Cheryll Soriano on Confronting Neo-Colonialism in the Platform Work Market

In this episode, Professor Mohan Dutta speaks with Professor Viktor Chagas on humor in Brazilian politics. Professor Chagas offers a humor lens to Brazilian independence from Portugal, pointing out how Brazilian people made Portuguese people the butt of the jokes as a means to create a national identity. We hear about Professor Chagas’ research into private far right WhatsApp group chats and the ethical and safety considerations that come with covert research methods. Professor Chagas and Professor Dutta also discuss the need to decenter the hegemony of political communications research and the challenges associated from the perspective of the Global South.Click here for the episode transcript FeaturingMohan DuttaViktor Chagas SponsorsThe Institute for Advanced Study in the Global South at Northwestern University Qatar More from our guests:  Mohan Dutta Dean’s Chair Professor of Communication | Journalism and Marketing Massey University | University of New Zealand Director, Center for Culture-Centered Approach to Research and Evaluation (CARE)Twitter: @mjdutt; @CAREMasseyNZ Viktor ChagasAssociate Professor | Department of Cultural Studies and Media | Fluminense Federal UniversityDirector, Laboratory of Research on Communication, Political Cultures, and Collaborative Economy (coLAB)Twitter: @ombudsmanviktor Works referenced in episode:Jokes and Targets by Christie DaviesChagas, V. A cultura dos memes: aspectos sociológicos e dimensões políticas de um fenômeno do mundo digital. Salvador: EdUFBA, 2020.Chagas, V., Modesto, M., & Magalhães, D. O Brasil vai virar Venezuela: medo, memes e enquadramentos emocionais no WhatsApp pró-Bolsonaro. Esferas, 14, 2019. Chagas, V., Freire, F., Rios, D., & Magalhães, D. Political memes and the politics of memes: a methodological proposal for content analysis of online political memes. First Monday, 24, 2019.  Copy and Audio Editors:  Dominic BonelliTom Dixon

In this episode, Professor Mohan Dutta’s guest Professor Usha Raman discusses her early professional career and how it shaped her scholarly interests. She describes her current worker-centered and feminist approach to the design and deployment of digital platforms and tools to align, with a special eye to the Global South,  the future of work with human dignity, creativity, and pleasure. Click here for the episode transcript FeaturingMohan DuttaUsha RamanSponsor:The Institute for Advanced Study in the Global South at Northwestern University QatarMore from our guests:  Mohan Dutta Dean’s Chair Professor of Communication | Journalism and Marketing Massey University | University of New Zealand Director, Center for Culture-Centered Approach to Research and Evaluation (CARE)Twitter: @mjdutt; @CAREMasseyNZUsha RamanProfessor in the Department of Communication | University of Hyderabad Vice President | International Association for Media and Communication Research (IAMCR)Twitter: @usharamanWorks referenced in episode:Raman, U., & Arora, P. (n.d.). Femlab. FEMLAB.Raman, U., & Komarraju, S. A. (2018). Policing responses to crime against women: unpacking the logic of Cyberabad’s “SHE Teams”. Feminist Media Studies, 18(4), 718-733.Komarraju, S. A., Arora, P., & Raman, U. (2021). Agency and servitude in platform labour: a feminist analysis of blended cultures. Media, Culture & Society, 01634437211029890.Raman, U. (2018). MAYANOTES. Super Vision. Raman, U. (2021). Pandemic Learning: How do we make it (all) count?. Indian Academy of Sciences.Bhattacharya, S. (2021). Desperately seeking Shah Rukh: India's Lonely Young Women and the search for intimacy and Independence. Harper Collins Publishers India. Copy and Audio Editor:  Dominic BonelliDaniel Christain Executive Producer:DeVante Brown

This episode features Professor Cheryll Ruth Soriano in conversation with Professor Mohan Dutta. Professor Soriano discusses her research on Filipino platform workers, expanding on linkages between migrant workers and the rise of entrepreneurial solidarity amongst digital workers. They further discuss the implications of the Philippines' past as a colonial subject and the country’s present as a site of political, particularly anti-neoliberal, activism.Click here for the episode transcript FeaturingMohan DuttaCheryll Ruth SorianoSponsor:The Institute for Advanced Study in the Global South at Northwestern University QatarMore from our guests:  Mohan Dutta Dean’s Chair Professor of Communication | Journalism and Marketing Massey University | University of New Zealand Director, Center for Culture-Centered Approach to Research and Evaluation (CARE)Twitter: @mjdutt; @CAREMasseyNZCheryll Ruth SorianoProfessor of Communication | De La Salle University Principal Investigator, Fairwork PhilippinesTwitter: @chesorianoWorks Referenced in Episode: Soriano, C. R. R., & Cabañes, J. V. A. (2020). Entrepreneurial solidarities: Social media collectives and Filipino digital platform workers. Social Media+ Society, 6(2), 2056305120926484.Munck, R. (2002). Globalisation and labour: the new'Great Transformation'. Zed Books.Copy and Audio Editor:  Sharlene Burgos Executive Producer:DeVante Brown

In this episode, host Mohan Dutta discusses with guest Noor Aswad the legacies of imperialism in Syria. They stress the importance of not portraying imperialism with a broad brush stroke. Aswad points out how the converse of America as a beacon of light, which is America as an unstoppable imperial actor, erases the micropolitics of resistance; in this way, America is not the only actor of oppression in Syria. She also discusses the struggle among oppressed people to organize a narrative that resonates with the Western world.Click here for the episode transcript.FeaturingMohan DuttaNoor AswadSponsor:Institute for Advanced Study in the Global South at Northwestern University QatarMore from the host & speakers:Mohan DuttaProfessor, Dean's Chair | School of Communication, Journalism, and MarketingDirector, Center for Culture-Centered Approach to Research and Evaluation (CARE)Massey University, Aotearoa New ZealandTwitter - @mjdutt @CAREMasseyNZNoor AswadDoctoral student in the Department of CommunicationUniversity of MemphisTwitter - @noorghazalaswadPapers/Journal referred to in the episode:Aswad, N.G. (2021). Radical Rhetoric: Toward a Telos of Solidarity. Rhetoric & Public Affairs 24(1), 207-222.Ghazal Aswad, N. (2019). Biased neutrality: the symbolic construction of the Syrian refugee in the New York Times. Critical Studies in Media Communication, 36(4), 357-375.Aswad, N. G., & De Velasco, A. (2020). Redemptive Exclusion: A Case Study of Nikki Haley’s Rhetoric on Syrian Refugees. Rhetoric and Public Affairs, 23(4), 735-760.Hensman, R. (2018). Indefensible: Democracy, Counterrevolution, and the Rhetoric of Anti-Imperialism. Haymarket Books.

The International Communication Association presents the ICA Podcast Network, where we’re grappling with questions about how to navigate, transform, and make sense of a changing world. Our podcasts will bring together scholars and practitioners from around the world to showcase the most exciting and important work in our field and amplify researchers, educators, and advocates who are underrepresented in our field.  We're so excited to introduce One World, One Network‽, Interventions from the Global South, Architects of Communication Scholarship, Digital Alchemy, Feminist Networks and the Conjuncture, Ask Us Anything, Growing Up Comm, JCMC: The Discussion Section, and Communicating for Impact. Visit our website to learn more and listen to each podcast. 

In this episode of Interventions from the Global South, host Mohan Dutta and guest Rafael Grohmann take a deep dive into what it means to engage with the academic journal landscape as a researcher in the Global South, centered in the context of open data access in Brazil. They discuss what can be lost in translation as journal texts move in and out of English and analyze how the communication research landscapes in Latin American countries have benefited over time by prioritizing multilingual translation and eliminating article processing costs. Take a listen to learn more about how researchers are connecting publication processes to the larger global context of digital sovereignty, and how workers and academics are both working to build their own platforms in order to engage directly with questions on how to best share their own work.Click here for the episode transcriptFeaturingMohan DuttaRafael GrohmannSponsor:Institute for Advanced Study in the Global South at Northwestern University QatarMore from the host & speakers:Mohan DuttaProfessor, Dean's Chair | School of Communication, Journalism, and MarketingDirector, Center for Culture-Centered Approach to Research and Evaluation (CARE)Massey University, Aotearoa, New ZealandTwitter - @mjdutt @CAREMasseyNZRafael GrohmannAssistant Professor | CommunicationDirector, DigiLabour Research LabUnisinos University, São Leopoldo, BrazilTwitter - @grohmann_rafael @DigiLabourPapers/Journal referred to in episode:Martin-Barbero, Jesús. Communication, Culture, and Hegemony: From the Media to Mediations. London: SAGE Publications, 1993. Print.

In this episode, host Mohan Dutta discusses with guest Colin Chasi his newest book, Ubuntu for Warriors, as an anchor for a wider conversation about the roles of history and tradition in the landscape of African social and moral philosophies. They discuss what traditions look like when they are adapted organically rather than being contrived to prop up geopolitical agendas - and also how various social systems have impacted the practice of traditions over time.  Listen in to learn more about how scholars from the Global South are reclaiming their own traditions within the academic landscape, as well as about the subsequent emotional labor many scholars face.  Click here for the episode transcriptFeaturingMohan DuttaColin ChasiSponsor:Institute for Advanced Study in the Global South at Northwestern University QatarMore from the host & speakers:Mohan DuttaProfessor, Dean's Chair | School of Communication, Journalism and MarketingDirector, Center for Culture-Centered Approach to Research and Evaluation (CARE)Massey University, Aotearoa, New ZealandTwitter - @mjdutt @CAREMasseyNZColin ChasiProfessor; Director, Unit for Institutional Change and Social Justice | Communication ScienceUniversity of the Free State, Bloemfontein, South AfricaTwitter - @UFSwebPapers/Journal referred to in episode:Chasi, C. 2021. Ubuntu for Warriors. Africa World Press: Johannesburg.

In this introductory episode, Mohan Dutta, the host of Interventions from the Global South, introduces listeners to communication theory and practice coming out of the Global South. Listen in to learn about how the physical and intellectual landscape of the Global South has developed over time, interacting with concepts including sovereignty, embeddedness, and dispossession. How can communication studies from the Global South offer an alternative frame for examining - and pushing back on - colonialism, capitalism, and resource drain?Click here for the episode transcript on our website.FeaturingMohan DuttaSponsor:Institute for Advanced Study in the Global South at Northwestern University QatarMore from the host & speakers:Mohan DuttaProfessor, Dean's Chair | School of Communication, Journalism and MarketingDirector, Center for Culture-Centered Approach to Research and Evaluation (CARE)Massey University, Aotearoa New ZealandTwitter - @mjdutt @CAREMasseyNZ