The two-day national seminar on ‘Media Representation of NE India: Looking Back and Looking Forward’ concluded at DBI Kharguli Hills in Guwahati on Saturday.
Also read: Guwahati hosts two-day seminar on media representation of Northeast
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The day started with a special lecture on ‘Identity Assertion and Cultural Integration: Northeast Festivals as windows to India and the World’ delivered by Professor Sunil K Behera who is a professor of eminence from the Department of Mass Communication, Tezpur Central University in Assam.
In his deliverance, the professor talked about the popularity gained by the festivals of north-eastern India like the Ziro Festival of Music, Lossar, Cheiraoba which garners worldwide attention. He also talked about the many potentials north-eastern India has and that the mainstream media shouldn’t be bashed but the region has to come up and prove it’s strength. There are bounty of tourism entities and potentials, he added
Altogether 26 research scholars gave presentations on day two on various themes like ‘Northeast India in Cinema’, ‘Culture and Ethnicity of Northeast India: Discourses and Representation’, ‘Media, Activism and popular social movements in India’s Northeast’, ‘Politics, Identity and media representation in the Northeastern context’, and ‘Social Media and Representation of Northeast: Ethical and Legal Issues’.
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Some of the papers that were presented were ‘Showcasing Northeast India in Hindi Cinema: A case study of selected films’ made by directors from the region, the ‘Making of cinematic identities: exploring the growth of cinema in Arunachal Pradesh, ‘Documentary film as a tool to promote endangered culture and language: A case study of the Tangam Community of Arunachal Pradesh’, ‘Role of media in socio-cultural change of Deshi Muslims in rural areas of Assam’, ‘Social media activism: an analysis of the PRC issue protest in Arunachal Pradesh’ etc.
Principal of Saint Claret College of Ziro in Arunachal Pradesh, Father AllywnMendoz in his concluding remarks said the information given in the media about the Northeast are biased, therefore mainland people have a different attitude towards this part of the country.
Speaking on the issues and marginalization of media, Fr Mendoz further said that Northeast has been wrongly branded in the recent past adding that the papers discussed in the two days seminar has broadened the intricates in the national horizon.
Prof Kh Kabi while giving the vote of thanks thanked the vice chancellor of RGU, Prof SaketKushwaha, keynote speaker and Outlook editor Ruben Banerjee, resource persons, organizing partners and presenters for making the two-day long seminar a successful one.
The seminar was an initiative of the Department of Mass Communication, Rajiv Gandhi University, co-organized by Department of Mass Communication, Saint Claret College, Ziro and sponsored by Rajiv Gandhi National Institute of Youth Development (RGNIYD), Sriperumbudur, Directorate of Information and Public Relations (DIPR), Government of Arunachal Pradesh and Thekar, the first Karbi daily RNI registered newspaper published from Diphu.