Critical Social Inquiry 0116 - New Media & Youth in S. Asia

This class explores the relationship between new media technologies, global youth and trans-national/trans-local social movements in South Asia and South Asian Diasporic Global Communities. The global youth's new media use is examined along with interrogating how communities of exchange and action are formed as a result of using such technologies as a tool for social transformation. The potentials of new media technologies and the ways in which global youth navigate this unlikely space for the realization, sustenance and application of Freire's concept of conscientizacao (critical consciousness) to create new discourses that bring about sustained social change is explored. We will be comparing case studies across South Asia and other geopolitical locations with large South Asian diasporic communities, to understand the nuanced differences in the ways in which global youth from multi geo-political locations are using new media technologies for sustaining trans-national and trans-local social movements.

Power, Community and Social Justice Independent Work Multiple Cultural Perspectives Writing and Research Students are expected to spend 6-8 hours weekly on work and preparation outside of class time.