Jessica Birthisel | April 28, 2010
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Parameswaran will spend the month of May teaching the course, “Entangled Desires: Gender, Globalization, and the Media,” to seniors and graduate students as part of the University of Colorado at Boulder’s Faculty-in-Residence Summer Term program.
The course examines the ways in which the cultural politics of femininity and masculinity structure the historical, economic and social landscape of media globalization. Parmeswaran says the content of the course informs students in many ways, both academic and non-academic.
“It’s important because it shapes their world, their jobs, and all of their interactions as citizens, workers and consumers,” she said. From “the most mundane practices of eating, to adornment, to Kyoto protocols,” she said she wants students to learn the way the world is changing as a result of media globalization.
Parameswaran said the title of the course grew out her knowledge of the hair extension industry. Many of the most expensive hair extensions, sold to celebrities such as Beyonce, are made from the hair of Indian women, the result of women sacrificing their hair at a temple as part of religious rituals.
The temples then sell the hair to companies that make hair extensions, sending it on a path of processing, polishing and shining before it can be purchased at a top-dollar price by American women. Parmeswaran says the term “entangled desires” then references tangled hair and entangled cultural rituals around the globe.
For Parameswaran, this faculty-in-residence opportunity, much like the one she had during the spring 2009 semester at Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania, allows her the opportunity to teach in different academic settings, something she says she enjoys.
“I came straight to IU after earning my Ph.D.,” she explains. “Annenberg gave me the opportunity to be exposed to students at another institution, to see how students at different institutions react to material and think in different ways.”
In addition to different pedagogical experiences, Paremeswaran said teaching at another institution has other advantages.
“It will allow me to expand my intellectual community,” she said of her participation in the FIRST program. In addition to teaching the three-credit class, she will consult with graduate students, faculty, the Women and Gender Studies program and the Center for Asian Studies.
She recounted working with a graduate student at the Annenberg School and later running into him at a nation-branding workshop. She said she gave him personal, in-depth feedback that she never could have done had she not spent the semester as a faculty-in-residence.
“I find those sorts of things very rewarding, to connect and reconnect,” said Parameswaran.
During her time at Annenberg, she taught a 700-level course to a small group of doctoral students, assigning lots of “dense” theoretical readings. She said the opportunity to teach similar content to undergraduates at CU-Boulder will be a welcome challenge.
“It forces me to engage with the materials in a different way,” she said. “How will I teach the course in a way that will matter to students who will not write a dissertation?”
Reading ListSome of the titles Parameswaran will be using in her FIRST course are:
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“I had been aware of Radhika and her research for years through hearing her at conferences and always being really impressed with her,” said Peck, explaining that she first worked with Parameswaran when she invited her to participate in a National Communication Association Doctoral Honors Seminar held in Boulder. Peck said she enjoyed this opportunity to work with Parameswaran and to learn more about her research. This, as well as other work with her over the years, led to Peck inviting Parameswaran to apply for the FIRST program.
“I thought, man, she would be a welcome treat for our students,” said Peck.
CU-Boulder School of Journalism and Mass Communication Dean Paul Voakes said that when Peck suggested Parameswaran as a potential FIRST scholar, he thought it was “a fantastic idea.” He said Parameswaran’s unique academic specialties are a wonderful complement to the department, particularly given its graduate program’s emphasis on cultural studies.
“I know the faculty is very excited about having her here because most know her work and many of them have met Radhika and served on panels with her,” said Voakes. “There are doctoral students who also know of her work, but I think that most of the students in the class she’s teaching will be in for a nice surprise.”
Voakes, a former IU journalism professor, says he’s also looking forward to once again having day-to-day interactions with Parameswaran as a colleague.
“She’s just one of my favorite colleagues ever and I so enjoyed working with her,” he said, adding that he and Parameswaran were office neighbors during his time at IU. “She was just a wonderful person to be able to talk with every day. She has this indefatigable good humor and she’s just one of these people who brightens your day, just by sharing a conversation with her. On top of that, she’s a really, really, really great scholar and great teacher.”
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