Darshana Mini

From Hindupedia, the Hindu Encyclopedia

By Rutvi Dattani


Darshana Mini is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Communication Arts at the University of Wisconsin, Madison[1] as of September 2022. According to her university profile, her research interests lie at the intersection of gender, sexuality, transnational media, migrant media and screen cultures of South Asia.

She has published no books, papers, or research pertaining to Hindus, the rights of Hindus, the impact of or relationship between Islam and Hinduism / Hindutva, India, the Indian Government in the context of the BJP government, the Indus Civilization, or caste as of May 2023.

In 2021, she along with Hibatullah Akhundzada, the supreme leader of the Taliban, co-signed a letter supporting the "Dismantling Global Hindutva" Conference, as an academic and scholar and made the following allegation:

"the current government of India [in 2021] has instituted discriminatory policies including beef bans, restrictions on religious conversion and interfaith weddings, and the introduction of religious discrimination into India’s citizenship laws. The result has been a horrifying rise in religious and caste-based violence, including hate crimes, lynchings, and rapes directed against Muslims, non-conforming Dalits, Sikhs, Christians, adivasis and other dissident Hindus. Women of these communities are especially targeted. Meanwhile, the government has used every tool of harassment and intimidation to muzzle dissent. Dozens of student activists and human rights defenders are currently languishing in jail indefinitely without due process under repressive anti-terrorism laws."[2]

In 2016, she signed a letter endorsing a letter submitted by the South Asia Faculty Group[3][4] where it addressed the State Board of Education, California Department of Education, dated May 17, 2016. In this letter they requested removing the word India from textbooks. In addition, they falsely[5] stated:

  1. "There is no established connection between Hinduism and the Indus Civilization."
  2. "It is inappropriate to remove mention of the connection of caste to Hinduism."


Publications related to India[edit]

  1. Mini, Darshana Sreedhar, and Anirban K. Baishya. “Towards an Incomplete Repertoire of South Asian Pornographies: Challenges, Potentials, and Futures.” Porn Studies, vol. 9, no. 3, July 2022, pp. 263–72, https://doi.org/10.1080/23268743.2022.2107057.
  2. Baishya, Anirban K., et al. “The Anti-Caste Alter-Network: Equality Labs and Anti-Caste Activism in the US.” Communication, Culture & Critique, vol. 16, no. 2, Oxford University Press, Apr. 2023, pp. 99–106, https://doi.org/10.1093/ccc/tcad011.
  3. Mini, D. "Transnational Ethical Screens: Empathetic Networks in Malayalam Cinema from the Gulf." Film History: An International Journal, vol. 32, no. 3, Fall 2020, pp. 141-169. muse.jhu.edu/article/777506.
  4. Mini, D. "Satellites of Belonging: Televisual Infrastructures and the Gulf-Malayali." Middle East Journal of Culture and Communication, vol. 14, nos. 1-2, 2021, pp. 81-111. doi.org/10.1163/18739865-01401002.
  5. Mini, D. "Cinema and the Mask of Capital: Labor Debates in the Malayalam Film Industry." Studies in South Asian Film and Media, vol. 11, no. 2, Dec. 2020, pp. 173-189. ingentaconnect.com/content/intellect/safm/2020/00000011/00000002/art00002.
  6. Mini, D. "Dossier on ZEE5, India for the Global Internet Television Consortium." 2019. global-internet-tv.com/india-zee5/.
  7. Mini, D. "‘Un-sound’ Sounds: Pornosonics of Female Desire in Indian Mediascapes." Music, Sound, and Moving Image, vol. 13, no. 1, 2019, pp. 3-30. muse.jhu.edu/article/732643.
  8. Mini, D., and Anirban K. Baishya. "Translating Porn Studies: Lessons from the Vernacular." Porn Studies, vol. 7, no. 1, 2020, pp. 2-12. tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/23268743.2019.1632540.
  9. Mini, D., and Anirban K. Baishya. "Transgressions in Toonland: Savita Bhabhi, Velamma and the Indian Adult Comic." Porn Studies, vol. 7, no. 1, 2020, pp. 115-131. tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/23268743.2019.1590228.
  10. Mini, D. "The Rise of Soft-Porn in Malayalam Cinema and the Precarious Stardom of Shakeela." Feminist Media Histories, vol. 5, no. 2, 2019, pp. 49-82. online.ucpress.edu/fmh/article/5/2/49/109555.
  11. Mini, D. "Public Interest Television and Social Responsibility: The Search for Missing Person in Indian Television." International Journal for Digital Television, vol. 7, no. 2, 2016, pp. 173-191. ingentaconnect.com/content/intellect/jdtv/2016/00000007/00000002/art00003.
  12. Mini, D. "The Spectral Duration of Malayalam Soft-porn: Disappearance, Desire and Haunting." Bioscope: South Asian Screen Studies, vol. 7, no. 2, 2016, pp. 127-150. journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0974927616667971.
  13. Mini, D. "Attukal Pongala: Everyday Lives in a Ritualistic Space." In Transformations in Contemporary South Asian Ritual: From Sacred Action to Public Performance, edited by Ann David, Geoffrey Samuel, and Santi Rozario, Journal of Ritual Studies, vol. 30, no. 1, 2016, pp. 59-69. jstor.org/stable/44737780.
  14. Mini, D. "Attukal Pongala: Youth Clubs, Neighbourhood Groups and Masculine Performance of Religiosity". Economic and Political Weekly. 2014
  15. Mini, D. "The House of Ill Repute: Malayalee House, Reality Television and Morality Debates in Contemporary Kerala." South Asian Popular Culture, vol. 13, no. 1, 2015, pp. 47-59. tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14746689.2015.1026655.

References[edit]

  1. ↑ Darshana Mini page on University of Wisconsin, Madison accessed September 30, 2022
  2. ↑ "Letter of Support", Dismantling Global Hindutva Conference website, accessed August 7, 2022
  3. ↑ 5-17 Prof. S. Shankar et al support letter
  4. ↑ 5-17 Kamala Visweswaran South Asian Faculty Group
  5. ↑ Gupta, S. P. 'The Dawn of Civilization.' In History of Science, Philosophy and Culture in Indian Civilization: Volume I: Part 1, edited by G. C. Pandey and D. P. Chattopadhyaya. New Delhi: Centre for Studies in Civilizations, 1999.

Contributors to this article

Deval Sancheti, Sachi Anjunkar, Krishna Maheshwari, Rutvi Dattani

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