Professor T. T. Sreekumar obtained his M.Phil. in Applied Economics from Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) in New Delhi and was awarded a Ph.D. in Social Sciences from the School of Humanities & Social Science at the Hong Kong University of Science & Technology (HKUST, Hong Kong). Currently associated with the School of Interdisciplinary Studies and Department of Communication at the English and Foreign Languages University (EFLU), Hyderabad, India, Professor Sreekumar has an extensive teaching history, extending to institutions such as the National University of Singapore, the Division of Social Sciences at HKUST, Hong Kong and MICA-The School of Ideas, Ahmadabad. At EFL University, he also serves as the Director of the Educational Multimedia Research Centre (EMMRC).
Dr. Sreekumar’s seminal work, “ICTs & Development in India: Perspectives on the Rural Network Society” (Anthem Books, London, 2011), marks a significant contribution to the discourse on information and communication technologies in rural India. Besides, he is widely published in numerous national and international journals. His research, rich in geographical diversity, spans across India, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, and Singapore. He has presented his research findings in major Communications and Social Science Conferences and Seminars across continents, including Asia, the USA, Europe, Africa, New Zealand, Canada, and Latin America.
He is also a prolific writer and columnist in Malayalam, his mother tongue, having penned over 500 articles and authored or edited 18 books mostly concerning literature, society, history, culture and politics of Kerala, the state of his origins. Additionally, he is recognized for his column “Naalam Kannu” in the Madhyamam Daily, a biweekly feature that has maintained popularity for a decade, providing commentaries on contemporary socio-political issues.
He was formerly the Editor in Chief (2013-2017) of the Journal of Creative Communications, and Associate Editor (2014-2019) of Media Asia. Presently, he is the Editor of the International Journal of Media Studies published by EFL University. Furthermore, he contributes to the academic community as a member of various editorial advisory boards and as a manuscript reviewer for several prominent journals.
Dr. Sreekumar’s research interests are diverse and include New Media and Technoculture, the Impact of Internet in Developing Countries, Mobile Communications, State-Civil Society Relations, Political Economy of Development, Religion and New Media, Cyberculture, and New Social Movements. He is also associated with a range of civil society organizations in India and abroad.
Sreekumar, T T (2011) ICTs AND DEVELOPMENT IN INDIA: PERSPECTIVES ON THE RURAL NETWORK SOCIETY, London: Anthem Press
‘ICTs and Development in India’ provides a critical account of the impact of the use of Information Technology in development projects in India, focusing particularly on E-governance and Information & Communication Technologies (ICT) development programs initiated by Civil Society Organizations (CSOs). Sreekumar challenges the conventional wisdom concerning the potential of ICT to provide unprecedented social and economic opportunities for vulnerable groups such as women and marginalized communities by highlighting its failure to bridge social divides. He argues that in addition to reinforcing existing social divides, the patterns of ICT deployment and control have in certain cases created new divides. Given such tensions and contradictions, this book questions whether it is appropriate to consider civil society as an independent realm of social action separated from State and Market.
‘Rural India has become a model laboratory for global experiments in a new era of market-driven development communication. T. T. Sreekumar’s critical and empirically rich study of India’s emerging “rural network society” offers a much needed counter-history to the dominant techno-utopian narratives that continue to fuel both policy and scholarly discussions.
Paula Chakravartty, , Associate Professor, Department of Communication, University of Massachusetts
