
Uttaran Dutta
Assistant Professor, Hugh Downs School of Human Communication, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
Hugh Downs School of Human Communication
Arizona State University
PO Box 871205
Tempe, AZ 85287-1205
Titles
- Senior Sustainability Scientist, Global Institute of Sustainability and Innovation
- Assistant Professor, Hugh Downs School of Human Communication, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
- Affiliate Faculty, Global Technology and Development, School of Letters and Sciences
- Affiliate Faculty, Center for Asian Research
- Affiliate Faculty, Global Center for the Study of Religion and Conflict, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
Biography
Uttaran Dutta studies creative ways to address development, health and social disparity issues. His research focuses on sustainable development and social change in marginalized communities, analyzing the importance of culture, communication, design and innovation in transforming the lives of people who are socially, politically and economically poor. In all his work, local participants are the key forces in identifying and developing cost-effective solutions using local resources.
In one project, Dr. Dutta is developing a computer application for illiterate people in rural India to access useful information regarding local weather, employment, education, and other basic services such as healthcare. In another project, he collaborated with local people to construct a mini-hospital, library-cum-museum and a protection-wall to save sacred environmental resources in remote indigenous villages in eastern India.
Additionally, he researches the folk-culture and indigenous knowledge of the underserved to document and understand alternate ways of viewing the world.
Education
- PhD, Communication Studies, Purdue University, 2013
- MDes, Visual Communication Design, IIT Bombay, India, 2006
- MBA, Business Administration, India, 2003
- BE, Civil Engineering, India, 2001
Expertise
- conservation
- agrarian societies
- citizen engagement
- public health
- community development
- human rights
- human-environment dynamics
- innovation
- international development
- social equity
- sustainability discourse
- community ecology
- border studies
- participatory research methods
- global health
- globalization
- No Poverty
- Zero Hunger
- Good Health and Well-Being
- Quality Education
- Gender Equality
- Clean Water and Sanitation
- Reduced Inequalities
- Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions
- building technology
- social change
- cultural studies
- human values
- communication
- social innovation
- humanitarian engineering, indigenous studies
- ethnography and action research
- visual communication design
- health communication
- folk cultural studies
- subaltern studies
- sustainable development
- communities
- economic development
- decision making
- art and ecology
- human dimensions of science and technology
- multicultural perspectives
- visual arts and media
- indigeneity
- poverty
- refugee studies
Journal Articles
In Press
Dutta, U. Gender inequality and rural employment generation program in India. International Journal of communication & Social Research
Dutta, U. Indigenous health organizing at the margins: Creating access to health by building health infrastructure. Health Communications DOI: 10.1080/10410236.2019.1622065. (link )
Dutta, U. Protecting sacred-groves: Community -led environmental organizing by Santhals of eastern India. Environmental Communication DOI: 10.1080/17524032.2019.1585895. (link )
2019
Dutta, U. 2019. Conducting ethnographic research in low literate, economically weak underserved spaces: An introduction to iconic legisigns-guided interviewing (ILGI). International Journal of Qualitative Methods 18:1-12. DOI: 1609406919855279. (link )
Dutta, U. 2019. Design engagements at the margins of the global South: De-centering the "expert" within me. Sustainability 11(20):5675. DOI: 10.3390/su11205675. (link )
Dutta, U. 2019. Digital preservation of indigenous cultural and narratives from the global South: In search of an approach. Humanities 8(2):68. DOI: 10.3390/h8020068. (link )
Dutta, U. 2019. Sufi and Bhakti performers and followers at the margins of the global South: Communication strategies to negotiate situated adversities. Religions 10(3):206. DOI: 10.3390/rel10030206. (link )
Dutta, U., S. R. Ali and N. Ahmad. 2019. Relevance and values of Gandhi's and Backa Khan's moral education in negotiating?/addressing situated disparities of South Asia. Education Sciences 9(2):108. DOI: 10.3390/educsci9020108. (link )
2018
Dutta, U. 2018. Negotiating structural absences: Voices of indigenous subalterns of eastern India. Journal of Intercultural Communication Research 47(1):52-71. DOI: 10.1080/17475759.2017.1415952. (link )
Dutta, U., P. H. Cheong and R. Shuter. 2018. Contemporary gurus in Indian classrooms: Changing professorial authority and cultural tensions in managing digital connectivity. International Journal of Communication 12:1369-1388. (link )
Shuter, R., U. Dutta, P. Cheong, Y. Chen and J. Shuter. 2018. Digital behavior of university students in India and the U.S.: Cultural values and communication technologies In the classroom. Western Journal of Communication 82(2):160-180. DOI: 10.1080/10570314.2017.1294703. (link )
2017
Dutta, M. J., S. Sastry, S. Dillard, R. Kumar, A. Anaele, W. Collins, C. Roberson, U. Dutta, C. Jones, T. Gillespie and C. Spinetta. 2017. Narratives of stress in health meanings of African Americans in Lake County, Indiana. Health Communications 32(10):1241-1253. DOI: 10.1080/10410236.2016.1204583. (link )
Dutta, U. 2017. Adivasi media in India: Relevance in representing marginalized voices. International Communication Studies XXV(3):213-231. (link )
2016
Dutta, U. 2016. Adivasi media in India: Relevance and contribution in legitimizing marginalized voices. Intercultural Communications Studies XXV(3):213-231. (link )
Dutta, U. 2016. Designing for the underserved: My reflections. Design for All 11(12):13-20. (link )
Dutta, U. 2016. Designing for the underserved: My reflections. Design for All: Place-People-Purpose-Relevance 11(12):13-20. (link )
2015
Dutta, U. 2015. Questioning dominant development practices. The Journal of International Communication 21(2):169-188. DOI: 10.1080/13216597.2015.1052534. (link )
Dutta, U. and S. Das. 2015. The digital divide at the margins: Co-designing information solutions to address the needs of indigenous populations of rural India. Communication Design Quarterly Review 4(1):36-48. DOI: 10.1145/2875501.2875504. (link )
2013
Dutta, M. J. and U. Dutta. 2013. Voices of the poor from the margins of Bengal: Structural inequities and health. Qualitative Health Research 23(1):14-25. DOI: 10.1177/1049732312462241. (link )
Book Chapters
In Press
Dutta, U. Intercultural communication studies in India. International Encyclopedia of Intercultural Communication.
Dutta, U. and J. N. Martin. Sociological approaches to intercultural communication: exploring the ‘silent zones’. Pp. Chapter 10 In: Rings, G. and S. Rasinger eds., The Cambridge Handbook of Intercultural Communication. Cambridge University Press. ISBN: 9781108429696.
2019
Dutta, U. 2019. Development. Pp. 730-731 In: Sturman, J. ed., The SAGE International Encyclopedia of Music and Culture. SAGE Publications, Inc.. ISBN: 9781483317755 .
Dutta, U. 2019. Indigenous rights. Pp. 1173-1174 In: Sturman, J. ed., The SAGE International Encyclopedia of Music and Culture. SAGE Publications, Inc.. ISBN: 9781483317755.
2017
Dutta, U. and J. N. Martin. 2017. Theoretical perspectives in intercultural communication. In: Chen, L. ed., Intercultural Communication. Vol 9. De Gruyter. ISBN: 978-1-5015-0007-7.
Sen, S. and U. Dutta. 2017. They came by boat: The 2008 terrorist attack on Mumbai. Pp. 119-135 In: George, A. M. and K. Kwansah-Aidoo eds., Culture and Crisis Communication: Transboundary Cases from Nonwestern Perspective. John Wiley & Sons. Hobooken, NJ. ISBN: 978-1-119-00975-7.
2015
Dutta, U. 2015. Change-agentry. Pp. 45-46 In: Bennett, J. ed., The SAGE Encyclopedia of Intercultural Competence. SAGE Publications. Thousand Oaks, CA. DOI: 10.4135/9781483346267.n26.
Dutta, U. 2015. Design problems. In: Edwards, C. ed., The Bloomsbury Encyclopedia of Design. Bloomsbury Academic. ISBN: 978-1472521576.
Dutta, U. 2015. Social relations. In: Edwards, C. ed., The Bloomsbury Encyclopedia of Design. Bloomsbury Academic. ISBN: 978-1472521576.
2013
Dutta, M. J., S. Dillard, R. Kumar, S. Sastry, C. Jones, A. Anaele, U. Dutta, W. Collins, T. Okoror and C. Roberson. 2013. Relational tensions in academic-community partnerships in the culture-centered approach (CCA): Negotiating communication in creating spaces for voices. Pp. 457-478 Reducing Health Disparities: Communication Interventions. Peter Lang Publishing, Inc.. ISBN: 978-1433119057.