An analysis of the representation of Partition of India in the UK media from 1947 to the present day.

Project Detail:
This PhD studentship forms part of the larger five year project ‘Migrant Memory and the Post-colonial Imagination (MMPI): British Asian Memory, Identity and Community after Partition’ funded by the Leverhulme Trust, led by Dr Emily Keightley. Coinciding with the 70th anniversary of the Partition of India, this ground-breaking work responds to the urgent need for research which captures cultural memories of Partition in the British Asian community. Memories of Partition continue to shape contemporary British Asian community relations and this research makes a transformative intervention in the field of Memory Studies and the sociological analysis of migrant communities. It addresses how community identities, including a sense of Britishness, are produced and articulated by South Asian people in the UK through cultural practices and social processes of remembering the 1947 Partition of India.

This PhD project will analyse the representation of Partition in UK mass media from 1947 onwards using archival data collection, quantitative and qualitative textual analysis methods. This research will provide insights into the role of news media as vehicles of cultural memory and the role of journalists as memory agents in the active construction of Partition as an historical event as well as providing vital cultural historical context for the broader research project through which to interpret the social memory of Partition in British Asian communities.

Research questions include:
- What were the dominant framings of Partition in the mainstream British press?
- To what extent have South Asian perspectives been included in the reporting of Partition over time?
- How have the professional practices of journalists shaped the reporting of Partition?
- When and why have memories of Partition memory been mobilised in the British press since Partition occurred?

The project will be based in the world-leading Centre for Research in Communication and Culture at Loughborough University. The start date is October 2017 and its duration is four years.

Find out more:
General information about the Centre can be found at: http://www.lboro.ac.uk/research/crcc/

Entry requirements:
- Applicants should have, or expect to achieve, at least a 2:1 Honours degree (or equivalent) in Communications and Media, Cultural Studies or a related subject;
- High level of creativity and enthusiasm to work as part of a large interdisciplinary project;
- Excellent communication skills.
- A relevant Master’s degree and/or experience in one or more of the following will be an advantage: in Research, Communications and Media, Cultural Studies.

Contact details:
Name: Dr Emily Keightley, [Email Address Removed], +44 (0)1509 223629

How to apply:
All applications should be made online at http://www.lboro.ac.uk/study/apply/research/. Under programme name, select Social Sciences. Please quote reference: SPGSLH17/EK3

Start date: October 2017
Closing date: 3 April 2017
Interview date: 5 May 2017
Reference number: SPGSLH17/EK3

Primary supervisor: Dr Emily Keightley
Secondary supervisor: Professor David Deacon