotic constructions. The larger syntagm ‘broken image’ is made of paradigms like Manjula, ‘Image’ etc. The signs in the play for the writer to echo that those who write in their mother tongue also do accept royalties and trade their creativity, rather than wield the pen for social service. The ‘image’ in the play stands for the identity crisis of the writers who were writing both in vernacular language and also in English. This is the syntagm of the play.
Bibliography:
Karnard, Girish. Collected Plays.vol. 2. New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2009.
Identity Crisis in Broken Images, by Girish Karnard.
as on 29 Aug. 2009.
M K., Rukhya. Girish Karnard’s Broken Images. as on 29 Aug. 2009.
Girish Karnad's 'A Heap of Broken Images’. 7 Sep 2008 as on 29 Aug. 2009.
A Heap Of Broken Images – Girish Karnad. Tuesday, 01 January 2008,
Dharwadker, Aparna Bhargava, Diaspora, Nation, and the Failure of Home: Two Contemporary Indian Plays.Theatre Journal - Volume 50, Number 1, March 1998, pp. 71-94. as on 29 Aug.2009.
Saussure, Ferdinand de. Coursr in General Linguistics. Wade Baslrin. Trs. New York: Mc Graw- Hill. 1959
Girish Karnard’s monologue Broken Images takes up a debate, the politics of language in Indian literary culture, specifically in relation to the respective claims of the modern Indian language and English. This we can see as in the stream of social semiotics, because it is mainly focused on the writers who attempts to write in both languages, vernacular and in English also. In this novel Manjula Nayak ia appreciated for her achievement for writing a novel in English. She in the beginning of the play speaks the two major questions about the writers who were writing both in vernacular language and in English also. She says that the English novel
“that transforms her into the Literary Phenomenon of the Decade, the breakthrough arouses admiration, but also dismay and resentment that she has ‘betrayed’ Kannada for the sake fame, fortune and a vastly expanded audience. Manjula’s conversation with her own television image soon reveals that she is an impostor who has passed off her dead Malini’s novel as her own. The switch to English, hailed as an inspired act of self-fashioning on the author’s part, turns out in reality to be an act of dishonesty, desperation, and cowardice, the implication being that the material lure of English as a medium can only lead the Indian – language author to prostitute herself.”(xxvii)3
This may be implication for the title Broken Images. Her ‘image’ in one level well appreciated. But in her actual life she steeled her sister’s work. So she is having a ‘broken image’ throughout the play.
Girish Karnard’s Broken Images explores the dilemma of Indian writers who choose to write in English. When we analyse the play in the light of semiotics, we can see the different approaches of semiotics through out the play. This monologue it self stands as a syntagm. “A syntagm is a collection of interrelated parts. The parts and relationships that comprise the system are distinguished from the rest of the world (or the environment) by a boundary”.4 The different paradigms used to make the syntagm are the title, Broken Images. It is a sign which signifies dilemma of Indian writers who choose to write in English, and signified is Manjula the protagonist. Again Manjula itself is another paradigm. She signifies the inner conflicts of writers, who were appreciated for others work. Here it is important because the novel which she written is actually her sister’s. The ‘image’ is again a sign which signifies the inner consciousness of a writer and the signified is again Manjula.
Another important aspect of semiotics which is prevailed in Broken Images is rhetorical tropes or figures of speech. In this play we can see Manjula stands as a metaphor for all those writers limited to their native language (Kannada), not out of responsibility, but due to lack of choice. The image of Malini, her sister projects the Indian English writer who is ostracised for his stupendous success because the native writer (Manjula) has to settle for second place. Given an opportunity, Manjula steals Malini’s work in English, though she pretends to be addicted to the Kannada language. The sisters’ rapport with Pramod (Manjula’s husband) symbolises their bond with their motherland. Manjula is with him out of the matrimonial ties of responsibility, and fails to live up to her responsibilities of a wife, as Pramod continuously pines for attention. “Finally, the image on the screen becomes real in comparison to the deceptive human being on the other side. The image of Manjula morphs into Malini at a climatic juncture in the play.”5
When we consider the ‘codes’ of semiotics, specific, non-specific, and mixed codes, the opening of the play itself is described through codes. Codes are interpretive frameworks which are used by both producers and interpreters of texts. The description of the television studio, the red bulb, and different television sets etc. are example for space related codes. The description of Manjula Nayak, her gestures, etc. stands for actor related codes. This actor related code that is Manjula undergoes transformations and we can see that this code produces different texts which in turn modifies the code. This is clear when in the middle and then throughout the play, Manjula speaks about her inner conflicts which the ‘image’ calls as Freudian Unconscious6 is another concept in semiotics called intertextuality.
Poly-functionality is another major concern in the play. The ‘image’ in the play stands for many other things. It may be for Manjula who now wrote in English which was originally her sister’s work. Image may be for Manjula’s years of revenge for her sister Malini. Another symbol of image is her stolen identity of her sister. Another symbol of image is “the age-old conflict between writing in one’s own language and a foreign language, through the objective correlative of the writer’s confrontation with her own image”.7
When we consider the theatricality of the play, there are good examples. Theatricality is how the audience feel the acting as their’s own experiences. It can be through body politics of the actor, power of communication or art, visual or written representation, social acts etc. In other words we can be said it as method of exaggeration. In Broken Images, body politics can be seen how a vernacular writer expresses her views about the modern technology. How she says about her husbands relation with Malini. Most importantly to show Manula’s inner consciousness Karnard used the technique, to create a character which is her image itself. This theatricality we can see when the image asks about her husband’s relation with Malini. Then Manjula becomes very angry to ‘image’. ‘Image’ calls it as Freudian Unconscious. This mention we can consider as the concept called intertextuality in semiotic analysis.
Broken Images is enriched with the semiotic constructions. The larger syntagm ‘broken image’ is made of paradigms like Manjula, ‘Image’ etc. The signs in the play for the writer to echo that those who write in their mother tongue also do accept royalties and trade their creativity, rather than wield the pen for social service. The ‘image’ in the play stands for the identity crisis of the writers who were writing both in vernacular language and also in English. This is the syntagm of the play.
Bibliography:
Karnard, Girish. Collected Plays.vol. 2. New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2009.
Identity Crisis in Broken Images, by Girish Karnard.
M K., Rukhya. Girish Karnard’s Broken Images.
Girish Karnad's 'A Heap of Broken Images’. 7 Sep 2008
A Heap Of Broken Images – Girish Karnad. Tuesday, 01 January 2008,
Dharwadker, Aparna Bhargava, Diaspora, Nation, and the Failure of Home: Two Contemporary Indian Plays.Theatre Journal - Volume 50, Number 1, March 1998, pp. 71-94.
Saussure, Ferdinand de. Coursr in General Linguistics. Wade Baslrin. Trs. New York: Mc Graw- Hill. 1959
Semiotic Analysis of Girish Karnad’s "Tale Danda"
This paper is written by Anju John (2009)
----
Semiotics is a systematic “study of signs and signifying practices”1. Umberto Eco, states that “semiotics is concerned with everything that can be taken as a sign” (Eco 1976, 7)2. Semiotics is not just study of what we refer to as ‘signs’ in everyday speech, it also about anything which ‘stands for’ something else. In a semiotic sense, words, images, sounds, gestures and objects all form signs. Saussure believes that ‘semiology’ was ‘a science which studies the role of signs as part of social life’. But for Charles Peirce “a sign... is something which stands to somebody for something in some respect or capacity” (Peirce 1931-58, 2.228)3. He declared that ‘every thought is a sign’ (Peirce 1931-58). Contemporary semioticians study signs not in isolation but as part of semiotic ‘sign systems’ (such as a medium or genre). They study how meanings are made through signs (Sturrock 1986, 22).
Semiotics is often employed in the analysis of texts. A text is an “assemblage of signs (such as words, images, sounds and gestures) constructed (and interpreted) with reference to the conventions associated with a genre and in a particular medium of communication. Through this essay, a semiotical analysis of Girish Karnad’s Tale-Danda is done. The main purpose of the study is to unravel the paradigms that lie in the play. The paradigms then can be grouped together to form a larger syntagm. It is a conscious effort to derive meaning from a complex interplay of codes, signs and conventions that lie within the text.
Tale-Danda follows the historical narrative in which the ‘present’ is understood by returning to the ‘past’. The playwright has taken the theme for his play from the history. It tells the story of Basavanna, a poet and social transformer who is believed to have lived in 12th century in Kalyan (present Karnataka). Tale-Danda “goes back in time to uncover the history of the majority religion [Hinduism] turning against itself.”4(Collected Plays, emphasis mine, p.p.x). The play focuses on the hierarchical structure in the caste system in Hinduism. The play unveils the various paradigms that can be connected together to form a complex syntagm. “Syntagms are created by the linking of signifiers from paradigm sets which are chosen on the basis of whether they are conventionally regarded as appropriate or may be required by some rule system (e.g. grammar).”5 This essay thus looks for the hidden paradigms that form the part of the underlying structure and the syntagm it creates. The play itself is considered here as a syntagmatic statement. Moreover the historical narrative which Karnad has used in the play itself is a syntagmatic structure. Synatagmatic analysis of the lay mainly focuses on “the importance of part-whole relationships: Saussure stressed that ‘the whole depends on the parts, and the parts depend on the whole’ (Saussure 1983, 126; Saussure 1974, 128).”6
Tale-Danda is written in 1989 in the backdrop of Mandir-Mandal conflict in India. Thus we can say that the play is a syntagmatic exposition of the Mandal and Mandir controversies of 1980s. But before coming to this conclusion it is necessary to analyze the various factors that help to form this statement. It is necessary to identify and analyze the underlying paradigms in the play. A paradigm is a set of associated signifiers or signified which are all members of some defining category, but in which each is significantly different. The first paradigm that is considered here is the title of the play itself. The title Tale- Danda is a symbolic sign that signifies a larger whole. Larger meaning can be evolved from the name itself. The literal translation of Tale is head and Danda means punishment. So it means ‘paying with your head’. There are probably more painful/less ways of killing. And yet, one way that seems to have found favour over the ages, especially when a certain kind of person needs to be executed, is Tale-Danda. You think with your head, worse still, you dare to feel with your head. And that’s why it must be chopped. It splits not only the body into two, but the entire human self, pride and existence. Now, if we look at the title with reference to the story in the play and the social scenario in which the play is written we can see that they are very closely connected. The concept of ‘paying with your head’ is clearly visible in both the situations. The victims in both places are the common people who are being used for the needs of those in the power. The commoners (Sharanas) in the play are being used according to the whims of Basavanna and others. Sharanas opposed idolatry, rejected temple worship, upheld equality of sexes, and condemned the caste system .But event took a violent turn when they acted on their beliefs and a brahmin girl married a ‘low caste’ boy. The movement ended in bloodshed. Similarly, the common people are again the guinea pigs in the Mandir- Mandal controversies of 1980s. They are exploited as a result of religious fanaticism and political upheaval.
The second paradigm that is of prime importance in the play is Basavanna, a Brahmin poet-priest of Kalyan. Moreover the intertextuality is very clear here. It goes back into the history of Kalyan (present Karnataka). Basavanna was a social reformer who revolted against the religion and caste practices in the 12th century. Basavanna advocated “a new way of life wherein the divine experience was the center of life giving equal opportunity to all aspirants regardless of the gender, caste, and social status.”7 He wanted the entire world to be with only one religion, where there will be no partiality among the people. He did not advise to believe in god, instead he advised to believe in themselves. Most of the people from different religion and caste converted into his Lingayat8 religion during his period. He accepted madigas (untouchables during that period) into Lingayat religion and became the revolutionist. Basavanna conveyed the principles of religion in the language of the people, Kannada, which thus became the best means and medium of carrying conviction to them. He educated the mass through his Vachanas. Thus the century gave rise not only to a new religion but also a new form of literature (Vachana literature) which later became an asset to the Kannada literature itself. Basavanna is not just a historical character for Karnad. The important question for us to engage with is ‘why Basavanna’. The answer to this question is clear if we read the play in the light of Mandal-Mandir controversy9. Thus Basavanna is an indexical sign which leads us to a larger reality. Basavanna could not save any of his disciples from the bloodshed followed by the intercaste marriage. He was caught in the structure of the caste system and could not make the society to come out of it. Similarly the people and the political leaders of the present day society is caught in the holds of religious fanaticism by which many innocent people lose their lives in various parts of the country. Karnad through the play “seeks to enforce the identity between communal and caste violence, and to show that the effects of intra-religious conflict are very similar to those of inter-religious conflict.”10
Semiotic analysis mainly deals with how messages are formed and meanings are derived in a text. Meanings give shape and lend significance to our experience of reality. Various signs help us to derive the meaning. This is by analyzing the syntagmatic and paradigmatic relationships that are present in the text. Thus, in the essay we have identified and analyzed the various paradigms that lie within the play. The paradigms help to form the larger meaning that the play is the syntagmatic exposition of the Mandal- Mandir controversies of 1980s in India.
Bibliography
Karnad, Girish. Collected Plays. Vol. 2. New Delhi: OUP, 2009.
Chandler, Daniel. Semiotics for Beginners as on 27-08-09.
Chandler, Daniel. Semiotics for Beginners as on 27-08-09.
Chandler, Daniel. Semiotics for Beginners: Paradigms and Syntagms . as on 27-08-09. www.aber.ac.uk/media/Documents/S4B/sem03.html
Semiotics. as on 27-08-09
Semiotics as on 31-08-09.
Semiotics. HFCL Tutorial. as on 27-08-09. http://www.rdillman.com/HFCL/TUTOR/Semiotics/sem3.html
Patil, My. Si. Who is Basavanna. As on 27-08-09.
What is Semiotics. as on 27-08-09.
----
Semiotics is a systematic “study of signs and signifying practices”1. Umberto Eco, states that “semiotics is concerned with everything that can be taken as a sign” (Eco 1976, 7)2. Semiotics is not just study of what we refer to as ‘signs’ in everyday speech, it also about anything which ‘stands for’ something else. In a semiotic sense, words, images, sounds, gestures and objects all form signs. Saussure believes that ‘semiology’ was ‘a science which studies the role of signs as part of social life’. But for Charles Peirce “a sign... is something which stands to somebody for something in some respect or capacity” (Peirce 1931-58, 2.228)3. He declared that ‘every thought is a sign’ (Peirce 1931-58). Contemporary semioticians study signs not in isolation but as part of semiotic ‘sign systems’ (such as a medium or genre). They study how meanings are made through signs (Sturrock 1986, 22).
Semiotics is often employed in the analysis of texts. A text is an “assemblage of signs (such as words, images, sounds and gestures) constructed (and interpreted) with reference to the conventions associated with a genre and in a particular medium of communication. Through this essay, a semiotical analysis of Girish Karnad’s Tale-Danda is done. The main purpose of the study is to unravel the paradigms that lie in the play. The paradigms then can be grouped together to form a larger syntagm. It is a conscious effort to derive meaning from a complex interplay of codes, signs and conventions that lie within the text.
Tale-Danda follows the historical narrative in which the ‘present’ is understood by returning to the ‘past’. The playwright has taken the theme for his play from the history. It tells the story of Basavanna, a poet and social transformer who is believed to have lived in 12th century in Kalyan (present Karnataka). Tale-Danda “goes back in time to uncover the history of the majority religion [Hinduism] turning against itself.”4(Collected Plays, emphasis mine, p.p.x). The play focuses on the hierarchical structure in the caste system in Hinduism. The play unveils the various paradigms that can be connected together to form a complex syntagm. “Syntagms are created by the linking of signifiers from paradigm sets which are chosen on the basis of whether they are conventionally regarded as appropriate or may be required by some rule system (e.g. grammar).”5 This essay thus looks for the hidden paradigms that form the part of the underlying structure and the syntagm it creates. The play itself is considered here as a syntagmatic statement. Moreover the historical narrative which Karnad has used in the play itself is a syntagmatic structure. Synatagmatic analysis of the lay mainly focuses on “the importance of part-whole relationships: Saussure stressed that ‘the whole depends on the parts, and the parts depend on the whole’ (Saussure 1983, 126; Saussure 1974, 128).”6
Tale-Danda is written in 1989 in the backdrop of Mandir-Mandal conflict in India. Thus we can say that the play is a syntagmatic exposition of the Mandal and Mandir controversies of 1980s. But before coming to this conclusion it is necessary to analyze the various factors that help to form this statement. It is necessary to identify and analyze the underlying paradigms in the play. A paradigm is a set of associated signifiers or signified which are all members of some defining category, but in which each is significantly different. The first paradigm that is considered here is the title of the play itself. The title Tale- Danda is a symbolic sign that signifies a larger whole. Larger meaning can be evolved from the name itself. The literal translation of Tale is head and Danda means punishment. So it means ‘paying with your head’. There are probably more painful/less ways of killing. And yet, one way that seems to have found favour over the ages, especially when a certain kind of person needs to be executed, is Tale-Danda. You think with your head, worse still, you dare to feel with your head. And that’s why it must be chopped. It splits not only the body into two, but the entire human self, pride and existence. Now, if we look at the title with reference to the story in the play and the social scenario in which the play is written we can see that they are very closely connected. The concept of ‘paying with your head’ is clearly visible in both the situations. The victims in both places are the common people who are being used for the needs of those in the power. The commoners (Sharanas) in the play are being used according to the whims of Basavanna and others. Sharanas opposed idolatry, rejected temple worship, upheld equality of sexes, and condemned the caste system .But event took a violent turn when they acted on their beliefs and a brahmin girl married a ‘low caste’ boy. The movement ended in bloodshed. Similarly, the common people are again the guinea pigs in the Mandir- Mandal controversies of 1980s. They are exploited as a result of religious fanaticism and political upheaval.
The second paradigm that is of prime importance in the play is Basavanna, a Brahmin poet-priest of Kalyan. Moreover the intertextuality is very clear here. It goes back into the history of Kalyan (present Karnataka). Basavanna was a social reformer who revolted against the religion and caste practices in the 12th century. Basavanna advocated “a new way of life wherein the divine experience was the center of life giving equal opportunity to all aspirants regardless of the gender, caste, and social status.”7 He wanted the entire world to be with only one religion, where there will be no partiality among the people. He did not advise to believe in god, instead he advised to believe in themselves. Most of the people from different religion and caste converted into his Lingayat8 religion during his period. He accepted madigas (untouchables during that period) into Lingayat religion and became the revolutionist. Basavanna conveyed the principles of religion in the language of the people, Kannada, which thus became the best means and medium of carrying conviction to them. He educated the mass through his Vachanas. Thus the century gave rise not only to a new religion but also a new form of literature (Vachana literature) which later became an asset to the Kannada literature itself. Basavanna is not just a historical character for Karnad. The important question for us to engage with is ‘why Basavanna’. The answer to this question is clear if we read the play in the light of Mandal-Mandir controversy9. Thus Basavanna is an indexical sign which leads us to a larger reality. Basavanna could not save any of his disciples from the bloodshed followed by the intercaste marriage. He was caught in the structure of the caste system and could not make the society to come out of it. Similarly the people and the political leaders of the present day society is caught in the holds of religious fanaticism by which many innocent people lose their lives in various parts of the country. Karnad through the play “seeks to enforce the identity between communal and caste violence, and to show that the effects of intra-religious conflict are very similar to those of inter-religious conflict.”10
Semiotic analysis mainly deals with how messages are formed and meanings are derived in a text. Meanings give shape and lend significance to our experience of reality. Various signs help us to derive the meaning. This is by analyzing the syntagmatic and paradigmatic relationships that are present in the text. Thus, in the essay we have identified and analyzed the various paradigms that lie within the play. The paradigms help to form the larger meaning that the play is the syntagmatic exposition of the Mandal- Mandir controversies of 1980s in India.
Bibliography
Karnad, Girish. Collected Plays. Vol. 2. New Delhi: OUP, 2009.
Chandler, Daniel. Semiotics for Beginners as on 27-08-09.
Chandler, Daniel. Semiotics for Beginners as on 27-08-09.
Chandler, Daniel. Semiotics for Beginners: Paradigms and Syntagms . as on 27-08-09. www.aber.ac.uk/media/Documents/S4B/sem03.html
Semiotics. as on 27-08-09
Semiotics as on 31-08-09.
Semiotics. HFCL Tutorial. as on 27-08-09. http://www.rdillman.com/HFCL/TUTOR/Semiotics/sem3.html
Patil, My. Si. Who is Basavanna. As on 27-08-09.
What is Semiotics. as on 27-08-09.
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