The Centre for Research in Media

The development of communication media that produces, reproduces and circulates symbolic forms was an integral part of the rise of modern societies.  Understanding these symbolic forms and their mode of production and circulation in given societies is critical to capturing the nuances of cultural transformation, a challenge that has inspired many a social thinker over centuries.  The process of ‘mediazation of culture’ is a significant aspect of social change analysis, given that the development of media involved the creation of newer forms of action and interaction in the social world. 

In the contemporary scenario when domestic media is being integrated with international markets and subjected to the penetration of the so called 'integrative' technologies—trans-border commercial satellites, for instance—the protective and heavily controlled media regimes in many developing countries, including India, stand challenged. Some hail the promises the new media technologies hold for 'greater global interconnectivity' and the creation of a truly free information society, while some argue that a media culture driven by the logic of the market not only homogenizes the content of a multi-channel universe, but it also fosters a crass culture that celebrates hedonistic aspirations. Lying between these two largely opposite positions are a variety of questions that beg serious analysis.

The Centre for Research in Media at MICA is founded on the conviction that media should be understood in their myriad dimensions as symbolic forms and meanings, cultural industries and technologies, and their complex interrelationships systematically explored. It envisages itself as the fountainhead of new knowledge on the multifarious aspects of media and their interactions with culture, society, economy and polity by encouraging systematic interdisciplinary research, and thus building up a repository of both curricular and scholarly resources on global media systems and processes.