Seeking paper proposals on culture theory and contemporary culture

[Alfred Collins]

I am organizing a panel for the Dharma Association of North America
meeting in Montreal next Thanksgiving week, conjoint with the American
Academy of Religion.  I invite anyone interested in presenting a a paper to get in touch
with me.  The topic is:

 "Traditional Indian culture theory views contemporary
media cultures"

The panel will engage classical Indian thinking about culture with
examples of contemporary culture in India and elsewhere.
Indian reflection on culture may be found in many places, although the
specific category of "culture" may not be identified as such. Refining
oneself or one's practices (samskrti, samskara) and attaining a higher or better
state (sadhana) might, however, be thought of as kinds of culture.
Can yoga, tantra, nyaya, dharma literature, rasa esthetics, etc., shed
light on what is happening in the contemporary media cultures of
India, Europe, the US, etc., and point the way toward what could and
should be happening there?   If culture is a force
within social life that can move persons toward more authentic, truer
selfhood, how are we to understand secular media culture, which seems
opposed to what we might call the sadhana function of classical
cultures? How can culture do its job in the contemporary world?