No subject

the Sarai Readers. We on our part were delighted to know that a scholar we 
admired but had never met felt that our interests and concerns echoed his. We 
had looked forward eagerly to a close association with him. This year's Sarai 
Reader is dedicated in part to his memory.

For us at Sarai, Siddhartha Ghosh epitomizes the ideal of the independent 
practitioner-scholar, curious, committed, creative and uncompromising in his 
dedication to detail, and unceasing in his delight in the improvisatory 
genius of a subaltern modernity.

In inviting Sabina Gadihoke to present the inaugural lecture of this series, 
we are seeking to recognize, both her close intellectual association and 
friendship with Siddhartha, as well as the new ground that she is breaking 
with her research on the history and practice of photography by women in 
India. This research project enjoys the support of the India Foundation for 
the Arts, Bangalore. The material that Sabina is going to discuss in her 
lecture also forms the basis of her essay in this year's Sarai Reader.


II    FRIDAY FILM @ SARAI
All screenings are on Fridays at 4:30 pm at the Seminar Room, Centre for the 
Study of Developing Societies, 29 Rajpur Road, Delhi -110054. The films are 
listed in the order of screening.

ASIAN FILM CULTURES: JAPANIME
Curated by Diya Mehra

The graphic form has a long and significant history in Japanese visual and 
textual culture. Since the 1940's and 50's it has emerged in comic book form 
as 'Manga' which has subsequently developed into the most highly read medium 
in the country and has increasingly been used as the basis of animated films 
and television series - some examples of which Sarai presents in its Japanime 
series. 

Manga are akin to graphic novels, wherein stories are lengthy and serialized, 
characters and plot lines complex yet discrete making the volume of Manga 
produced extremely large. In its visual style, Manga is drawn in elongated 
narrow cells, proliferating detail, visual vantage points and imaginative and 
thematic possibilities only open to animation. Many genres of Manga have 
emerged - from the pornograhic to Pokeman. In the complex and abundant world 
of Japanese popular culture, genres have come to be associated with 
particular niche markets. They are drawn by gender and age and use specific 
tropes and milieus to address fundamental questions on technology, the media, 
the environment and popular culture in Japanese contemporary society. 

The three films included in this series represent three specific sub-genres of 
Manga. 'Ghost in the Shell' (screened on February 28) is "mecha" anime 
concerned with technology in the form of robots, transformative armor, 
cyborgs and more recently artificial intelligence. 'Perfect Blue' is a 
psychological thriller about a pop star, her fans and the multi-mediated 
world. 'My Neighbor Totoro', a children's film directed by Hayao Miyazaki , 
emerges from an anime studio that is unique in its production - producing 
mythical and allegorical tales that often draw on Japanese folklore.

March 21, 2003, 4:30 pm
MY NEIGHBOUR TOTORO (1988), 87 minutes
Directed by Hayao Miyazaki 

Set in the 1950's 'My Neighbour Totoro' tells the story of Satsuki, aged ten, 
and Mei, aged four, and their father who move to the Japanese countryside to 
provide a healthy environment for their mother when she is able to leave the 
hospital. The children spend their days exploring their new home and 
neighbourhood, which is when Mei discovers the existence of Totoros - magical 
forest spirits which only children can see. What follows are a series of 
delightful and often surreal adventures set among Miyazaki's sublime summary 
landscape.

Totoro is not based on any exact Japanese mythological or folk character, but 
does spring from the idea of nature spirits in Japanese culture. Miyazaki's 
vision encompasses both a nostalgia for a lost lifestyle, since most of these 
rural areas near Tokyo have been converted into crowded suburbs by now, and 
also an exploration of the natural world that is central to his work. While 
his later works grapple more directly with questions of ecology, in 'My 
Neighbor Totoro' Miyazaki reveals, through the enormous detail and perceptive 
quality of his work, a seamless interaction that appears to him to be crucial 
to it. 

March 28, 2003, 4:30 pm
PERFECT BLUE (1999), 80 minutes
Directed by Satoshi Kon

Mima abandons her pop star career to opt for a career in television soaps, 
alienating the male fans of her sugar-candy past. When she accepts a part 
that involves her being raped, her life begins to fall apart. She discovers 
internet sites describing every detail of her life. Helpless and afraid, she 
watches as her associates are threatened and killed by a mysterious stalker, 
who she sees everywhere. When Mima's TV drama begins mimicking her everyday 
life, she can no longer tell the difference between television, hallucination 
and real life.

The film develops a complex structure for Mima's psychosis, exaggerating 
elements of pop and Manga as product and form, and interweaving elements from 
her different realities to consider the relationships between media, 
celebrity and technology.


III    ANNOUNCEMENTS
1) City One Audio CD
We have documented the entire City One conference for the public domain. The 
audio archive of the conference is available on the conference web site 
(http://www.sarai.net/cityone/cityone.htm). An audio CD which contains the 
City One audio archive is also available for people in India. If you want a 
copy please write to diya at sarai.net with your complete mailing address.

2) Arundhati Roy Supports Sarai
Arundhati Roy, writer and activist, recently distributed the prize money that 
she won from the United States-based Lannan Foundation among fifty people's 
movements, publications, educational institutions, theatre groups and 
individuals in India, including Sarai. 

She says, "... I am more than delighted to announce that the money will be 
shared by at least a few of those who are engaged in the struggle of making 
India a real democracy instead of just a notional one."
   
Sarai is happy to accept her contribution and thanks her for her support. 

3) Film Studies @ Sarai
The Sarai programme of the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies 
proposes to run a ten day introduction to film studies course in May 2003. 
The course will be composed of lectures, discussions and film screenings. 
There will be two lectures per day, and an evening film screening. Amongst 
the topics covered will be film language, history, genre, international film 
movements, the idea of national cinema etc. Students will receive a reader 
with basic readings for the course, and will be required to write a short 
paper as part of the course requirements. The course is coordinated by Ravi 
Vasudevan of Sarai.

A more detailed programme, including information about application procedure 
and course fees will be made available shortly. The course is scheduled from 
May 9-19, 2003. For queries please write in to ranita at sarai.net. 

Cheers,

Ranita
The Sarai Programme
Centre for the Study of Developing Societies
29 Rajpur Road, Delhi 110 054
Tel:  (+91) 11 23960040
       (+91) 11 23951190
Fax: (+91) 11 23943450
www.sarai.net