Kerala - Kannur   

Experts object to visual media and folklore diploma course

Staff Reporter

Syllabus of the course has no connection with folklore studies

KANNUR: The proposed PG Diploma Course in Visual Media and Folklore Documentation at the Calicut University Centre for Folklore Studies at Vadakara has come in for criticism from folklore scholars, including the chairman of the Kerala State Folklore Akademi here.

Five members of the university's Board of Studies in Folklore, including the Akademi chairman, B. Mahamood Ahamed, have submitted a representation to the university Registrar to highlight that the syllabus of the proposed course has no connection with Folklore Studies. The Board members have demanded review of the proposed course's content.

A written representation signed by the five Board members, including Mr. Ahamed, Balachandran Keezhoth of C.A.S. College, Madayi, K. V. Philomina of S.E.S. College, Sreekantapuram, A. M. Sreedharan of Nehru Arts and Science College, Kangangad, and K. Vidyasagar say that the proposed course does not come under the purview of the Board of Studies of Folklore as its thrust is visual communication. As the university has a separate Department of Mass Communication and an Audio Visual Research Centre, the course will become an attempt to encroach into the realm of activities of these departments.

No member of the faculty at the Centre for Folklore Studies is qualified to teach the technical content of the proposed course, they said. Visual Communication as a subject has nothing to do with Folklore or Folkloristics, they point out in the representation. Out of the 10 papers for the proposed one-year course, seven papers are directly related to areas no way connected to folklore, they said.

Teaching of Mass Communication and Visual Media Communication and practical train ing in these subjects requires specialists in the respective fiel ds. The proposed course should be restructured since the competence of the Board of Studies in Folklore to propose such a course and that of the Centre for Folklore Studies to conduct it is a matter of debate, they say. The five board members also say that in the proposed syllabi, there is no connection with the topic of the papers and their content. The history of painting, for example, is a subject in the Unit 2: Communication and Media of Paper 1.

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Experts object to visual media and folklore diploma course

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