Mohan Dutta: Culture-Centered Approach

Figure 1: The Far Right ideologue Lauren Southern, whose visit to Aotearoa formed the backdrop of the birth of the Free Speech Union I have argued elsewhere that the Far Right constructs an ideologically driven definition of academic freedom to re-organize universities and education. Attacking DEI under the guise of advocacy for academic freedom   In my analysis of this far-right agenda, I have critically interrogated how the trope of academic freedom is deployed by the Free Speech Union (FSU) here in Aotearoa New Zealand as the basis for organizing a moral panic around the state of tertiary education. This moral panic is then mobilized by the far-right to organize campaigns targeting Universities , specifically campaigns targeting academic programs researching and teaching decolonization; cultural studies including Critical Race Theory (CRT) and postcolonial theory; and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI). This moral panic will tell you that Western University is rotting, ...

Poster of the No Singaporeans Left Behind documentary I had directed While working in Singapore for six years, what was most powerfully evident to me was the capacity of the authoritarian state to continually deploy communicative inversions. Communicative inversions are symbolic resources that turn materiality on its head.  I crystallized much of my thinking on communicative inversion while working in Singapore, witnessing the academy as an extension of the state continually play this game of communicative inversions. Even as I was being continually called into meetings with management regarding the work of my research team at the Center for Culture-centered Approach to Research and Evaluation (CARE) with migrant workers and with households experiencing poverty, I would be lectured by the management on how these meetings were really meant as friendly guidance.  When questioned about the attacks on my academic freedom, management would offer me polite stories about how my acade...

In earlier talks delivered at the Center for Culture-centered Approach to Research and Evaluation (CARE), I have outlined Hindutva's uses of deception .  One such strategy of deception is through equivocation, communicating opposite narratives at the same time.  I have noted how Hindutva speaks to its internal audience in one language while communicating with its external audience in an entirely different narrative register.  Hindutva's hate-mongering, and otherizing of Muslims would often come as a shock to white liberals in the diaspora, who are used to being invited to a nice Indian meal of daal and naan while being regaled with stories of "Hinduism as a religion of peace." Hindutva in the diaspora actively works to project the narrative of Hinduism as a language of peace while participating in promoting the extremist anti-Muslim ideology to its internal audience. You will witness Hindutva ideologues narrate stories of Hinduism as a religion of giving while funding...

Figure 1: The techno capitalist losers that form the networked infrastructure of Hindutva The Sanghi is the definition of loser Loser, is " a person who is incompetent or unable to succeed ." I have argued in previous work that the extremist ideology of Hindutva is networked globally by an information  infrastructure of financial and technological capital.   Engineering students, techies, coders, and night shift call workers make up the software and hardware that produce and mainstream Hindutva hate.   The Sanghi hate producer is your definition of the term loser, having failed in life and mostly stuck in a rut in India's stagnant economy, playing call center functions for global techno-capital. Techno-capital, with its spurious designations and seductive naming of positions that mean nothing, propel this infrastructure of hate, based on disinformation, continual production of lies, and an ecosystem based on lies.  Bereft of a moral axis, the Sanghi loser knows and ...

The rise of the far-right globally is intertwined with the globally networked power of libertarian think tanks, funded at the base by the global extractive industries . In this blog post, through an analysis of the disinformation-based campaign I have personally experienced since October 2023 mobilised by the communicative ecosystem of the Free Speech Union (FSU), I will attend to the lifecycle of disinformation in libertarian networks, arguing that the disinformation ecosystem is invested in upholding both white supremacy and extractive capital. The FSU’s investment in disinformation I argue that the FSU is invested in producing and circulating disinformation. In response to my analysis of the hypocrisy of the Free Speech Union (FSU) that positions itself as a champion of free speech in Aotearoa while one of its co-founders, council members and spokespersons David Cumin (who is also one of the key actors representing Israel Institute of New Zealand) actively targets the freedom of a...

The material violence of settler colonialism is intricately intertwined with symbolic violence. Colonization reproduces itself through violent erasure. Accounts of colonial violence must be systematically erased to justify, legitimize, and uphold the perpetual violence of colonization. We are seeing this interplay between colonial violence and erasure unfold on our screens in real time as the Zionist propaganda apparatus works to systematically erase accounts of the genocide being carried out by Israel in Gaza. As Palestinian voices from Gaza, connected with Palestinian voices across the diaspora, and in solidarity with diverse voices of the global majority rise up in resistance to the settler colonial narrative predicated on whiteness, the propaganda infrastructure of Zionism, working hand-in-hand with the propaganda infrastructure of white supremacy, is organized systematically to silence these voices. In Gaza, journalists witnessing and documenting the genocide are murdered....

Executive Committee of the Legislative Assembly National Communication Association (NCA) Cc: Executive Director, NCA November 21, 2023 Dear colleagues, We are writing this email to express our deep concern about the censorship of the speech of Dr. Ahlam Muhtaseb , Professor of media studies at California State University, San Bernardino, to be delivered as part of the Presidential Address at the National Communication Association Convention on November 18, 2023. In preparing for the event, Professor Muhtaseb sent her speech in English to the NCA President on November 13, and no objections or concerns were raised regarding her speech. On November 18, when Professor Muhtaseb went to rehearse her speech at the venue, she was told that her speech was not acceptable because of the use of terms such as “genocide” and “colonization,” noting that this might cause damage to the reputation of the organization. Once the other speakers scheduled to speak in the session as part of the Presidential ...