13th South Asian Media and Cultural Studies Conference 2027
13th South Asian Media and Cultural Studies Conference 2027
Theme: “Digital Frontiers: Media, Culture, and AI in South Asia”
Conference dates: January 21-22, 2027
Location: Online and at Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida, USA (hybrid format)
Conference website: bit.ly/samcs27
Contact: samcs@cci.fsu.edu
Something significant is happening across South Asia and its diasporas. Artificial intelligence, digital platforms, and emerging technologies are reshaping how stories are told, how cultures survive and transform, and how communities find (or lose) their voice in an increasingly mediated world. The 13th Annual South Asian Media and Cultural Studies (SAMCS) Conference meets this moment head on. This will be a hybrid event, hosted both online and in person at the Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida, USA.
Under the theme “Digital Frontiers: Media, Culture, and AI in South Asia,” this year’s conference brings together scholars, artists, journalists, practitioners, students, and community voices to explore what these shifts mean for one of the world’s most diverse and dynamic regions. South Asia is at the center of this conversation. And the SAMCS 2027 conference is a space to reflect, debate, create, and imagine together.
We are pleased the Dr. Sahana Udupa of the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Institut für Ethnologie, will provide the opening keynote address on Thursday, January 21, 2027.
Dr. Kartik Pashupati has been invited to display selection of his photographs of Indian classical musicians.
Proposals for individual presentations, panels, posters, creative projects, and works-in-progress were due by October 10, 2026. We will undertake a review of proposals by members of the organizing committee and aim to send decisions out by the end of October 2206.
Conference sub-themes
Sub-theme 1: Voices and algorithms
Who gets heard in an AI-mediated media landscape, and who doesn’t? This panel explores platform power, algorithmic visibility, and the fight for narrative representation media, communication, and grassroots in South Asia and beyond.
Sub-theme 2: Knowledge, culture, and emerging technologies
South Asia’s languages, oral traditions, and indigenous knowledge systems are meeting AI on unequal terms. This panel asks what is at stake for cultural memory, heritage, and the ways communities have always made and shared knowledge.
Sub-theme 3: Screens, stories, and creative labor
From filmmakers and journalists to digital creators and artists, South Asian cultural practitioners are navigating new tools and hard questions about authorship, ownership, and authenticity. This panel celebrates and interrogates the changing landscape of creative work in and about the region.
Sub-theme 4: Ethics, power, and public life in South Asia
Disinformation, surveillance, platform governance; the stakes of digital media for democracy and civil society have never been higher. This panel invites critical perspectives on how AI and digital technologies are reshaping power and public life across the region.
Sub-theme 5: Youth, education, and digital futures
Gen-Z and young creators across South Asia aren’t waiting for the future—they are coding, producing, and organizing it. This panel explores how the next generation is learning and engaging across digital environments, and what their experiences tell us about the road ahead.
Submission Guidelines:
We welcomed submissions from scholars, students, artists, policymakers, and practitioners at all career stages.
Submissions are now closed. Abstracts were due by October 10, 2026, indicating the sub-theme your work falls under and include a brief note on how it connects to the broader conference theme.
Questions? Reach us at: samcs@cci.fsu.edu
Please share this call with colleagues, students, and networks.
Warm regards,
The SAMCS Organizing Team
Email: samcs@cci.fsu.edu
Website: bit.ly/samcs27
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