Professor of Communication

Year Joined RCNJ: 2002

Contact Information

• Phone: (201) 684-7813
• Email: rsen@ramapo.edu
• Office: C-104
• Office Hours: Tues 3:30-4:00 PM, Wed 3:30-4:30 PM

Education:

• Ph.D. in Communication Studies, Ohio University
• M.A. in Communication and Development Studies, Ohio University
• M.A. in Communication, University of Delaware
• B.A. in English, University of Calcutta

Courses Offered:

• Intercultural Communication
• Global Media, Local Change
• Global Indian Media and Culture
• Media and Persuasion
• Global Communication Campaigns
• Research Writing Methods
• Media Literacy
• Speech for Communication
• Honors Program: Global Awareness

Recent Scholarship

Publications

2020. Priyanka Chopra: Journey from Bollywood Superstar to Transnational Iconicity. In Aysha Iqbal Viswamohan and Clare Wilkinson (Eds.), Stardom in Contemporary Hindi Cinema: Celebrity and Fame in Globalized Times, Springer: Singapore.

2016. Contradictory Concepts and Experiences of Time on a Study Abroad Program in South India. Co-authored with Susan Hangen. Journal of Cultural Geography 33(1):62-79.

2014. Bollywood in the City: Can the consumption of Bollywood cinema serve as a site for intercultural discovery and dialogue? In N. Haydari and P. Holmes, (Eds.), Case Studies in Intercultural Dialogue, Kendall Hunt Publishing Company.

2011. My world: The joys and challenges of transatlantic caregiving.  The Forum, 37(3), pp. 13, 17.

2007. Locating Whiteness: History, Power, Identity, and the Postcolonial Framework. Atenea, Special Issue on Transnationalism and Postcolonialism, XXVII, 1, 149-166.

2006. The Indian Man in America: Postcolonial privilege and a new politics of difference. Carolina Communication Association Annual, pp. 29-38.

Selected Conference Presentations
(peer reviewed)

(2019, November). Surviving at the Margins: Mediated narratives of Muslims and the Politics of Exclusion in India. Paper presented at the annual conference of the National Communication Association, Baltimore, MD.

(2018, April).  Bridgework: How South Asian Gendered Bodies Negotiate Race and Ethnicity in Mainstream American Television. Co-authored with Anjali Ram. Presented at the annual conference of the Eastern Communication Association, Pittsburgh, PA.

(2017, May).  Celebrity Travels: Priyanka Chopra’s Journey as an International Icon. Presented at the Geomedia conference, Karlstad, Sweden.

(2017, April).  Challenging Patriarchy: Creating Dialogue about Women’s Freedom in India through Subversive Film Narratives. Co-authored with Matthew Searfoss (student). Presented at the annual conference of the Eastern Communication Association, Boston, MA.

(2016, July).  (Re)mediated memories: Commemorating loss and pain through narratives of destruction and displacement among Muslim communities in Gujarat, India. Presented at the annual conference of the International Association for Media and Communication Research (IAMCR) at Leicester, England.

(2015, November).  Citizenship in Exile: Narratives of displacement among Muslim communities in Gujarat, India. Presented at the annual conference of the National Communication Association, Las Vegas, NV.

(2014, July).  Deconstructing empowerment: An analysis of the discourse in social media surrounding a progressive jewelry commercial. Presented at the annual conference of the International Association for Media and Communication Research (IAMCR) at Hyderabad, India.

(2014, July).  Consuming desi popcorn: Impact of globalization on television audiences in urban India.  Presented at the annual conference of the International Association for Media and Communication Research (IAMCR) at Hyderabad, India.

(2013, September).  The soft power of the Indian cultural industry: Trading entertainment as culture.  Paper presented at the conference on Communicating Soft Power: Contrasting Perspectives from India and China, University of Westminster, UK.

(2012, November). Contradictory Concepts of Time on a Study Abroad Program in South India. Co-authored with Susan Hangen. Presented at the American Anthropological Association, 111^th Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA.

(2011, July). Bollywood in the City: The transcultural consumption of Indian Cinema across global urban spaces.  Presented as part of the Popular Culture Working Group of the International Association for Media and Communication Research (IAMCR), at Kadir Has University, Istanbul, Turkey.

(2011, July).  Transcultural Entertainment: The transformation of Indian Television in the post-globalized world. Presented as part of the International Communication Section of the International Association for Media and Communication Research (IAMCR), at Kadir Has University, Istanbul, Turkey.

Invited talks

Guest lecturer, “Bollywood goes Global: The ‘soft power’ of the Indian Cultural Industry.” Invited talk for the SLAM Series at University of South Pacific, Suva, Fiji, May 2019.

Guest lecturer, “Communication, Culture, and Critical Thinking.” Invited talk at Janki Devi Memorial College, Delhi University, New Delhi, India, November 2018.

Guest lecturer, “Doing Ethnography at ‘Home’: Ethnic and Religious Conflict, and Global Flows of Media in India.” Invited talk on research methods to doctoral students in the Communication and Media program at Istanbul Bilgi University, Turkey, July 2016.

Guest lecturer, “The impact of globalization on the Indian Media landscape.” Invited by Dr. Saumya Pant to present my research in her doctoral class in Research Methods at the Mudra Institute of Communications, Ahmedabad, India, December 2010.

Awards and Grants

• Henry Bischoff Award for Excellence in Teaching, 2018
• Faculty Student Research Award; 2020, 2017, 2014, 2011, 2009, 2008-2005
• Sabbatical Research Grant; 2017, 2009
• Faculty Development Fund; 2019, 2015
• Schomburg Award; 2018, 2017, 2015, 2011, 2003