Arts & International Affairs: Vol. 3, No.3/Vol. 4, No. 1, Winter 2018/2019 | Page 18

MULTIMODALITY AND THE FUTURE OF
ANTHROPOLOGICAL RESEARCH AND SCHOLARSHIP
HARJANT GILL
ARTS & INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS • 3.3 / 4.1 • WINTER 2018–2019
Harjant Gill is an associate professor of anthropology
at Towson University. He received his Ph.D.
from American University. His research examines
the intersections of masculinity, modernity,
transnational migration and popular culture in India.
Gill is also an award-winning filmmaker and
has made several ethnographic films that have
screened at film festivals, academic conferences,
and on television networks worldwide including
BBC, Doordarshan (Indian National TV) and PBS.
His films include Roots of Love which looks at the
changing significance of hair and turban among Sikh
men in India and Mardistan (Macholand) which
explores Indian manhood focusing on issues of
sexual violence, son preference and homophobia.
Funded by Wenner-Gren Foundation and Woodrow
Wilson Career Enhancement Fellowship, his latest film Sent Away Boys examines on
how provincial communities across northern India are transformed by the exodus of
young men giving up farming to seek a better life abroad. Gill is a fellow alumnus of Point
Foundation. He co-directed the SVA Film & Media Festival (2012–2014), and currently
serves on the board of directors of Society for Visual Anthropology (SVA) and co-edits
the Multimodal Anthropologies section of the journal American Anthropologist. His
website is www.TilotamaProductions.com
As noted in the Introduction to this Special Issue, Harjant Gill has played a decisive
role in the resurgence of multimodal scholarship in anthropology. Gill returns to India
in June 2019 where he will begin developing his next multimodal project “Tales from
Macholand,” a six-part immersive virtual reality series that will allow audiences to step
into the “virtual shoes” of six Indian men belonging to different ethnic, caste and religious
backgrounds. Funded by American Institute of Indian Studies (AIIS) and the
Fulbright-Nehru fellowship, the series will explore Indian men’s relationships with the
women in their lives, and how they negotiate questions of privilege, power, consent and
respect. Upon completion, the series will be showcased at universities across India to
facilitate critical dialogues on issues rooted in patriarchy including sexual violence and
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doi: 10.18278/aia.3.3.4.1.2