P Parameswarudu, a PhD student from department of History, University of Hyderabad (UoH), was invited to present a paper in Indonesia. He presented a paper titled, “Social Reform in Telugu Cinema: Representation of Women’s Issues in Kanyasulkam (1955) and Mangalyabalam (1958)” in Conference on Communication, Culture and Media Studies jointly organized by the Islamic University of Indonesia and Edith Cowan University, Australia.The Conference was held between 18th and 20th of October 2016.
The hosting University was Islamic University of Indonesia in Yogyakarta. There were seventy paper presenters from England, Norway, Australia, United Arab Emirates, India, Thailand, Malaysia, Philippines and Indonesia.
Parameswarudu has been working for his PhD on the topic, “Culture and Ideology in Post- Colonial Telugu Cinema: Representation of Women, Family and Patriarchy, 1947-1970” under the supervision of Prof. Atlury Murali in the Department of History at UoH.
From his recent trip to the conference Parameswarudu has learnt a lot both academically and personally. He says, “My understanding of cinema history and representation of women in cinema has been enriched from the discussion by many worldly scholars like Prof. Ien Ang, Dr. Panizza Allmark, and Dr. Robert Cross. The socio- cultural and economic relations between South East Asia in general and Indonesia in particular and Australia was discussed. To me it was shocking to know from the speakers that Australia is keenly interested to join hands with Asia for economic cooperation. Though Australia discriminates the Asians, it is less compared to the West. Many Asians have settled down in Australia and still Australia is open for many more Asians to join it”.
Parameswarudu can be reached on email: paramesh.pulatota@gmail.com