Constantine Valenzuela Nakassis

324 Haskell Hall, Phone: 773 834 4810 (office), Department of Anthropology, The University of Chicago, 312 869 1797 (mobile) 1126 E. 59th Street, Chicago, IL 60637 E-mail: [email protected]

Education PhD, June 2010, University of Pennsylvania, Department of Anthropology (thesis: Youth and Status in Tail Nadu, ) BA Magna Cum Laude, May 2001, University of Pennsylvania. Double Major with distinctions in both Psychology (concentration: Psycholinguistics) and Anthropology (concentration: Human Biology)

Appointments The University of Chicago, Department of Anthropology, Assistant Professor (Tenure Track) (July 2012– Present, renewed for second term, December 15, 2015) The University of Chicago, Department of Anthropology, Mellon Post-doctoral Fellow (July 2010–July 2012)

Books Nakassis, C. 2016. Doing Style: Youth and Mass Mediation in South India. Chicago: University of Chicago Press (publication date: April 6, 2016); New Delhi, India: Orient Blackswan (publication date: June 2016). Nakassis, C. Onscreen/Offscreen: Ontologies of the Image in South Indian Cinema. Manuscript in preparation.

Edited volumes Nakassis, C., ed. 2013. Brand Neoliberalism. Theme issue of Cultural Anthropology 28(1). Nakassis, C. and L. Searle, eds. 2013. Social Value Projects in Post-liberalisation India. Special issue of Contributions to Indian Sociology 47(2).

Papers Nakassis, C. In press (July 2016). “Scaling Red and the Horror of Trademark.” In E. Summerson Carr and Michael Lempert, eds. Scale: Discourse and Dimension in Social Life. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press. Nakassis, C. 2016. “Linguistic Anthropology in 2015: Not the Study of Language.” American Anthropologist 118(2): Nakassis, C. 2015. “A Tamil-speaking Heroine.” BioScope 6(2):165–186. Nakassis, C. 2014. “Suspended Kinship and Youth Sociality in , India.” Current Anthropology 55(2):175–199. Nakassis, C. 2014. “Realism, On and Off the Screen.” In Anand Pandian, ed. Subramaniyapuram. : Blaft Publications, pp. 214–220. Nakassis, C. 2013. “Materiality, Materialization. A Comment on Hull, Matthew. 2012. Government of Paper. Berkeley: University of California Press.” HAU: Journal of Ethnographic Theory 3(3):399–406. Nakassis, C. 2013. “The Quality of a Copy.” In T. Kuldova, ed. Fashion India: Spectacular Capitalism. Akademika forlag, pp. 142–165. Nakassis, C. and Llerena Searle. 2013. “Introduction: Social Value Projects in Post-liberalisation India.” Contributions to Indian Sociology 47(2) (June):169–183, special issue, Social Value Projects in Post-liberalisation India (edited by C. Nakassis and L. Searle). Nakassis, C. 2013. “Youth Masculinity, ‘Style’, and the Peer Group in Tamil Nadu, India.” Contributions

1 to Indian Sociology 47(2) (June):245–269, special issue, Social Value Projects in Post- liberalisation India (edited by C. Nakassis and L. Searle). Nakassis, C. 2013. “Para-s/cite, Part II: The Paracite.” Semiotic Review (N.S.) 1 (June 2013). Nakassis, C. 2013. “Para-s/cite, Part I: The Parasite.” Semiotic Review (N.S.) 1 (May 2013). Nakassis, C. 2013. “Citation and Citationality.” Signs and Society 1(1) (April):51–78. Nakassis, C. 2013. “Brands and their Surfeits.” Cultural Anthropology 28(1) (February):111–126 (as part of a theme issue, “Brand Neoliberalism,” edited by C. Nakassis). Nakassis, C. 2013. “Introduction: Brand Neoliberalism.” Cultural Anthropology 28(1) (February):110 (as part of a theme issue, “Brand Neoliberalism,” edited by C. Nakassis). Nakassis, C. 2012. “Brand, Citationality, Performativity.” American Anthropologist 114(4) (December):624–638. Nakassis, C. 2012. “Counterfeiting What? Aesthetics of Brandedness and BRAND in Tamil Nadu, India.” Anthropological Quarterly 85(3) (July):701–722, Special Collection – Pirates and Piracy, Broadly Conceived. Nakassis, C. 2009. “Theorizing Realism Empirically.” New Cinemas 7(3):211–235. Nakassis, C. and Dean, Melanie. 2007. “Desire, Youth, and Realism in .” Journal of Linguistic Anthropology 17(1):77–104. Nakassis, C. and Jesse Snedeker. 2002. “Beyond Sarcasm: Intonation and Context as Relational Cues in Children's Recognition of Irony.” Proceedings of the Annual Boston University Conference on Language Development 26(2):429–440.

Translations Hart, Kausalya, Nakassis, C, and Pandian, Anand. 2014. “Subramaniyapuram: The Screenplay (by M. Sasikumar).” In Anand Pandian, ed. Subramaniyapuram: The Tamil Film in English Translation. Chennai: Blaft Publications, pp. 1–202.

Book Reviews Nakassis, C. 2015. Review of LaDousa, C. (2014) Hindi Is Our Ground, English Is Our Sky. New York: Berghahn Books. Journal of Linguistic Anthropology 25(3):358–360. Nakassis, C. 2015. Review of Clark- Decès, I. (2014) The Right Spouse: Preferential Marriages in Tamil Nadu. Stanford: Stanford University Press. Journal of Anthropological Research 71(2):268–270. Nakassis, C. 2012. Review of Annamalai, E. (2011) Social Dimensions of Modern Tamil. Chennai, India: Cre-A: . Journal of Linguistic Anthropology 22(3):261–263. Nakassis, C. 2012. Review of Sharma, N. (2010) Hip Hop Desis. Durham, NC: Duke University Press. Journal of Linguistic Anthropology 22(3):277–279. Nakassis, C. 2005. “Formalizing Context.” Review of Gauker, C. (2003) Words without Meaning. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. Theory and Psychology 15(1):128–131.

Interviews Interview with Ilana Gershon for CaMP Anthropology, May 16, 2016. https://campanthropology.wordpress.com/2016/05/16/constantine-v-nakassis/

Presentations 2016 “Spoofs and the Ontology of the Film Image in Tamil Cinema.” Paper presented at the Chicago Tamil Forum workshop (C. Nakassis – organizer), University of Chicago, May 19–21, 2016.

2015 “Onscreen/Offscreen: Ontologies of the Image in South Indian Cinema.” Paper presented at the Linguistic Anthropology Working Group, University of California – Berkeley, December 4, 2015 (invited). “Identity / Quality, a commentary on Regimes of Iconicity.” Commentary paper for the panel “Regimes

2 of Iconicity,” American Anthropological Association, Denver, CO, November 18, 2015. “Spoofs and the Politics of the Film Image’s Ontology in Tamil Cinema.” Paper presented for the panel, “Tamilness in Cinema: Deconstruction, Interrogation, and Entrenchment of Stereotypes,” Annual Conference on South Asia, Madison, WI, October 25, 2015. “Bus Routes.” Paper presented at the Chicago Tamil Forum workshop (C. Nakassis – organizer), University of Chicago, May 21–23, 2015. “Item Numbers and the Ontology of the Image in Tamil Cinema.” Department of Anthropology and the South Asia Studies Program Colloquium, University of California – San Diego, April 13, 2015 (invited). “The Style of Tamil Youth Linguistic Practice, On and Off the Screen.” Workshop, Linguistic Anthropology interest group, University of California – San Diego, April 13, 2015 (invited). Roundtable discussion: Neoliberal Frontiers” (with Susan Gal, Michael Silverstein, Summerson Carr, and Susanne Cohen). Neoliberal Frontiers: Language and Political Economy Revisited, The University of Chicago, 6 March, 2015 (co-organizer with Andrew Graan and Susan Gal).

2014 “The Finger.” Paper presented for the panel: “Parsing the Body,” American Anthropological Association meetings, Washington, DC, December 4, 2014. “Bringing the Distant Voice Close: Language, Youth, and Belonging in Urban Tamil Nadu.” Tamil Studies Conference, The University of Toronto, May 17, 2014. “Index/Text,” Discussant comments on panel, “Modes of Indexicality,” Michicagoan Graduate Student Conference, Chicago, IL May 2–3, 2014 “NEED FLUENCY”: English-Tamil Code-Mixing and the Double Voicing of Youth “Style.” ISLA Language and Linguistics Group, University of Notre Dame, March 21, 2014. (invited) “‘Item Numbers’ and the Performativity of the Image in Tamil Film.” - Department of Anthropology, Liu Institute for Asia and Asian Studies, University of Notre Dame, March 20, 2014. (invited) - Paper presented at the Anthropology of Tamil Nadu workshop, University of Chicago, May 31, 2014. 2013 ”What is a brand that a nation could be one? And what is a nation that it could be branded?” Discussant paper presented for the panel: “Semiotics of Nation Branding,” American Anthropological Association meetings, Chicago, IL November 24, 2013. ”The Horror of Trademark.” Paper presented for the panel: “The Pragmatics of Scale,” American Anthropological Association meetings, Chicago, IL November 21, 2013. “Symptomatic interdiscursivity, feeling, and the time of enregisterment.” Discussant comments on the panel Space, Scales, and Stratification, Michicagoan Graduate Student Conference in Linguistic Anthropology, University of Michigan, May 11, 2013. “The Beyond of Parody.” Discussant paper for the panel: “Parody and Sincerity in Contemporary Political Culture.”AES/APLA Conference, Chicago, IL April 13, 2013.

2012 “Roundtable discussion: Trans-communications and the productions of sociality” (with Miyako Inuoue, Michael Fisch, and Phillip Grant). Trans-Science Conference, The University of Chicago, 15 December, 2012. “From English to Tamil on Music Television.” Paper presented at the Tamil Studies Workshop, The University of Chicago, 19 October 2012. “Disfluent Speech, Foreign Bodies: Femininity and Film in Tamil Nadu, India.” Paper presented at The Annual Conference on South Asia (Panel: Femininity, Transgression and Embodiment in Contemporary India), Madison, WI, 12 October 2012. “Ontology, Brand, Citationality: Brand and Brandedness in Tamil Nadu, India.” Paper presented at the

3 European Association for Social Anthropology meetings, July 12, 2012, Nanterre, France. “Commenting on Uttering Others.” Discussant comments on the panel Uttering Others, Michicagoan Graduate Student Conference in Linguistic Anthropology, University of Chicago, May 12, 2012. “Item Numbers, Performativity, and the Ontology of the Filmic Image in South Indian Film.” - Paper presented at Audible Intimacies: A Symposium on Song in South Indian Cinema, The University of Chicago, 16 February 2012. - Paper presented at the Berkeley Tamil Studies Conference, Berkeley California, 20–22 April 2012. “Suspended Kinship and Youth Sociality in Tamil Nadu, India.” Paper presented at the Tamil Studies Workshop, The University of Chicago, 2 March 2012.

2011 “Hybrid performativities, English use, and youth peer groups in Tamil Nadu, India.” - Paper presented at the American Anthropological Association Meetings, Montreal, 18 November 2011. - Paper presented at the Tamil Studies Workshop, The University of Chicago, 11 November 2011. “Classing, Middling, Spacing.” Commentary paper for the panel Spatial Practice and New Middle Classes: Situating Class in the Postcolonial City, Anthropological Association Meetings, Montreal, 19 November 2011. “Between the “New Face” and the “Super Star.”” Paper presented to Toronto Tamil Studies Conference, University of Toronto, May 14, 2011. “Brand Desires, Anxieties, Ignorances: Young Men’s Peer Groups and the Aesthetics of Brandedness in Tamil Nadu, India.” Paper presented to the Semiotics Workshop, University of Chicago, April 7, 2011. (invited) “Status through the Screen: Rethinking Realism in Tamil Commercial Cinema.” Paper presented to the University of Chicago, South Asia Languages and Civilization, March 10, 2011. (invited) “Youth Status, Style, and Branded Forms in South India.” Paper presented to the Chicago-area Consumer Culture Community (C4), DePaul University, March 4, 2011. (invited) “Commentary on Language, Ideology & (Meta)Pragmatic Limits.” Discussant paper, South Asia Graduate Student Conference, University of Chicago, March 3, 2011. “Status through the Screen: Audiences and Actors in Commercial Tamil Cinema.” Paper presented to the University of Chicago, Department of Anthropology, February 28, 2011. (invited)

2010 “Style, Brand, and Globalization in Tamil Nadu, India.” Paper presented to the University of Oklahoma, School of International and Area Studies. December 16, 2010. (invited) “Counterfeiting What? Aesthetics of Exteriority and the Ontology of the Brand in South India.” Panel: Brands, Counterfeiting, Authenticity, Authority (panel organizer: Constantine V. Nakassis), American Anthropological Association Meetings (New Orleans, LA), November 17, 2010. “Youth Status and Hero-Oriented, Commercial Film in Tamil Nadu, India.” Panel: Media and New Technologies, The Annual Conference on South Asia (Madison, WI), October 17, 2010. 2009 “Youth Masculinity, "Style" and the Brand in Tamil Nadu, India.” Panel: Self-Fashioning Projects and Class Anxiety in Contemporary Urban India (panel organizers: Llerena Searle, Constantine V. Nakassis, Melanie Dean), American Anthropological Association Meetings (Philadelphia, PA), December 5, 2009. 2008 “Notes on Higher Education in Madurai, Tamil Nadu.” Conference on College Education: Challenges of the Market, the Academia and the Political Society, Centre for the Study of Culture and Society (Bangalore, India), June 20–21, 2008.

4 “Youth Masculinity and Style in Madurai, Tamil Nadu.” AIIS Junior Fellows Annual Conference (Gurgaon, India), January 7–8, 2008. 2001 “The Meaningfulness of Eating Disorders.” Semiotics Workshop, University of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, PA), December 11, 2001. “Beyond Sarcasm: Intonation and Context as Relational Cues in Children's Recognition of Irony.” Annual Boston University Conference on Language Development (Boston, MA), Fall 2001.

Awards and fellowships - Norman Cutler Travel Grant, COSAS, University of Chicago ($5,000) (Summer 2016) - Franke Institute for the Humanities, Fellow (Fall 2014–Spring 2015) - Norman Cutler Travel Grant, COSAS, University of Chicago ($6,000) (Summer 2014) - Norman Cutler Travel Grant, COSAS, University of Chicago ($3,000) (Summer 2011) - Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowship, Tamil (Fall 2009–Summer 2010) - Zwicker Fund, Dissertation Writing Grant, University of Pennsylvania (Summer 2009–Spring 2010) - American Institute of Indian Studies (AIIS) Dissertation Research Fellowship (Summer 2007– Winter 2009) - University of Pennsylvania, Excellence in Graduate Teaching award (Spring 2007) - AIIS Summer Fieldwork Funds (Summer 2005: Madurai, Chennai, Tirunelveli) - AIIS Language Fellow (2004–2005: Madurai, India) - University of Pennsylvania, Department of Anthropology Field Funds (Summer 2003: Pondicherry, India) - University of Pennsylvania, William Penn Fellowship for graduate study (2001–2006) - University of Pennsylvania, Miles Murphy award (2001): Best undergraduate psychology honors thesis (Psychology Department, UPenn)

Research interests Theories of mass media; Theories of realism in film; Youth culture; Globalization; Semiotics; Social theory; Gender; Theories of the commodity form and brands; Codemixing; Linguistic anthropology; Cultural anthropology; Tamil Nadu, India.

Fieldwork experience - Summer 2014 Chennai, Tamil Nadu: Research on bus routes and student politics in urban Chennai colleges (1990s–2010s); research on Tamil spoof films; research on gender and language in the television show Thamizh Peesum Kathaanaayaki - Summer 2011 Chennai and Madurai, Tamil Nadu: Research on film actors’ and actresses’ biographic narratives; interviews with Tamil youth on tropic kinship terms, Tanglish, and English usage. - Summer 2010 Chennai and Madurai, Tamil Nadu: Research on film actors’ biographical narratives; interviews with directors, producers, and writers of recent parody films; research on tropic kinship terms among Tamil youth. - Spring 2008–Summer 2009 Chennai, Tiruppur, and Erode, Tamil Nadu: Dissertation research, Youth and Status in Tamil Nadu, India: ethnography with college-going youth; ethnography at SS MUSIC television station; ethnography with director Venkat Prabhu’s Goa film; interviews with producers, directors, actors, cinematographers, editors, stylists in Tamil cinema industry; interviews with retailers, distributors, sourcing agents, factory owners in (counterfeit) Western branded apparel. - Summer 2007–Spring 2008 Madurai, Tamil Nadu: Dissertation research, Youth and Status in Tamil Nadu, India: ethnography with college-going youth; interviews with shop owners, distributors of (counterfeit) Western branded clothing; ethnography with local television station. - Summer 2005 Tirunelveli, Tamil Nadu: Archival research at St. Xavier’s College, Folklore department on Vinayagar Chathurthi Uurvalam and Hindutva political mobilization.

5 - Winter 2004–Summer 2005 Madurai and Chennai, Tamil Nadu: Research about realist, youth film in Tamil Nadu with viewers, film producers, directors.

Teaching Courses - Winter 2014, 2016 Self, Culture, Society (undergraduate seminar), University of Chicago, College. - Fall 2012 Citationality and Performativity (graduate seminar), University of Chicago, Department of Anthropology. - Spring 2012, 2014 Linguistic Anthropology Practicum (graduate seminar; co-taught with Justin Richland), University of Chicago, Department of Anthropology. - Spring 2011 Engaging Media: Thinking about Media and Their Audiences (undergraduate), University of Chicago, Department of Anthropology. - Spring 2011, 2014 Advanced Readings in Semiotics and Media (graduate seminar), University of Chicago, Department of Anthropology. - Winter 2011, 2012, 2013 (Winter 2013 Co-taught with Justin Richland), 2014, 2016 Language in Culture II (graduate), University of Chicago, Department of Anthropology. - Spring 2007 Language and Culture (undergraduate), University of Pennsylvania, Department of Anthropology. - Spring 2004 Introduction to the Modern World (teaching assistant; principal instructor: Greg Urban), UPenn, Department of Anthropology. - Fall 2003 Introduction to Cultural Anthropology (teaching assistant; principal instructor: Greg Urban), UPenn, Department of Anthropology. - Fall 2002 Communication and Culture (co-taught with Asif Agha), UPenn, Department of Anthropology.

Independent Study - Lily Ye – Engaging Media: Independent Study in Media Studies (Fall 2011) - Stacy Pape – Youth Cultural Movements: Independent Study (Winter 2014) - Briel Kobak – Intellectual Property and Piracy (Winter 2016)

Professional Service - Co-organizer, “Language and Political Economy Revisited: Global Perspectives on Neoliberalism” Conference, March 2014 (funded by the Franke Institute, CIS). - Organizer, Chicago Tamil Forum, The University of Chicago, - New Directions in the Anthropological Study of Tamil Nadu, May 30–31, 2014 (funded by COSAS, Lichtstern Fund) - Margins of Dravidianism, May 21–23, 2015 (funded by COSAS, CIS, Lichtstern Fund) - Politics of Media, Media of Politics, May 19–21, 2016 (funded by Lichtstern Fund) - Co-organizer, Michicagoan Faculty Workshop, “Discourse in the Balance,” The University of Chicago, January 18–19, 2013. - Peer Review: American Ethnologist (2), Anthropology and Education Quarterly (1), Comparative Studies in Society and History (1), Cultural Anthropology (2), Ethnography (1), History and Anthropology (1), Journal of Linguistic Anthropology (1), Language and Communication (1), Political and Legal Anthropology Review (1), Semiotic Review (1), Signs and Society (3), Social Anthropology (1), Synoptique (1), Contemporary South Asia (1). - External reviewer, PUKAR (Fall 2008): evaluating PUKAR’s (Mumbai, India) “Youth Fellowship Program” (grant from the Sri Ratan Tata Trust) on behalf of the Strategic Resource Group, Pravah (New Delhi, India). - Assistant editor, Journal of Linguistic Anthropology - Summer 2007 Freelance copy-editor, University of California Press, Journal of Linguistic Anthropology: copy-editing.

6 - Fall 2005–Spring 2006 Assistant editor, Journal of Linguistic Anthropology: copy-editing, coordination with University of California Press and authors, database management. - Member of American Anthropological Association, Society for Linguistic Anthropology, European Association for Social Anthropology

University Service (University of Chicago) - Chicago Tamil Forum workshop (2014–), University of Chicago (founder) - Tamil Studies Group (2011–2013), University of Chicago (founder) - Committee on South Asia Studies (COSAS) faculty member (2011–), Executive committee (2015– 2016) - Theory and Practice in South Asia (TAPSA) workshop faculty adviser (2011–2012, 2013–2014) - Reviewer, Liebmann Fellowship (2013) - Committee member, Vivenkananda Visiting Professor appointment committee (2013) - Reviewer, SSRD Committee (2014) - Reviewer, Goettler Prize Committee (2014)

- BA Advisor: Caroline Wegner (Advisor/first reader) (2016) Ellen Isman (Advisor/first reader) (2016) Bryn Pernot (Advisor/first reader) (2013) Joshua Babcock (Second reader) (2013) Alexandria Batdorf (Advisor) (2012) Janet Connor (Second reader) (2011) Michael Quiroz (Second reader) (2011) - MA Advisor Evan Traverso (2016) (Advisor, MAPPS program) Sharon Jacobs (2016) (Advisor, MAPPS program) Jinjing Xia (2016) (Advisor, MAPPS program) Fadi Hakim (2016) (Second reader) Hannah McElgunn (2014) (Second reader) Mennatallah Khalil (2014) (Second reader) Madlyn Wendell (2014) (Advisor, MAPPS program) Chelsea McGill (2014) (Advisor, MAPPS program) William Notini (2014) (Advisor, MAPPS program) Seng Lee (2014) (Advisor, MAPPS program) Ayesha Mulla (2013) (Second reader) Alexandra Israel (2012) (Advisor, MAPH program) Rushda Mustafa (2012) (Advisor, MAPH program) Emily Soper (2012) (Advisor, MAPPS program) - Dissertation Committee Mark Gerharty (June 16, 2016 defense) Victoria Gross (Columbia University, Anthropology) (November 4, 2016 defense) Jay Schutte (co-chair with Julie Chu) (post-field) Colin Halverson (post-field) Hannah McElgunn (post-exams) Janet Connor (pre-exams) Lily Ye (pre-exams) Mennatallah Khalil (pre-exams) Briel Kobak (chair) (pre-exams) Eleonore Rimbault (pre-exams) Fadi Hakim (pre-exams)

7 Taylor Lowe (pre-exams) Joshua Babcock (pre-exams)

Other work experience - Fall 2006–Spring 2007 Linguistic Data Consortium, UPenn: language typology research, coding. - Fall 2005–Spring 2006 Research assistant to Dr. Asif Agha (Department of Anthropology, UPenn): indexing, copy-editing, and library research for Language and Social Relations (Cambridge, 2007). - Summer 2004 Multi-media (CD-Rom, internet) Tamil pedagogy project under Dr. Vasu Renganathan (South Asia Studies Department, UPenn): writing Tamil lessons for the website, copy-editing, translation; http://www.thetamillanguage.com/ - Summer 2001 Research assistant to Dr. David Crystal (Psychology Department, Georgetown University): experimental design. - Spring 2000 Institute for Research in Cognitive Science (UPenn) under Drs. Jesse Snedeker and Lila Gleitman: running developmental psycholinguistics experiments.

Languages English, Tamil

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