Events

Location: Library First Floor Foyer

The AUS Library is delighted to host Supercharged by AI, an interactive poster exhibition that explores how AI-generated content is transforming the ways that media and information is produced, distributed and perceived.

Today, AI is being used to fabricate news, imitate reality, and influence public opinion in ways that are increasingly difficult to detect. Because these models are trained on biased data, they can reinforce stereotypes and have real-world consequences. How can we stay informed about this rapidly evolving technology?

Explore the exhibition in the Library's First Floor Foyer from Monday, September 8 to Thursday, November 13 and join a workshop to explore the issue more.

Location: Library Computer Lab IC2

Ready to take your research skills to the next level? This workshop will show you how to create clear research questions and find the right keywords to get the best results from academic AI tools like Scopus AI and ProQuest. Plus, you will get hands-on practice using these powerful resources through the AUS Library.

Location: LIB-011 (CITL)

'You are from the country of @iamsrk. I trust you’: Shah Rukh Khan, transnational stardom and counteracting the problematics of the Muslim celebrity in contemporary India

Abstract:
The MENA (Middle East and North Africa) region has long been a site of Hindi film consumption and circulation, with countries like the UAE emerging in recent years as a potent hub for Bollywood’s overseas distribution and marketing. However, the popularity and dissemination of Bollywood is not just limited to its films but also extends to its larger-than-life stars. Hindi film stars like Raj Kapoor, Amitabh Bachchan, Mithun Chakraborty and more recently, Shah Rukh Khan, have essayed a crucial role in Hindi cinema’s global consumption among foreign audiences. The popularity and deification of Bollywood stars by non-Indian and non-diasporic cinephiles underline discourses of soft power, political affinity, and transnational cultural flows, particularly in non-Western contexts. By examining the popularity and cultural currency of Shah Rukh Khan in the Middle East, particularly the UAE, this paper analyses how he is deployed to consolidate the ideas of ‘Brand India’ and ‘Brand Dubai’. Consequently, it underlines how Khan’s transnational stardom in the Middle East functions to counteract the precarity and vulnerability of his star stature in contemporary India, where the emergent right-wing, Hindutva political rhetoric have rendered him incapable of embodying the national imaginary.