Ana Albuquerque
Selfies in Celebrity Activism: Persona in Celebrity Photography and Social Justice presented by Dr. Samita Nandy (CMCS, from Toronto, Canada) was a powerful, dynamic and intellectually enriching lecture. There was a clear approach to what a persona is and what a celebrity is, the semiotic role of the self-portrait, the meaning of authenticity in celebrities and how their image can be used. Tabloids often make headlines with celebrities on their daily lives, their personal affairs, where they went to and with whom, but to a lesser extent on their role in “social advocacy”, “political lobbying” or “supporting causes” for example. More than an issue of fascination for image, people engage emotionally with the characters / personas / celebrities. When they become (more) real and their image is more than a face on the screen or on the red carpet, or the advertising of their professional roles, they also become individuals, citizens taking an active role in society, often using “selfies”. But attention will always be on their image, which suggests an emotional diversity and indefinition.
It was an honour having Dr. Samita Nandy at the University of Beira Interior. She is a generous person with very clear and clarifying views and at the same time she makes us think and ask questions. In a personal note, her lecture led my attention to the importance of Art History in today’s technological self-portrait, mainly achieved through the “selfie” phenomenon. And while I was writing, I questioned myself: Do celebrities want or ever be able to be, as Pulp sings, “common people”?
Thank you so much, Dr. Samita Nandy.
Jeanie Tran
“Yesterday, I had the privilege of interviewing Dr. Samita Nandy, the founder of the Centre for Media and Celebrity Studies. I am currently working on an opinion piece about celebrity representation in journalism, and Samita’s expertise on the subject matter was incredibly helpful. She challenged me to reassess my own perception of what the culture of celebrity means and how it functions. “A celebrity is a media text… paparazzi, red carpets, glamorous dresses, limousines – these are the signs that connote the meaning of glamour and fame.”
Samita also got me to rethink my role and responsibility as a journalist in relation to how I should go about covering celebrity stories. In the mass media, performers are commodities used to generate profit. Samita emphasized that there is a more meaningful way to cover celebrity. She stressed the importance of incorporating critical interpretation, providing context, and treating celebrity culture as a platform for addressing larger social issues.
I’m very glad to have found out about the Centre for Media and Celebrity Studies. They are a great resource for expertise and materials related to the fields of media, communication and cultural studies. I’m grateful for Samita for having shared her knowledge with me, and for getting me to think more deeply about all the systems at work beneath the glam and glitz”
Emmanuel Lopez
“Congrats Samita on a fantastic event last night! I had a great time doing my motivational talk and also enjoyed your presentation! Super audience too. And excited we were interviewed for Urban Television! Feeling SO GOOD this morning!
What a fantastic evening of inspiring talks, soulful dances, warm-hearted people and delicious foods!!! Thank you Samita and everyone involved! It was an honor to be a speaker that this special event.”
Michael Lovelock
Thanks to @celeb_studies @samita_nandy and Louis for a very interesting and inspiring conference in Toronto! Wide range of interesting papers, practical and relevant topic
Nidhi Shrivastava
“It was a pleasure to be there and become part of such an event with awesome and empowering presenters”
Ashima Suri
“Thank you so much dear Samita for a beautiful evening! It was truly an honor to be part of this amazing night. Absolutely loved the energy from the presenters and guests. Hugs!!! Xx”
Mitra Ghosh
Explanation of ‘ordinariness’ and ‘extraordinariness’
I appreciate the presentation, how Samita delivered her speech. It was excellent.
Heryka Miranda
“Such an awesome night with reaffirmation of some simple but profound truths of life and how to live it, love vs fame, breakout performance that condensed a lifetime into minutes (Samita Nandy) and emotional performances that creep upon you and take over before you realize it was your own story (Ashima Suri) and of course good food!”
Rosey G
“Last night , I couldnt help feel like I walked away empowered and informed. Thank you to all the panelists for sharing your personal journeys with us and Samita your performance was sensual, emotional, and deep!”
Silvia Lozeva
The presenting itself was most delightful.
The photos of celebrities.
Great topic & work, Samita! Keep digging into the problems further & see what comes out – it will be most interesting to hear it next time
Hilary Wheaton
Dr Samita Nandy provided excellent teaching and unit coordination at Curtin University. I had the pleasure of working with her and learned a great deal during that time. Her enthusiasm and passion for academia and her chosen interests is inspiring, and her later founding of CMCS illustrates that she continues beyond her doctoral studies to encourage interest regarding Media and Celebrity studies.
Abigail Lee, Miss Universe Canada – Miss Congeniality 2006
You have been such a blessing in my life! I love your powerful and perpetual enthusiasm during the Friday afternoons. You give me something to take away on my weekends and something to look forward when I start my week
Christine Bode
Wow Samita!! There is such a wealth and variety of information here that I wouldn’t know where to begin when it comes to commenting on everything. But I would like to say, that as always, you express yourself beautifully, eloquently, and with a passion & fierceness of spirit that is to be deeply admired! I’m honoured to call you my friend and like I said, I am in awe of the pace you keep when it comes to organizing and attending so many educational, creative and activist-empowered events! You’re a force of nature, my dear! With love and gratitude, Christine xox
CCIT 100/101 Institute of Communication and Culture
University of Toronto, Canada
Samita Nandy is an outstanding young woman who has shared her vast knowledge with us. She made me have a better understanding of the course due to her educational background. Samita is an excellent leader and role model. I really admire her strive and diligence. Samita guides the tutorial sessions with skill and grace. I really liked her teaching style. – Her teaching style was a plus. Very informative and knowledgeable in what she does.We were given much opportunity to advance ideas. Looks out for her students and tries her best to make the material understanding. Samita presents the course material in a very enthusiastic manner. She teaches in a motivating atmosphere and welcomes different ideasWith her outstanding teaching skills, enthusiasm, and organization she will have a very bright future in communications.
Alexander Tchoumak
Samita’s outstanding contribution to education goes beyond the boundaries of the classroom. Her many significant contributions to and national levels warrant recognition befitting his efforts. As the Communication Director of Nouveau IDEA, a non profit organization for arts and culture with over 3,000 associates, Samita Nandy has advocated learning in the form of community-based education, utilizing post-graduate research, coalition building and documentary film making. Her latest film Frame by Frame: Tushar Unadkat develops the visibility of the South Asian American community and has been broadcasted during her media coverage on Rogers Television in Canada. She has received numerous awards at the provincial and international levels for her outstanding scholarship and leadership in media education and research. At the same time, her South Asian heritage enables her to activate multicultural knowledge and voice cultural diversity in the Canadian society.
Samir Ranjan Chatterjee
I am really impressed by your achievements in getting so many challenging projects completed in such a short time.
Sincere appreciation for your professional editing of my paper. I am most impressed by your thoroughness of attention and exceptionably clear communication in this project. You have added immense value to the paper by the way you have expanded the meaning, added extra clarity as well as reduced the paper to a manageable size. I very much liked your examples at the end of the email pointing out your method of value-adding to the paper have made a hard copy of the paper which I will read on my way to Vietnam on Friday.
Pascal Michelucci
Samita is upbeat, professional and a pleasure to work with as a colleague. I was delighted that Samita was able to work on the CCIT 101 team.
Himani Bannerji
Samita Nandy is perhaps one of the most motivated young academics that I have met, with a degree of diligence which is utterly compelling.
I would like to conclude by reitering my belief that Samita Nandy’s intellectual capacities, achievements, and projects
Andrei Dinu
Samita Nandy has been an outstanding Instructor at the University of Toronto. Out of the many Instructors that I have had, none have been as enthusiastic, hard working, and dedicated as Ms. Nandy. Her passion and caring for students to excel and do their best has always been reflected in the classes led by Ms. Nandy. Her classes were always enjoyable and we learned so much more because of her strong educational leadership and innovative research channels. It has been an honour to be a student of Samita Nandy. I am sure she will continue to be very successful in the same way she has led to the success of many others. I can’t thank her enough for being such a great teacher”
Carrianne K.Y. Leung
Just want to say THANK YOU to Samita and Isabelle for your great presentations yesterday. It was an incredible turn-out which attests to the interest in your fields of study. Best of luck to your future endeavours.
Isabelle Kim
The turn-out is due to your great efforts and CMCE’s presence at OISE and the wonderful community of folks interested in culture/media at OISE.
I really enjoyed Samita’s presentation.
Department of Communications
Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona
Marita Narberhaus
The parts related to talent, very interesting. The first part, about celebrities and text, too.
Thank you very much for your presentation – very good structured
P. Friexa
Good summary of the main celebrity culture scholars and concepts.
Merce Oliva
Good summary of the main celebrity culture scholars and concepts. Good presentation!
Monica Figueras Maz
Your lecture has been very interesting for me
Film & Star Studies @filmstarstudies
Special thanks to Dr. Samita Nandy
You’ve achieved great conference thanks to all, to team and participants. Congratulations!!!
Recent Comments