DEBJANI DUTTA [email protected]
EDUCATION
Ph.D., University of Southern California, School of Cinematic Arts In progress Cinema and Media Studies Dissertation Title: Tremulous Media: Nature, Technology, and the Seismic Imagination Chair: Akira Mizuta Lippit
M.Phil, Jawaharlal Nehru University, School of Arts and Aesthetics 2010-12 Cinema Studies Dissertation Title: Material Avatars: A Sensuous Cartography of the Korean Wave Chair: Ranjani Mazumdar
M.A., Jawaharlal Nehru University, School of Social Sciences 2008-10 Sociology
B.A, University of Delhi 2005-08 Sociology (Hons.)
PUBLICATIONS
Journal article Dutta, Debjani. 2014. “The Attack of the Pig Rabbit: The Mediatized Object of the Korean Wave.” Journal of Japanese and Korean Cinema 6, no. 2: 202–16.
Book chapter Dutta, Debjani. "Temporal Design in ‘Whiplash’ (2015)" in Introduction to Film Reader, Fifth Edition (eds. Drew Casper and Richard Edwards). McGraw Hill, 2018.
AWARDS, GRANTS & RESIDENCIES
Andrew W. Mellon USC Humanities in a Digital World Research Grant 2019
Andrew W. Mellon USC Humanities in a Digital World PhD Fellowship 2018-20
Visual Studies Graduate Certificate Summer Research Grant 2018
USC Graduate School Summer Research and Writing Grant 2018
Annenberg Graduate Fellowship Travel/Research Award 2018
Researcher-in-residence, Signal Culture, Owego, NY 2018
USC Transpacific Studies Graduate Fellow 2014-15
USC Annenberg Graduate Fellowship 2014-19
Academy of Korean Studies Thesis Grant 2013
University Grants Commission of India Non-NET Fellowship for M.Phil/PhD 2010-12
Third Position in B.A. (Hons) Sociology, University of Delhi (South Campus) 2007
SELECTED CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS & INVITED TALKS
“Shaky Grounds,” Ground: an interdisciplinary series on the ground’s many manifestations and meanings, USC School of Architecture, Los Angeles, April 2021
“Tremulous Media: Nature, Technology and the Seismic Imagination,” Society of Cinema and Media Studies Annual Conference, Online, March 2021
“Tremulous Media: Nature, Technology and the Seismic Imagination,” USC Cinema and Media Studies Annual Graduate Conference, Los Angeles, October 2019
“Choreographing Spaces: K-Pop Flash Mobs and Fan Activism,” USC Korean Studies Institute Graduate Student Symposium, Los Angeles, January 2017
“Picturing Words, Writing Images: Reading the Korean Wave Through Fansubs,” Lives of Information Workshop, The Sarai Programme at Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, New Delhi, February 2014
“Choreographing Spaces: K-Pop Flash Mobs and Fan Activism,” Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore, January 2014
“The Attack of the Pig Rabbit: The Mediatized Object of the Korean Wave,” Association of Social Anthropologists of the UK and Commonwealth Annual Conference, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, April 2012
ACADEMIC SERVICE
Peer review board member, Spectator, USC Journal of Film and Television Criticism, 2018
Conference Chair, “Con+tagion,” First Forum, USC Cinema and Media Studies Annual Graduate Conference, 2017
Academic Chair, ZdC: Cinema and Media Studies Graduate Association, 2016 -17
Conference Co-chair, “Subjected to Play: Locating the Subject in the Promise of Play,” First Forum, USC Cinema and Media Studies Annual Graduate Conference, 2016.
Conference Organizing Committee member, “The Global Sixties and Its Cultural Afterlife,” School of Arts and Aesthetics, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, 2011
TEACHING EXPERIENCE
Teaching Assistant 2015-18 Department of Cinema and Media Studies, University of Southern California
• Led discussion sections, counseled students and graded papers and exams for the following courses: Introduction to Cinema, History of the International Cinema I, and History of the International Cinema II • Course assistance, grading and logistical support for the following courses: History of Global Cinema before WWII, Latin American Cinema after 1960, and Asian Horror Cinema
Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures, University of Southern California Fall 2020
• Led online discussion sections, counseled students and graded papers and exams for the course Southeast Asian Literature and Film
Department of Gender and Sexuality Studies, University of Southern California Spring 2021
• Led online discussion sections, counseled students and graded papers and exams for the course Introduction to Queer Theory
Teaching Assistant 2013 School of Arts and Aesthetics, Jawaharlal Nehru University
• Led remedial classes for graduate students for the course Introduction to Film Studies
GUEST LECTURES
“Race and Gender Identity in Brazil,” University of Southern California, Latin American Cinema after 1960 (Course Instructor: Dr. Laura Isabel Serna), March 2017
“The Narrative Avant-Garde and Medium Specificity,” University of Southern California, History of International Cinema I: 1896-1945 (Course Instructor: Dr. Laura Isabel Serna), October 2016
“Introduction to Korean Cinema,” Ambedkar University Delhi, Histories of Cinema (Course Instructor: Dr. Bindu Menon Mannil), March 2013
WORK EXPERIENCE
Film Researcher, Long Hair, Short Ideas (Pallavi Paul, 2013) 2013 Archival research and interviews for experimental documentary on the women’s movement in India, commissioned by the Public Service Broadcasting Trust of India
Cinema Program Coordinator, Korean Cultural Centre India, New Delhi 2012-13 Responsible for formulating an annual film plan for the KCC. Charged with curating films for major film festivals across India, coordinating visits by Korean filmmakers and curating monthly themes for film screenings and talks at the Centre. Integral part of the Programs team, involved in organizing music recitals, art exhibitions, and other Korean cultural events.
Editorial Trainee, Yoda Press, New Delhi 2006-07 Trained in editing and proofreading and helped with marketing, publicity and market research. Worked on several academic books on cultural studies, gender studies and art history, as well as publications on rural education and HIV awareness for non-profits like the Agha Khan Foundation and Oxfam.
SELECTED CURATING, SCREENING AND LECTURE SERIES PROGRAMMING
“An Evening with Claudio Caldini moderated by Dr. David James,” screenings and discussion with the filmmaker, co-curated with Los Angeles Filmforum as part of Pacific Standard Time: LA/LA at the USC Cinema and Media Studies Annual Graduate Conference, Los Angeles, October 2017
“Heterotopias: VR Experience as Contagious Physicality,” VR exhibit by Szilvia Ruszev and Noa Kaplan, USC Cinema and Media Studies Annual Graduate Conference, Los Angeles, October 2017
“Cinema Without Reflection,” book talk by Akira Mizuta Lippit, USC School of Cinematic Arts, Los Angeles, April 2017
“The Revolution Will Be Videotaped: The Videofreex, the Black Panther Party and the Politics of New Media,” talk by Peter Sachs Collopy, USC School of Cinematic Arts, Los Angeles, February 2017
“TV Socialism,” book talk by Aniko Imré, USC School of Cinematic Arts, Los Angeles, December 2016
“The Comic Camera: Composite Images in Buster Keaton's Cameraman,” talk by Sulgi Lie, USC School of Cinematic Arts, Los Angeles, November 2016
“Women Who Dared: Focus on Korean Women Filmmakers,” screening and lecture series co- curated with International Association of Women in Radio and Television, Korean Cultural Centre India, New Delhi, March 2013
“Pieta (Kim Ki-Duk, 2012),” film screening at the convention of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry on Films, Radio, Audio-visual, Music, Events, Shows (FICCI FRAMES), Mumbai, March 2013
“Circuits of Cinema: Malayalam ‘New Wave’ and Korean Cinema,” talk by Bindu Menon Mannil (University of Delhi), and screening of short film Dear Kim Ki-Duk (Binu Kumar, 2009), Korean Cultural Center India, New Delhi, January 2013
“Country Focus: South Korea,” curated film package for the 11th Pune International Film Festival, Pune, January 2013
PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS
Society for Cinema and Media Studies 2020-21 USC Korean Studies Institute Graduate Affiliate 2018-19