Dr. Sreya Mitra | American University of Sharjah
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Profile

College / Department

College of Arts and Sciences
Department of Media Communication

Teaching areas

Media Studies, Communication Theory, Media History & Criticism, Popular Culture, Culture & Media Industries, Globalization

Research areas

Stardom and celebrity studies, gender studies, popular culture, globalization, culture & media industries, South Asian diaspora, contemporary Indian film and television

Education

PhD, Media & Cultural Studies, University of Wisconsin-Madison, United States, 2012
MA, Media & Cultural Studies, University of Wisconsin-Madison, United States, 2008
GD, Print Journalism, Indian Institute of Mass Communication, India, 2002
BA, Mass Communication & Videography, St. Xavier's College, University of Calcutta, India, 2001

Professional experience

Assistant Professor, American University of Sharjah, United Arab Emirates, 2015 - Present
Adjunct Instructor, American University of Sharjah, United Arab Emirates, 2012 - 2015
Teaching Assistant, Department Of Communication Arts, University of Wisconsin-Madison, WI, United States, 2005 - 2012

Memberships

International Association for Media and Communication Research (IAMCR), IAMCR, International, April 2026
Inter Asia Cultural Studies (IACS), IACS, International, February 2023
American Comparative Literature Association (ACLA), January 2016
International Communication Association (ICA), October 2012
Society for Cinema & Media Studies (SCMS), September 2006

Contact

[email protected]
+971 6 515 2619

Dr. Sreya Mitra

Associate Professor
PhD, University of Wisconsin-Madison, United States

Sreya Mitra has taught media studies in institutions in the U.S. and UAE. Her research focuses on popular Indian cinema, television and new media in South Asia, stardom and celebrity culture. She has presented her research at various international conferences and her work has been published in the edited collections Reorienting Global Communication (2010), Transnational Stardom (2013) and Nation, Nationalism and the Public Sphere (2020), and in the peer-reviewed journals, South Asian History and Culture (2012), Celebrity Studies (2018, 2020, 2021), South Asian Popular Culture (2020), Transformative Works and Cultures (2020) and Middle East Journal of Culture and Middle East Journal of Culture and Communication (2021).

Publications

Sreya Mitra. 'Desh ka sawaal hai’: Shah Rukh Khan, the ‘Global Indian’ and the Problematics of Minority Citizenship in Contemporary India, 13 April (2nd Quarter/Spring) 2026
Sreya Mitra. ‘You are from the country of @iamsrk. I trust you’: Shah Rukh Khan, transnational stardom and counteracting the problematics of the Muslim celebrity in contemporary India, Celebrity Studies, 19 June 2025
Prashanth Bhat, Sreya Mitra And Nanditha Narayanamoorthy. Bollywood and Cultural Contestation: Examination of Digital Mobilization Against the Hindi Film Industry, Journal Of International And Intercultural Communication, 25 March 2025
Sreya Mitra. Instagram: Reconfiguring Bollywood Stars from Has-Beens to Uber Cool
Sreya Mitra. Beyond the Nation and the Diaspora: Examining Bollywood's Transnational Appeal in the United Arab Emirates, Middle East Journal Of Culture And Communication, September 2021
Sreya Mitra. #ModiWithAkshay: 'Brand Modi', social media and Bollywood star power, Celebrity Studies, 11 April (2nd Quarter/Spring) 2021
Sreya Mitra. Discourses of Hindi film fandom and the confluence of the popular, the public, and the political, Transformative Works And Culture, September 2020
Sreya Mitra. The Question of Minority Citizenship: Shah Rukh Khan as the 'Global Indian', August 2020
Sreya Mitra. From ‘Angry Young Man’ to ‘Benevolent Patriarch’: Amitabh Bachchan, Bollywood stardom and the remaking of post-liberalization India, South Asian Popular Culture, 3 March 2020
Sreya Mitra. Trolled, Body-Shamed and Slut-Shamed: The desecration of the contemporary Bollywood female star on social media, Celebrity Studies, 1 March 2020
Sreya Mitra. 'Miss World' meets 'Dutiful Daughter-in-Law': Modernity, marriage, motherhood and the Bollywood female star, Celebrity Studies, 5 July (3rd Quarter/Summer) 2018
Sreya Mitra. 'The Show of the Millennium': Screening the Big Money Quiz Show and the Bollywood Superstar, April (2nd Quarter/Spring) 2014
Sreya Mitra. From Heroine to 'Brand Shilpa': Reality television, transnational stardom, and the remaking of the Bollywood celebrity, February 2013
Sreya Mitra. 'The Show of the Millennium': Screening the Big Money Quiz Show and the Bollywood Superstar, South Asian History And Culture, 1 October (4th Quarter/Autumn) 2012
Sreya Mitra. Localizing the Global: Bombay's Sojourn from the Cosmopolitan Urbane to Aamchi Mumbai, January (1st Quarter/Winter) 2010

Conference Presentations

South Asian Influencers in the UAE: Remaking notions of home, belonging and citizenship during moments of crisis, Ierlab Influencer Diplomacy Symposium, 24 April 2026
Desi women vloggers in the Gulf: Navigating and producing discourses of belonging and citizenship, Women’s Heritage, Culture And Media In The Gcc Region, 10 February 2026
Re-positioning of Stars in the Age of Celebrity Culture: A local-global perspective, Scms Performance And Stardom Sig Roundtable, 6 February 2026
‘You are from the country of @iamsrk. I trust you’: Shah Rukh Khan, transnational stardom and counteracting the problematics of the Muslim celebrity in contemporary India, Aus Library Author Talk, 15 October 2025
From Pan-Indian and Secular to Parochial and Hindutva: Tracing the Evolution of Bollywood and its Stars in Modi’s India, Inter-asia Cultural Studies Conference, 25 July 2025
Instagram: Reconfiguring Bollywood Stars from Has-Beens to Uber Cool, International Communication Association Conference, 14 June 2025
Toxic Masculinity, Damsels in Distress, Permissive Wives & Cuckold Husbands: Examining Moral Policing of Bollywood Celebrity Couples on Social Media, 5th International Celebrity Studies Conference, 1 July 2024
'#BeMyGuest’: Examining the transnational cultural currency, soft power, and brand value of Bollywood stars in the Middle East, Second International Asian Stardom And Celebrity Conference, 28 November 2023
Contemporary Cultures of Consumption: Perspectives and Reflections, International Conference On Media And Communication, 28 September 2023
‘That’s Not My Ramayan’: Adipurush and the problematic discourse of employing myth and religion in the nationalist project, Inter-asia Cultural Studies Biennial Conclave, 27 July 2023
#BeMyGuest: Examining the transnational currency of Bollywood stars in the Middle East., Dhahran Film Criticism Forum, 5 May 2023
The Big Fat Bollywood Wedding: Examining the role of celebrity weddings in enhancing the brand quotient of contemporary Bollywood stars., Pca Annual Conference, 8 April 2023
'The Superstar is Dead, Long Live the Actor': OTTs, streaming platforms, and the remaking of the Bollywood star in a changing mediascape., Scms Annual Conference, 31 March 2022
'Gateway to Bollywood for the Arab World': Dubbed Hindi Content, Media Capital & Transnational Cultural Flows in the UAE, Scms Annual Conference, 19 March 2021
'Bollywood Needs the Sound of Arabic': Soft power, media flows and transnational cultural economics of dubbed Hindi content in the Middle East, Media Infrastructures In The Middle East Conference, 10 January 2020
#ModiWithAkshay: Political rhetoric, social media and harnessing the Bollywood star to the task of nation-building, Starring Asia Conference, 3 December 2019
'Stop trying to be a desperate American': Priyanka Chopra and the travails of a transnational Bollywood female star, Scms Annual Conference, 15 March 2019
Beyond Nation and Diaspora: Examining the Consumption of Bollywood Content among Emirati and Arab Expatriate Audiences in the UAE, Film And Visual Media In The Gulf, 29 October 2018
Trolled, Body-Shamed and Slut-Shamed: Examining the predicament of the contemporary Bollywood female star and social media engagement, Celebrity Studies Journal Conference, 27 June 2018
From 'Angry Young Man' to 'Benevolent Patriarch': Amitabh Bachchan, Bollywood stardom and the remaking of post‐liberalization India, Acla Annual Conference, March 2018
From Bollywood heroine to 'cross-continental glamour icon': Priyanka Chopra and the shifting trajectories of (global) Bollywood stardom, Cmcs International Conference, March 2017
The Star as the Twitterati: Examining discourses of Hindi film stardom, and the confluence of the popular, the public, and the political, Acla Annual Conference, March 2016
Interrogating the limits of Bollywood Superstardom: 'Brand SRK,' Islam and Global India., Scms Annual Conference, March 2012
'Miss World' as 'The Dutiful Daughter-in-Law': The Bollywood Female Star and Negotiating the Contradictions of Contemporary Indian Womanhood, Global Fusion Conference, October 2011
I'm a bloody good Indian: Examining the Limits of Bollywood Superstardom during Moments of National Crisis, Csa Conference, March 2011
From 'Item Girl' to Style Icon: Reality Television and the Remaking of the Bollywood Celebrity, Console-ing Passions Conference, April 2010
The Show of the Millennium': The Big-Money Quiz Show and the Bollywood Superstar, Global Fusion Conference, October 2009
'Chak De! India' and 'Brand SRK': Un-Othering the Muslim in the Hindi Film Narrative and the Bollywood Superstar, Annual Conference On South Asia, October 2008
From Bombay to Mumbai: Localizing the Urbane in the Cinematic Text, Scms Annual Conference, March 2008
Transporting the Telenova to the Indian Screen: A Study of Indian Soaps, Transnationalism and the Indian Middle Class, Annual Conference On South Asia, October 2006

Grants and sponsorships

Grant, Open Access Program Grant, American University of Sharjah, 1 September 2025
Grant, Faculty Research Grant, American University of Sharjah, 1 June 2020 - 31 May 2021
Grant, Seed Grant, American University of Sharjah, 22 November 2015 - 22 November 2015

Awards and Honors

Vilas Research Travel Grant, Graduate Student Collaborative, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Received grant for dissertation fieldwork research in Mumbai, India, May 2011
Elliot Dissertation Scholarship for Dissertation Research, Department of Communication Arts, University of Wisconsin-Madisonnsin, Received grant for dissertation research., May 2010
Helen K. Herman Award for Academic Ability, Department of Communication Arts, University of Wisconsin-Madison, May 2010
Vilas Research Travel Grant, Graduate Student Collaborative, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Received funding for dissertation fieldwork, May 2010
Helen K. Herman Award for Academic Ability, Department of Communication Arts, University of Wisconsin-Madison, May 2007
First Year McCarthy Scholarship Award, Department of Communication Arts, University of Wisconsin-Madison, September 2005

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