Page 10 - From Bombay to Bollywoord The Making of a Global Media Industri

Acknowledgments

This is a book about connections and networks that span multiple spaces and
places in the world. Through the long process of reading, learning, and writ-
ing about transnational media spaces, the numerous material, intellectual,
and emotional debts I have accrued also span many places and times.
Thanks first of all to Anandam Kavoori, whose kindness and encourage-
ment gave me the confidence to embark on an academic career and begin the
work that would lead to this book. The groundwork for this book was laid
under the guidance of Henry Jenkins, William Uricchio, Michael Fischer, and
Tuli Banerjee in the Comparative Media Studies program at MIT. In particu-
lar, I want to thank Henry Jenkins for his advice, unwavering support, zany
humor, and showing me how to read, write, and teach with kindness and gen-
erosity. Several other teachers and friends at MIT also played a crucial role in
my early years in graduate school: David Thorburn, Joe Dumit, Ken Keniston,
Sangita Shresthova, Zhan Li, Stephanie Davenport, Philip Tan, Wally Banks,
Alex Chisholm, Sanjit Sethi, Robin Hauck, Margaret Weigel, Anita Chan,
Candis Callison, Susannah Mandel, Aparna Das, and Sajan Saini. I have also
had the good fortune of staying connected with the CMS-MIT community
through the Convergence Culture Consortium. Among others involved with
C3, I would like to thank Sam Ford, Ivan Askwith, Ana Domb, Xiaochang Li,
and Joshua Green for the many conversations about media cultures and for
creating opportunities to engage with media industry professionals.
This book would not have been possible without the advice and encour-
agement of teachers and fellow students in the Department of Communica-
tion Arts at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. I feel very fortunate to
have had a chance to learn from and work with Shanti Kumar, Julie D’acci,
Michele Hilmes, Michael Curtin, Lisa Nakamura, and Mary Beltran. I would
like to thank all of them for their many kindnesses, advice, and research
and teaching opportunities. Most of all, I would like to thank Shanti Kumar
and Michael Curtin. I could not have begun and completed this book with-
out their encouragement, support, and inspiration over the years. I am also
grateful to Hemant Shah and Kirin Narayan for many conversations on
South Asia and South Asian diasporic cultures.
My colleagues in the Department of Communication Studies at the
University of Michigan provided the intellectual environment as well as
everyday support that made it possible to rethink and complete this book.
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