Panel Schedule

VENUE: A Block 4th Floor, Room No: A - 416 

Chair: Dr Shampa I Dev, Professor, Christ University, Bengaluru 

Co-chairs: Dr Avishek Chakraborty, Associate Professor, Christ University, Bengaluru | Dr Embassy Lawbei, Assistant Professor, Christ University BGR   Campus, Bengaluru

This panel examines how Indigenous knowledge, particularly folk music, oral literature, and symbolic arts, circulates within contemporary digital systems. It foregrounds definitional challenges in the Indian context, where constitutional frameworks inadequately recognise Indigenous communities under international regimes. Analysing tensions between communal cultural ownership and individual-centred intellectual property law, the panel traces production, digital distribution, and consumption to identify legal and ethical vulnerabilities and explore decolonising media and legal frameworks for safeguarding ancestral cultural heritage.

Research Questions:

• Why does standard Intellectual Property Law fail to protect Traditional Cultural Expressions (TCEs)?

• How are indigenous textiles and motifs borrowed by global brands without consent or compensation, and what cultural power structures enable this practice?

• Who should own and control digital recordings of sacred rituals in the context of the right to be forgotten versus the duty to preserve?

• What legal and ethical grey areas emerge when modern DJs use traditional indigenous chants in electronic music?

• How can the shift from extracting data move toward empowering communities to distribute their own stories on their own terms?

Paper Presenters: 

1. MM2026_126 | The digital life of folk: remediation, participation and emergence of new aesthetics  | Debajit Bora 

2. MM2026_129 | Folk to Feed: Indigenous Knowledge, Digital Platforms, and Intellectual Property Rights in India: Issues and Challenges | Dr. Sahana Florence P and Dr. Achyutananda Mishra 

3. MM2026_135 Remix, Rights, and Rituals: Indigenous Culture in the Age of Digital Capitalism | Sandhya S and Poola Dharshan Kumar Reddy

4. MM2026_137 Misappropriation of Indian Traditional Cultural Expressions by Global Fashion Houses and the Inadequacy of Domestic and International Legal Frameworks | Parvathy ES and Olivia Annie Jince 

5. MM2026_167 The Intimate Billboard: Advertising Infrastructure in Conversational AI and Its Threat to Indigenous Knowledge Economies | Areeba Aoun

6. MM2026_186 Who Owns the Archive? Visual Sovereignty and the Repatriation of Colonial-Era Ethnographic Footage of Indian Tribal Communities | Akshaya P Hegde and Kaniska S.E

VENUE: A Block 4th Floor, Room No: A - 417

Chair: Dr Lajwanti M Jethwani, Department of Psychology, Education and Social Work, CHRIST (Deemed to be University), Bangalore
Co-chair: Dr Prakasha G S, Associate Professor, Department of Psychology, Education and Social Work, CHRIST(Deemed to be University), Bangalore

This panel explores Indigenous communication systems, including Indian Knowledge Systems (IKS), as alternative frameworks for storytelling, leadership, learning, and meaning-making across media, organisational, cultural, and technological contexts. Grounded in oral traditions, symbols, ecological knowledge, and community-based decision-making, it examines how Indigenous knowledge engages with digital technologies and policy structures to inform ethical, inclusive, and culturally grounded practices in education, governance, media production, and technology design. 

Research Questions:

1. How can Indigenous Knowledge Systems contribute to new models of teaching, learning, and knowledge transmission across disciplines?

2. In what ways can digital technologies such as AI, immersive media, and digital archives support the preservation and circulation of Indigenous knowledge while respecting cultural rights and ethics?

3. How do global media platforms, political economies, and technological infrastructures interact with local Indigenous knowledge to shape identity and community leadership?

4. What ethical responsibilities do media practitioners, educators, technologists, and policymakers hold when working with Indigenous knowledge systems?

5. How can Indigenous communication practices inform fields such as communication theory, organisational studies, psychology, cultural studies, environmental studies, and human–computer interaction?

Paper Presenters:

1. MM2026_106 Karma Kamra Kara – Pioneering Concept First Audio Series and Digital Archive Reimagining Meaning-Making & Community Learning | Rohit Raj Giri

2. MM2026_130 Matriliny in the Digital Age: Re-mediating Khasi Oral Traditions Across Digital Platforms | Ms. Lahunshisha Khyriem

3. MM2026_164 Reimagining Gamified E-Learning through the Lens of Indigenous Communication: A Visual and Multimodal Analysis | Jack Joy and Dr Biju Kunnumpurath 

4. MM2026_165 Revival or Replacement: Traditional Games at the Intersection of Archival Practice, Digital Media and Heritage Policy | Sona Sunil, Dr Biju Kunnumpurath and Dr Soumya Joseph 

VENUE: A Block 5th Floor, Room No: B -  505

This panel focuses on environmental communication through Indigenous media and place-based knowledge systems. It examines how land-centred storytelling, seasonal rhythms, and ecological practices inform climate communication, sustainability initiatives, disaster response, and environmental governance. Highlighting Indigenous approaches to human–nature relationships and ethical representation, the panel foregrounds community control over environmental narratives and the role of Indigenous media in developing culturally accountable, locally grounded, and ecologically sensitive communication strategies.

Research Questions:

1. How do land-based storytelling and seasonal knowledge shape Indigenous approaches to climate and environmental communication?

2. In what ways can Indigenous media practices inform sustainability communication and disaster-response messaging?

3. How do Indigenous understandings of human–nature relationships challenge dominant environmental communication frameworks?

4. What ethical principles govern Indigenous control over environmental narratives in media and policy contexts?

5. How can place-based Indigenous knowledge contribute to more locally grounded and culturally accountable environmental governance in the context of climate change?

Paper Presenters:
1. MM2026_114 Editorial Discourse on Green Journalism in Indian Hindi Press: Frequency and Framing of Environmental Issues | Dr. Mukesh Kumar 

2. MM2026_116 Embodied Narratives: Walking as Place-Based Knowledge Method in Nashik's Heritage Landscape | Amrita Gangatirkar 

3. MM2026_117 Personification, Vernacular Memory, and Environmental Activism: A Critical Discourse Analysis of Digital Songs in the 'Save Aravali Movement' | Ms Sabeela Rasheed 

4. MM2026_134 Slow Violence and Media Silence: Extractive Industries and the Marginalisation of Ecological Knowledge in South India | Potnuru Yasaswini and Snehal Mary Saju 

5. MM2026_157 Geospatial Modelling of Soil Erosion Risk Using RUSLE and Multi-Criteria Analysis for Sustainable Hill Slope Management in Karnataka| Asha Angeline O 

6. MM2026_144 Community Radio for Development: A Case Study on Kadal Osai FM 90.4 for Fishing Community | Alan Maria Jose, Prathvi and Dr Fr Biju Kunnumpurath

VENUE: A Block 5th Floor, Room No: B -  506
This panel examines Indigenous cinema in India as a communicative and cultural practice shaped by memory, land, and community storytelling. Focusing on feature films, documentaries, and hybrid digital cinema, it explores how Indigenous narratives travel across festivals, streaming platforms, and digital archives. The panel analyses questions of authorship, visual sovereignty, spectatorship, and circulation, asking how film can preserve Indigenous worldviews while negotiating platform economies, global visibility, and ethical representation in Indigital contexts. 

Research Questions:

1. How do Indigenous filmmakers use cinematic form to translate oral memory and place-based knowledge?

2. What ethical challenges arise when Indigenous films circulate on global festivals and streaming platforms?

3. How does digital distribution reshape authorship, ownership, and visual sovereignty in Indigenous cinema?

4. In what ways do Indigenous films resist or rework dominant narrative and aesthetic conventions?

5. How can film function as an archive of Indigenous knowledge without flattening cultural specificity?

Paper Presenters:

1. MM2026_108 Darjeeling's Indigital Ecologies: Rethinking Regional Cinema through Indigenous Lenses | Dr. Spandan Bhattacharya

2. MM2026_124 Beyond Systemic Framing: Resisting Cultural Flattening in the Loktak Trilogy | Suhaani Jjain

3. MM2026_150 Indigenous Cinema: Negotiating Agency, Cultural Specificity and Sustainability | Dr Nitin Mane

4. MM2026_160 Indigenous Cinematic Storyworlds: Film, Memory, and Digital Circulation | V. Arjun

5. MM2026_192 Remembering Through Indigenous Voices: Oral Histories, Authorship, and Ethical Representation in Indian Indigenous Documentary Cinema  | Smridhi Chadha, Anvesha Tyagi

6. MM2026_197 Visual Sovereignty and Indigenous Filmmaking in India | Elina Omar and Pratyusha Bhattacharya

7. MM2026_204 Beyond Representation: Cinematic Storytelling as Cultural Memory in Ishanou (1990) | Shambhavi Pandey 

VENUE: A Block 5th Floor, Room No: B -  506
This panel examines Indigenous models of governance as communicative, relational, and consensus-based processes and their relevance for digital and algorithmically managed institutions. Integrating Indigenous leadership practices with analyses of digital HR, platform labour, and data-driven management, it critiques hierarchical authority, surveillance, and opaque algorithms. The panel explores how Indigenous governance principles can inform ethical organisational communication, participatory decision-making, transparent management systems, and fairer digital workplace policies. 

Research Questions:

1. How do Indigenous models conceptualise governance as a communicative and relational process?

2. How can consensus-based decision-making challenge algorithmic authority and surveillance-driven management?

3. In what ways do Indigenous approaches to conflict resolution apply to digital workplaces and platform labour?

4. What governance frameworks ensure accountability and participation in algorithmically managed systems?

5. How can Indigenous leadership principles reshape organisational communication and digital labour policy?

Paper Presenters:

1. MM2026_105 If They're Qualified, Why Don't They Apply? How Recruitment Communication Shapes Application Decisions | Ms. Manyavi Singh

2. MM2026_109 SWIPE TO INVEST, FOLLOW TO DECIDE – How Digital Platforms Are Rewiring Indigenous Financial Wisdom Among Gen Z in India | Ms. Nethra  and, Ms. Banu Priya A

3. MM2026_169 When Choosing Becomes Exhausting: How Algorithm Awareness Mediates Perceived Usefulness of a Recommendation System | Eesha Linuraj, Rissitha D, Rohini Priya M and Dr. Suman Grigary Thomas

4. MM2026_172 Perceived Artificial Intelligence (AI) Authorship and Employee Trust – A Cross Sector Study | Mahitha Peketi

5. MM2026_206 A Study on Digital Labor, Policy, and Career Sustainability in Indian Esports | Varghese Iype Vengal and Dr Julia Oinam 

VENUE: A Block 4th Floor, Room No: A - 418

Chair: Dr Kiran Mamgain, Associate Professor, Christ University, Bengaluru
Co-chairs: Dr Vikas Kumar Sharma, Associate Professor, Sharda University, New Delhi,
Dr Meenu Sharma, Associate Professor, Chitkara University, Punjab,
Dr Lajwanti, Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology, Christ University, Bengaluru

This panel examines storytelling as an inclusive pedagogical strategy integrating cognitive, affective, and cultural learning across disciplines. Aligned with student-centred, technology-enhanced education, it shows how narrative practices foster engagement, ethical reasoning, and conceptual understanding across the humanities, STEM, health, business, and professional training. Using cross-disciplinary examples and practical tools, it highlights effective design, assessment, and adaptation of storytelling for in-person, hybrid, and digital learning environments.

 Research Questions:

1. Which learning mechanisms, such as narrative transportation or embodiment, explain the effectiveness of storytelling across disciplines?

2. How does narrative pedagogy influence student persistence, academic performance, and sense of belonging across in-person, hybrid, and online modalities?

3. What mixed-methods approaches can validly assess narrative quality, learner engagement, and knowledge transfer at course and programme levels?

4. How can instructors sequence story-based learning activities to support threshold concepts and manage cognitive load?

5. Which technologies, including AI, AR/VR, podcasts, and digital storytelling tools, enhance accessibility and authorship without reinforcing bias?

Paper Presenters:

1. MM2026_125 Neurocognitive Engagement and Meaning-Making: Storytelling as an Inclusive Pedagogical Scaffold in ESL Learning Context  | Dimple B Theophilose 

2. MM2026_149 Bol Magahiya: Unveiling Magadh and Its Folk Art Through Songs | Khyati Singh and Ajay Kumar 

3. MM2026_156 Oral Traditions and Digital Transformations of Limboo Culture in Sikkim | Ikla Subba and Dr. Pooja Basnett 

4. MM2026_188 Traditional Indian Folk Art as a Visual Storytelling Medium for Inclusive Learning among Young Children  | Kanishka Sharma, Gauri Joshi, Navya Bhakta and Ms. Indrani Barua

5. MM2026_195 How do Cultural Narrative Structures Influence Memory and Comprehension in Multilingual Speakers? | Bajaj Vaishnavi Umesh, Mahi Gupta and Myrah Hasan

VENUE: A Block 4th Floor, Room No: A - 416
This panel explores disability through Indigenous frameworks that understand embodiment, sound, rhythm, care, and community as central to communication and meaning-making. Moving beyond deficit-based models, it examines how disabled Indigenous experiences are expressed through music, media platforms, performance, and digital storytelling. The panel considers how Indigital media can enable alternative sensory epistemologies while also raising concerns around visibility, tokenism, accessibility, and ethical representation in contemporary media cultures.

Research Questions:

1. How do Indigenous knowledge systems reframe disability beyond biomedical and deficit models?

2. In what ways do sound, rhythm, and performance enable alternative sensory communication for disabled communities?

3. How do digital platforms shape the visibility and representation of disabled Indigenous voices?

4. What ethical issues arise in mediating disability narratives through media and digital technologies?

5. How can Indigenous approaches inform inclusive media design and accessibility practices?

Paper Presenters:
1. MM2026_178 Beyond Roadmaps: Understanding Accessibility Gaps in the Indian OTT Ecosystem | Gayathri R and Dr. Rajshekar D

2. MM2026_184 Protecting the Digital Generation: A SPAR-4-SLR Analysis of Emerging Technologies and the Safety of Children and Youth  | Fr. Gijo Joseph and Akshay Kumar

3. MM2026_199 Disability and Digital Agency: A Case Study of Blind Women Cricketers on Social Media  | Riddhi Basu and Dr Nirmala MN

VENUE: A Block 4th Floor, Room No: A - 417
This panel focuses on Indigenous performing arts: dance, theatre, ritual performance, and music, as living communication systems grounded in embodiment, collectivity, and intergenerational memory. It examines how these practices are transformed when performed, recorded, streamed, or archived through digital media. The panel explores tensions between liveness and mediation, ritual and spectacle, preservation and commodification, asking how performing arts sustain Indigenous knowledge while navigating Indigital platforms and global cultural circuits.

Research Questions:

1. How do Indigenous performing arts function as systems of knowledge and communication?

2. What changes occur when live Indigenous performances are digitised or streamed?

3. How do embodiment and affect operate differently in mediated versus live performance contexts?

4. What ethical challenges arise in recording, archiving, or commercialising Indigenous performances?

5. How can digital media support the continuity of Indigenous performing arts without cultural extraction?

Paper Presenters:

1. MM2026_127 Making The Sant Sri Sevalal Maharaj as a God Symbol of Lambada Community | Kartheek Maloth

2. MM2026_182 Classical Dance in Digital Spaces: Exploring Audience Responses to Male Bharatanatyam Dancers Online | S. Nethaji Reddy

3. MM2026_187 From Ritual to Reel: The Commercialization of Indigenous Performing Arts in India's Digital Age | Krupa Kerur 

4. MM2026_198 Mediating Santhal Dance as an Embodied Indigenous Knowledge System | Pratyusha Bhattacharya and Elina Omar

5. MM2026_210 Subjugation and/as Starvation: An Analysis of the Hunger(s) Imposed Upon Indigeneity as seen in Nirmaalyam | Twinkle Shaji 

VENUE: A Block 4th Floor, Room No: A - 418
This panel rethinks attention and emotion through Indigenous psychological and cultural frameworks that understand focus and feeling as collective, relational, and restorative practices. Moving beyond extractive attention economies and individualised affect, it examines how rituals, rhythm, performance, mourning, and communal listening function as media practices shaping shared presence and wellbeing. Bringing media psychology, affect theory, Indigenous studies, and ethical digital design into dialogue, the panel explores culturally grounded alternatives for healthier digital engagement. 

Research Questions:

1. How do Indigenous frameworks conceptualise attention and emotion as collective, relational processes?

2. How do rituals and communal practices cultivate sustained attention and shared affect?

3. How do digital platforms reshape Indigenous practices of collective focus and feeling?

4. What roles do attention and affect play in Indigenous belonging, memory, and resistance?

5. How can Indigenous models inform ethical media psychology and digital wellbeing design?

Paper Presenters:

1. MM2026_110 Affective Saturation in Algorithmic Soundscapes: Rethinking Attention and Emotional Engagement in AI-Generated Music | Albert Francis and Dr. Shantharaju S

2. MM2026_115 Scrolling Into Fear: AI-Infused Media Ecosystems, Emotional Narratives, and Parental Hypervigilance in the Age of Digital Companionship | Nayana L , Pooja R, Shannon Jemimah Varghese, Sneha Biswas and Dr. Kriti Bhargava

3. MM2026_118 Invisible Violence: Culturally Targeted Online Harassment and the Collective Psychological Harm Western Models Fail to See | Aditi Surha

4. MM2026_174 Algorithmic Communication and Human Empathy: A Conceptual Model for Psychological and Social Well-Being | Dr. Kriti Bhargava, Dr. Suman Grigary Thomas, Manasvi Khanna and Dhanush Anand

5. MM2026_183 The Study of Social Media Usage and Information Overload on Emotional Experience and Thinking Style | Ms. I. Jacqulin, V. Akshaya and Sivalekha.R.S 

VENUE: A Block 5th Floor, Room No: B -  505

This panel examines how Indigenous value systems can inform management and organisational practice in digital economies beyond profit-driven models. Drawing on principles of community responsibility, cultural continuity, and environmental stewardship, it explores applications in CSR, ESG frameworks, ethical branding, and sustainability communication. Positioned within management studies, the panel invites analyses of how media-driven organisations can integrate relational ethics, long-term accountability, and social value into governance, decision-making, and strategic communication.

Research Questions:

1. How can Indigenous value systems inform management approaches to defining value beyond profit in digital economies?

2. In what ways can Indigenous principles of community responsibility and environmental stewardship be integrated into CSR and ESG frameworks

3. How do media-driven organisations and cultural industries translate ethical and sustainability values into branding and strategic communication?

4. What governance and decision-making models enable organisations to embed relational ethics and long-term accountability in digital markets?

5. How can management practices balance economic performance with cultural sustainability and social value in digitally networked business environments?

Paper Presenters:

1. MM2026_107 From Runway to Replica: Fast Fashion, Westernization, and the Transformation of Cultural Communication in Digital India | Smaran Nair and Japman Singh

2. MM2026_140 Indigenous Knowledge as a Foundation for Sustainable and Circular Business Practices | Diva

3. MM2026_141 From Management to Meaning at Work: Indian Knowledge Systems and Workplace Leadership | Ria Pahuja, Dr. Lajwanti Jethwani and Ashutosh Kumar

4. MM2026_153 Circular Economics Meets Ancestral Acumen: Reconceptualizing EPR Through Indigenous Communication Systems | Anoushka Joshi

5. MM2026_161 AI-Driven Business Intelligence in Indigenous Enterprises: Enhancing Decision-Making while Preserving Traditional Knowledge Systems | Ayush Tiwari and Ragini Adwani

VENUE: A Block 4th Floor, Room No: A - 416
This panel explores how digital platforms shape contemporary communication, audience behaviour, and cultural participation. It examines the role of social media, influencer cultures, advertising, political communication, and emerging platform practices in influencing identity, trust, consumer behaviour, and public discourse. The panel welcomes empirical and theoretical studies investigating how digital media transform communication practices across diverse cultural and social contexts. 

Research Questions:

1. How are digital platforms reshaping communication and audience engagement?

2. In what ways do influencer cultures affect trust, authenticity, and consumer behaviour?

3. How do digital media contribute to political communication and public opinion formation?

4. How are advertising and platform algorithms transforming cultural participation?

5. What emerging communication practices characterise contemporary digital societies?

Paper Presenters:

1. MM2026_123 Indigenous Voices on Instagram: A Study of Memes as Knowledge Systems in Khasi, Jaintia and Garo Communities | Yadawanka Yoolyda Pala

2. MM2026_138 From Human Influencers to AI Influencers: Changing Trust in Digital Marketing | Manisha Sen

3. MM2026_166 The Validation Paradox and Digital Micro-activism Against Western Appropriation of South Asian Fashion | Vasudha Venkatsai

4. MM2026_173 Influence of Online Reviews on Consumer Decisions in the Malayalam Film Industry | Dr. Vineeth P, Dr. Suhail P, Dr. Renuka K K and Dr. Saranya P 

5. MM2026_179 Meaning Making With Politically Owned Media Organisations Highlighting a Case Study on the RG Kar Rape and Murder Case | Rupkatha Chakraborty

6. MM2026_185 Reviving Traditions Through Advertising: A Study of Indigenous Nostalgic Appeals on Gen Z | Sanya Bhagat and Divya Kumari KP

VENUE: A Block 4th Floor, Room No: A - 417
This panel examines how digital communication influences identity formation, community building, belonging, and social change. It explores issues of migration, gender, Indigenous identities, online communities, and geopolitical communication to understand how digital media facilitate new forms of collective identity, participation, and social negotiation across diverse contexts. 

Research Questions:

1. How do digital platforms shape individual and collective identities?

2. In what ways do online communities foster belonging and cultural continuity?

3. How is gender negotiated through digital communication?

4. What role do digital networks play in migration and diasporic communities?

5. How do communication infrastructures influence geopolitical and social relations?

Paper Presenters:

1. MM2026_103 Communicative Infrastructures and Civilisational Logics: China’s Digital Silk Road in West Asia | Ajay M Reje

2. MM2026_133 Beauty to Belonging: Communitainment Practices and Meaning-Making among Northeast Indian Youth | Rashmi Singha

3. MM2026_162 Instagram as a Digital Space for Gender Socialization: Examining Gender Equality Attitudes Among Indian Young Adults | Aarushi Aswal and Ishita Singh

4. MM2026_168 Indigenous Communication Ecologies in the Digital Age: Community Networks, Self-Representation, and Counter-Narrative Among Naga Migrant Students in Indian Cities | Imlingangzuk Longkumer and Lijo Thomas 

5. MM2026_200 Cultivating Identity: How Indigenous Manipuri Youth Use Digital Media and Environment Amid Conflict | Anoushka Renny and Lakshmi Priyahasini Kuravi

VENUE: A Block 4th Floor, Room No: A - 418
This panel focuses on changing media behaviours and user experiences in digitally mediated environments. It explores emotional responses, self-presentation, communication practices, media industries, and technological transformations influencing everyday digital life. The panel invites interdisciplinary perspectives on how users interact with evolving digital media ecosystems. 

Research Questions:

1. How do digital platforms influence emotional wellbeing and media experiences?

2. What factors shape self-presentation and identity in online environments?

3. How are communication practices evolving through emerging technologies?

4. What challenges do digital transformations pose for media industries?

5. How do audiences respond to increasingly immersive digital communication environments?

Paper Presenters:

1. MM2026_112 The Architecture of Silence: Evolution of Non-Verbal Communication Logic from Stock Market Trading Pits, Agriculture Mandis to Mobile Apps | K Balatripurasundari and  Dr. Mini Jayan

2. MM2026_128 Curated Selves and Emotional Inauthenticity: Identifying Fragmentation among Young Social Media Users | Swathi Kuge

3. MM2026_180 Financial Distress Prediction in Listed Indian Media & Entertainment Companies: A Multi-Framework Analysis | Dr. Arjun B S and Ms. Banu Priya A

4. MM2026_207 User Fatigue and Emotional Response to Climate-Related Visuals: A Study on Instagram Platform in India | Niya Liz Abraham 

VENUE: A Block 5th Floor, Room No: A -  505
This panel explores the transformative role of artificial intelligence and emerging technologies in communication, media production, cultural preservation, and public discourse. It examines how AI, digital archives, generative technologies, and computational media are reshaping storytelling, knowledge preservation, communication practices, and future media ecosystems. 

Research Questions:

1. How is artificial intelligence transforming communication and media production?

2. What role can AI play in preserving cultural heritage and Indigenous knowledge?

3. How are generative technologies redefining journalism and digital sustainability?

4. How do digital archives reshape memory and knowledge dissemination?

5. What ethical challenges accompany AI-driven communication systems?

Paper Presenters:

1. MM2026_176 Analyzing How Zero Click Search and Generative AI Are Redefining Digital Media Sustainability | Mamta Gupta

2. MM2026_191 Constructing Public Perception: Media Framing of Indigenous Rituals and Cultural Practices in Contemporary Digital Media | Aarushi Maheshwari, Anvesha Tyagi and Navya Bhakta

3. MM2026_212 Artificial Intelligence as a Digital Custodian: Reimagining Indigenous Storytelling through AI-Assisted Animation and Visual Communication

VENUE: A Block 5th Floor, Room No: A -  506
This panel brings together critical approaches to media, culture, representation, and visual politics. It examines cinema, Indigenous worldviews, cultural memory, embodiment, archives, and representation to understand how media construct, contest, and preserve identities, histories, and social realities. The panel encourages interdisciplinary scholarship engaging with film studies, cultural studies, media theory, and critical communication.

Research Questions:

1. How do films construct and contest cultural memory?

2. What role does visual sovereignty play in media representation?

3. How are Indigenous histories represented and preserved through media?

4. In what ways do media challenge dominant narratives surrounding identity and culture?

5. How can critical media scholarship contribute to more inclusive forms of representation?

Paper Presenters:

1. MM2026_122 The Great Dictators: Indigenous Cinema and the Politics of Visibility in Colonial Digital Economies | Aadya Thaku

2. MM2026_132 When Success Must Not Show: Visual Sovereignty, Caste Erasure, and the Arrived Dalit Home in Indian Cinema | Goral Dalal and Ayisha Thabassum

3. MM2026_155 The Dream That Walks Back: Embodiment, Becoming, and the Collapse of Boundaries in Garo Dreams | Neha Dhar

4. MM2026_193 From Oral Traditions to Digital Archives: Preserving Indigenous Knowledge through Cinema | Riddhika Sharma and Ritiksha Baruah