Haoyue from China, Ph.D in Mass Communication and Media Arts

My name is Haoyue Zhang--Zhang Haoyue in Chinese.  I'm from China.

This is my 4th year of PhD study here at SIU.  My interest is in film studies, particularly in Chinese films.

My dissertation is going to be about childhood - representations of children in Chinese film.  My chair of dissertation committee, Jyotsna Kapur, has published a book about children's culture in capitalist countries.  When I first applied for SIU, one thing that really attracted me is as long as you got admitted, you would be offered an assistantship.  I think that's really helped a lot.  One thing that I've really enjoyed is doing teacher assistant for film history, we call it CP101.

I think from this student work, you can also get a lot of practical experience about how to work with students, how to work with people.  I went to several pretty big conferences  Of course for me,  I just felt like nobody there, there's a lot of big scholars, very famous people there.  But I think it still helped me to realize what's the trend and what's the hot topic, and then it's not like you just follow them, but you might add it in to your research.

I used to think theory is really kind of dry and flat.  But now I really like the precision and also that how do you say, reservation of expressing your ideas.  So that's the fun part I think.  I'm planning to go back to China to teach because one of my teachers of my graduate school gave me such kind of offer, and it's a pretty good university.  So I might go back to teach.  I think that I can help them a lot with this children's film and children's culture area.  I think all these resources I can bring back to China and ask them to bring more resources.

I think faculty here for me at least give me some benefit for my future work.  So if you want to come here to study, I recommend you of course, you have to focus really hard on your work because it's really intense.  But at the same time, try to connect with people here and the life here.

The Global Media Research Center is pleased to announce its Fall 2010 Speaker Series.  All events are free and open to the public.  Faculty are encouraged to use Center events as a resource for their students and classes.  The Center has a method of taking student attendance if faculty would like to use events as an extra credit opportunity.  For more information, contact Laura Germann at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or 453-6876.

GMRC Speaker Series

Fall Semester 2010

Thursday, September 9^th

Dr. Dafna Lemish – Chairperson, Department of Radio-Television

“What’s TV Good For?”: The Views of Producers of Children’s Television Around the World

3:00 p.m.

Communications Building, Room 1032

Wednesday, September 22^nd

Ms. Vivian Schiller – President, National Public Radio

Open Discussion with NPR President, Vivian Schiller

2:30 p.m.

Location TBD

Tuesday, September 28^th

Mr. Joseph Oduro-Frimpong – PhD student, Department of Anthropology

Reflections on Doing Fieldwork in Ghana (working title – he will return in August from doing research on Ghanaian video-movies)

3:00 p.m.

Communications Building, Room 1032

Thursday, October 7^th

Dr. Walter Metz – Chairperson, Department of Cinema & Photography

"The Engineers of the Soul": Berlin, Friedrich Kittler, and The Lives of Others

3:00 p.m.

Communications Building, Room 1032

Wednesday, October 13^th

Dr. Kavita Karan – Associate Professor, School of Journalism

Political Communication in India:Interlinking Traditional, Internet, and Mobile technologies in Election Campaigns

3:00 p.m.

Communications 1032

Wednesday, October 20^th

Dr. Jyotsna Kapur – Associate Professor, Department of Cinema & Photography

Brand India’s Biggest Sale: The Cultural Politics and Political Economy of India’s “Global Generation”

3:00 p.m.

Communications Building, Room 1032

Wednesday, October 27^th

Dr. Uche Onyebadi – Assistant Professor, School of Journalilsm

Kenya's Post Presidential Election Violence (2007): Assessing the Role of the Nation & Standard Newspapers

3:00 p.m.

Communications 1032

Tuesday, November 16^th

Dr. Wenjing Xie – Assistant Professor, School of Journalism

The Many Faces of Chinese Media

3:00 p.m.

Communications Building, Room 1032

CARBONDALE, Ill. -- Jyotsna Kapur, an associate professor in cinema studies and sociology at Southern Illinois University Carbondale, is a Fulbright award recipient.

Kapur will be at The Xavier Institute of Communications in Mumbai, India. She will also lecture at other universities during her six-month stay.

"The Fulbright offers a terrific opportunity to interact with and teach media students in the cultural capital of India's popular film industry," she said.

The lectures will be on "Hollywood's re-imagining of childhood and the relationship between children's cinema, media and consumer-driven culture since the 1980s," said Kapur. The lectures will be based on her 2005 book, "Coining for Capital: Movies, Marketing and the Transformation of Childhood."

"How a new generation is globally resisting and being integrated into contemporary capitalism and the part played by the media in this remains a core area of my research," she said.

In 2007, Kapur received an "Excellence Through Commitment" top scholar award from the College of Mass Communication and Media Arts. In April, she eared the college's top teaching award.

"We are very proud that Dr. Kapur has received the second research Fulbright in our college in the past year," Dean Gary P. Kolb said. "This is a testament to the important research that our faculty are conducting on the international stage and the growing recognition of the quality of our programs in the College of Mass Communication and Media Arts here at SIUC."

Kapur came to SIUC as a visiting assistant professor in 1998. She earned undergraduate and graduate degrees in 1983, 1986 and 1991, respectively, in India. Kapur earned a master's degree in 1992 from Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y, and a doctorate from Northwestern University in 1998.

She has held a cross-appointment in the Department of Cinema and Photography and the Department of Sociology since 2005.

During her six-month stay in India, Kapur will also complete a collaborative digital video co-production involving three SIUC cinema and photography students and students from Xavier Institute of Communications. Nicholas Nylen, Jonathan Klemke and Danielle Williamson started working with Kapur and other faculty members on the independent study project last year.

The SIUC portion of the film centers on the story of an Indian gentleman who works in an American call center for a corporate printing firm. He learns his job is being outsourced overseas to, of all places, India. While other employees accept incentive packages to leave, the man resists. He calls the company's help line and talks with a woman in India who inspires him to continue the fight.

The SIUC effort focuses on themes of love and religion, "choosing to interpret it critically and cynically about the current economy," Kapur said. "Our project is about the love for money raised to the level of religion."

Students from Xavier Institute of Communications chose themes dealing with terrorism and living alone in a big city. Each group chose different formats, Kapur said, explaining the SIUC film is "experimental, playful and flamboyant," while the Indian students' work is more realistic and somber.

The films will integrate, said Kapur, who will work with students in India and talk to the SIUC students via the Internet. Youssef Osman, a graduate student who assisted in the project, will continue to work with Klemke, Nylen and Williamson, Kapur said.

"It is a great deal of time and effort that has gone into this so far, but true education, where people collaborate and bring their individual visions, takes such investment," Kapur said.

Source: Saluki Times

Permalink: http://mcma.siuc.edu/news/jyotsna-kapur-earns-fulbright-award

CARBONDALE, Ill. - Southern Illinois University Carbondale honored nine faculty members for outstanding scholarly work Thursday, April 26, during the University's "Excellence Through Commitment" awards dinner at the Student Center.

Om P. Agrawal, selected by the College of Engineering, She-Kong Chong, selected by the College of Agricultural Sciences, Jon D. Davey, selected by the College of Applied Sciences and Arts, Jyotsna Kapur, selected by the College of Mass Communication and Media Arts, Steven J. Karau, selected by the College of Business and Administration, Christopher C. Kohler, selected by the College of Science, Robbie Lieberman, selected by the College of Liberal Arts, Patricia R. McCubbin, selected by the School of Law, and Linda A. Toth, selected by the School of Medicine, each will receive $3,000 outright plus a matching amount through the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research to support professional activities during the next fiscal year. Each scholar also receives a wristwatch courtesy of the SIU Alumni Association.

Kapur, a faculty member in the Department of Cinema and Photography with a cross-appointment in the Department of Sociology, has written a book called "Coining for Capital: Movies, Marketing, and the Transformation of Childhood," describing how the portrayal of childhood in films made for children has changed over time. The book, with its interdisciplinary approach, has received favorable review from such publications as "The Journal of International Communication," "The Journal of American Culture," and "The Journal of Social History." Last year, her chapter on Harry Potter was translated into Chinese for inclusion in a leading Chinese trade journal.

Kapur joined the SIUC faculty in 1998. A three-degree graduate of Delhi University, she earned a bachelor's there in 1983, a master's in 1986 and a second master's in 1991. She also earned a master's in 1992 from Cornell University and a doctorate in 1998 from Northwestern University.