The Communication Arts Department is so pleased to announce that Assistant Professor of Film Dr. Darshana Sreedhar Mini was awarded the first Byerly Award for Research in Feminist Political Economy of Communication by the Feminist Scholarship Division of the International Communication Association for her research on gender justice and workplace equity in Indian cinema.
This award, named for feminist media scholar Dr. Carolyn M. Byerly, supports critical feminist research in the context of political economy. It recognizes researchers who study they ways in which entrenched patriarchy affects communication within and by the media and other social institutions, as well as resistance to that male domination and privilege by and for women.
Dr. Mini earned this award for her research on how gender issues are addressed in the labor organizing in Indian film industries, with a focus on the response of institutional film bodies to the #MeToo movement in the entertainment sector. This research is also supported by a 4W Innovation grant through the University of Wisconsin – Madison’s 4W Initiative. Dr. Mini’s writing has been published in Feminist Media Histories, Film History, Porn Studies, Bioscope: South Asian Screen Studies, South Asian Popular Culture, South Asian Film and Media, Journal for Ritual Studies and International Journal for Digital Television, and you can learn more about her and her research here.