Moorti, Sujata

views updated

MOORTI, Sujata

PERSONAL: Born in India; immigrated to United States, 1989. Education: University of Madras, India, B.A., M.A.(international studies); University of Maryland, Ph.D. (public communication), 1995.

ADDRESSES: Offıce—Old Dominion University, 436 BAL, College of Arts and Letters, Norfolk, VA 23529. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER: Old Dominion University, Norfolk, VA, assistant professor of women's studies, 1995—. Reporter for Times of India, Bombay; taught women's studies at American University.

WRITINGS:

The Color of Rape: Gender and Race in Television's Public Sphere, State University of New York Press (Albany, NY), 2001.

SIDELIGHTS: Sujata Moorti is an assistant professor of women's studies at Old Dominion University. She began her working life as a reporter for Times of India, reporting on politics and women's issues. Her experience of gender discrimination in this profession prompted Moorti to move to the United States, where she began an academic career in communication and women's studies. Moorti has maintained her ties to India by translating oral histories and reviewing books for Kali for Women Press in New Delhi. She participates in two non-governmental organizations, the Forum against the Oppression of Women and Akshara. Both are headquartered in Bombay, she continues her research in the area of women's issues.

Moorti's book The Color of Rape: Gender and Race in Television's Public Sphere grew out of her dissertation and reflects her two major scholarly interests, women's issues and communication. She examines the portrayal of rape on television, including talk shows, prime-time series, news broadcasts, and made-for-TV movies. Moorti focuses in particular on the dynamics of rape and race, and contends that "the public sphere," which is generally defined as a space where the voice of the cultural norm is heard, is dominated by the views of the white male. She argues for the establishment of a "counter-public sphere" to permit the voices of the disenfranchised to be heard.

"The Color of Rape," wrote Lisa M. Cuklanz in Women and Language, "provides a clear, thorough, subtle, and important analysis of the intersections of race and gender in several genres of television programming, illustrating both similarities and differences among the genres." In the Women's Review of Books, Catherine Squires noted that "Moorti's interpretations are well-grounded in history, culture and current events."