Season 1 Ep 6.- Why We Consume: Gender, Media & the Worlds We Imagine

In this episode of the SCRMCI Research Talks podcast, Dr. Swapna Gopinath, Professor at SIMC, is in conversation with Dr. Anuja Pradhan, Associate Professor at SIMC. The conversation traces Pradhan’s academic journey into consumer culture theory, exploring how consumption operates as a social and cultural force shaped by identity, gender, class, history, and media. She reflects on bringing feminist perspectives into marketing and consumption research, including her work on the uncomfortable emotions of “cringe” viewing and what our reactions to media may reveal about ourselves. Pradhan also discusses alternative qualitative methods, such as collaborative autoethnography and the possibilities these approaches offer for producing more reflexive and accessible forms of knowledge. The conversation further explores collaboration and care in academic research, as well as her work on imagined fantastic atmospheres—examining how audiences carry fictional and fantasy worlds into their everyday lives through media and imagination. From feminism and consumer culture to collaboration, creative research methods, podcasts, and fantasy worlds, the episode offers a thoughtful exploration of how research can become more critical, creative, reflexive, and connected to everyday experience. To read Dr Pradhan's work, click here - https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=...