Academic Profile

Rakesh Batabyal

Associate Professor

Centre for Media Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi

Historian, media scholar, and public intellectual whose work spans the history of nationalism, communalism, and the politics of media representation across South Asia and beyond.

Media History Nationalism South Asia Communalism Media Ethics Archives

batabyal[at]mail.jnu.ac.in jnu.ac.in/Faculty/Batabyal Room 007, Centre for Media Studies, JNU 011-26738904

Delivering a public lecture

Profile

About

Rakesh Batabyal is Associate Professor at the Centre for Media Studies, School of Social Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. His scholarly work traverses the history of media and journalism, the politics of nationalism and communalism in modern South Asia, questions of media ethics, and the theory and practice of violence.

His doctoral research, a landmark study of communalism in Bengal from the famine of 1943 to the Noakhali riots of 1947, was published by Sage Publications and remains a foundational text in the field. Beyond South Asia, his interests extend to international media systems, particularly East and Central European media, the politics of memory and archives, food studies, and the material culture of everyday life.

Batabyal has held prestigious visiting positions at the University of Vienna, Kansai University in Osaka, Tokyo University, and the University of Bucharest. He is the editor of two widely used anthologies of modern Indian political speeches and has contributed extensively to scholarly journals and conference proceedings in India, Europe, and Japan.

Career

Experience

June to October 2022

Resident Researcher

University of Vienna, Austria

2019

Visiting Foreign Scholar, Department of Media (Sociology)

Kansai University, Osaka, Japan

2014 to Present

Associate Professor, Centre for Media Studies

Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi

2010

India Chair, Inaugural Chair Professor, Graduate School of Information Studies

Tokyo University, Japan

2008 to 2015

Associate Professor and Deputy Director, Academic Staff College

Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi

2000 to 2008

Assistant Director and Assistant Professor, Academic Staff College

Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi

1996 to 1999

Post-Doctoral Fellow

Indian Institute of Advanced Studies, Rashtrapati Nivas, Shimla

Scholarship

Selected Publications

2022

Building Free India: Speeches that Shaped Modern India Book

Edited and Introduced. Speaking Tiger, New Delhi.

2021

Camera-e Dhorechen Manusher Swadhinata Chapter

In Sukhen Biswas (Ed.), Aparajito Satyajit. Dept. of Journalism and Mass Communication, Kalyani University, pp. 295 to 298.

2020

The Modern School (1920 to 2020): A Century of Schooling in India Book

Westland/Amazon, New Delhi.

2020

Review of "When Nehru Looked East" by Francine Frankel Review

Studies of People's History, Vol. 7, No. 2, pp. 216 to 220.

2014

JNU: The Making of a University Book

HarperCollins, New Delhi and New York.

2014

The Spoils of Partition: Bengal and India, 1947 to 1967 (Review Article) Journal

Studies in History, Sage Publishers, Vol. 30, Issue 2, pp. 201 to 210.

2013

The Imperial Embers and the Invocation to Cold War: Colombo Conference 1950 Proceedings

Proceedings of the Indian History Congress, 2013.

2011

Countering Hegemony: The Polish Solidarity Movement in the Memory of Indians Chapter

Government of Poland / Institute of National Remembrance, Warsaw, pp. 566 to 576.

2007

The Penguin Book of Modern Indian Speeches Book

Edited, with an Introduction. Penguin Publishers, New Delhi, London, New York.

2005

Communalism in Bengal: From Famine to Noakhali (1943 to 1947) Monograph

Sage Publications, New Delhi, Thousand Oaks, and London.

Recognition

Awards and Honours

2021 to 2023

Research Grant, Indian Council for World Affairs: "Idea of Order in East and Central Europe"

2021 to 2023

Invited Member, Editorial Board, Indian International Centre Quarterly, IIC New Delhi

2019

Visiting International Fellow, Faculty of Social Sciences, Kansai University, Osaka

2018

Founding Fellow, Virtual Teaching Society of India, New Delhi

2016

Member, Executive Council, Bhai Veer Singh Sahitya Sadan, New Delhi

2015 to 2017

Member, Executive Committee, Indian History Congress

2015 onwards

Member, Think Tank on Archival Management, Ministry of Culture, Government of India

2010

Invited Scholar, Institute of Remembrance (IPN), Warsaw: International Conference on Solidarity, Krakow

2010

Inaugural India Chair Professor, Graduate School of Information Studies, Tokyo University

2008

Romanian Government Scholarship, University of Bucharest

2008

SUN Fellowship, Central European University, Budapest

2004 onwards

Honorary Fellow, National Institute of Panjab Studies, New Delhi

1991 to 1996

Junior and Senior Research Fellowship (JRF/SRF), University Grants Commission

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Japan

India Chair Professor, Graduate School of Information Studies, Tokyo University (2010). Visiting Scholar, Kansai University, Osaka (2019).

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Austria

Resident Researcher, University of Vienna (June to October 2022).

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Poland

Invited Scholar, Institute of Remembrance, International Conference on Solidarity, Krakow (2010).

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Romania

Romanian Government Scholar, University of Bucharest (2008). Member, Scientific Advisory Board, Symbolon Journal.

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Hungary

SUN Fellowship, Central European University, Budapest (2008).

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Nepal

Honorary Visiting Fellow, Centre for Advanced Study on South Asia, Kathmandu. Editor, Asian Review of Humanities, CASSA.