Emmanuel Hosts Visiting Fulbright Scholar Tripat Narayanan
March 02, 2010
Through an affiliation with the U.S. Department of State and the Council for International Exchange of Scholars (CIES), Emmanuel College is hosting Fulbright Scholar Dr. Tripat Narayanan from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia for the spring 2010 semester. Narayanan is a part-time lecturer, free lance writer/film critic and a published author whose expertise lies in the fields of film, radio and television.
Narayanan earned a B.A. in English literature and an M.A. in media and popular culture from the University of Malaysia. She then traveled as a Fulbright Scholar to receive a Ph.D. in radio, television and film from Northwestern University in Chicago. Her book, Table: Food, Frangipanis and Flair, has been published in Singapore and the United States and was presented at the International Fulbright Convention. The book was also named regional winner of Gourmand International Awards in two categories: Best Innovative Foodbook and Best First Foodbook in 2005.
Vice President of Student Affairs Dr. Patricia Rissmeyer will serve as Narayanan's host administration official while Assistant Professor of English Dr. Christopher Craig and Assistant Professor of History Dr. Caroline Reeves will serve as faculty associates, assisting Narayanan while she is visiting the College and Boston. While visiting Emmanuel, Narayanan will be working with faculty on various lecture opportunities and film screenings throughout the semester, focusing on her areas of expertise; film, global studies, cultural studies, art, sociology and nutrition to name a few. Campus events, such as the College's International Hospitality Night, will also provide ideal opportunities for Narayanan to share her experience with and expertise in food, film and popular culture.
"Fulbright is the flagship international educational exchange program sponsored by the U.S. government and it is an honor to host a Fulbright Scholar," said Rissmeyer. "Dr. Narayanan's expertise in and passion for film, her facilitation of cross-cultural understanding and her warm and engaging manner make her a tremendous asset to Emmanuel. I hope that every student takes the opportunity to participate in one of her programs."
Narayanan's first lecture, organized by the Filmmakers at Emmanuel club, was held on February 25th and presented an introduction to perspectives on Asian cinema. Narayanan also discussed a previous screening of the film Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. She explained the emergence of Asian directors making mainstream films in Hollywood, the film industry as related to culture and detailed the Asian film industry, which recently began acquiring a global platform during the 1980s. Throughout her lecture, Narayanan also emphasized the cultural similarities throughout the global film industry and emphasized that film is a means of entertainment that is celebrated across the world.
"Film is an easily accessible, relatively cheap, global informing medium for cultures across the world," she said. "Just watching foreign faces and foreign locations dwelling over universal concepts can be a rather informing process, not always accurate, but still informing."
