Constantine Valenzuela Nakassis
Department of Anthropology, The University of Chicago
1126 E. 59th Street, Chicago, IL 60637 USA
email : cnakassi@uchicago.edu
Employment
• Assistant Professor (2012–)
The University of Chicago, Department of Anthropology
• Mellon Post-doctoral Fellow (2010–2012)
The University of Chicago, Department of Anthropology
Education
• PhD 2010 University of Pennsylvania, Department of Anthropology
• BA 2001 Magna Cum Laude, University of Pennsylvania, Double Major with distinctions — Psychology and Anthropology (concentration in Human Biology)
Research interests
Linguistic and cultural anthropology; Semiotics; Mass media; Film theory; Intellectual property law, brands, counterfeiting; youth culture; Tamil Nadu, India.
Books
• Nakassis, C. n.d. Onscreen/Offscreen, manuscript in preparation.
• Nakassis, C. 2016. Doing Style: Youth and Mass Mediation in South India. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. (Published April 2016); Hyderabad, India: Orient Blackswan (Published June 2016).
* *– Read the introduction here.
* * – Interview for CaMP Anthropology (5.16.2016).
* * – தி இந்துயில் ஒரு செய்தி/பேட்டி (7.25.2016)
* * – Review by Kathryn Hardy, Anthropological Quarterly 89(3):910–916 (Summer 2016)
* * – Review by Maitrayee Deka, Hong Kong Review of Books (8.4.2016)
* * – Review by Sneha Annavarapu, South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies 40(1):200–202 (Winter 2017)
* * – Review by Nalini Rajan, The Book Review (2.2.2017)
* * – Review by Shakuntala Banaji, Economic and Political Weekly 52(16):27–28 (April 21, 2017)
* * – Review by Adrian Athique, Visual Anthropology Review 33(2):207–208 (Fall 2017).
* * – Review by Veena Hariharan, Contributions to Indian Sociology 52(1):99–102 (Winter 2018).
Articles
• Nakassis, C. 2019 (in press). “The Ontological Politics of the Spoof Image in Tamil Cinema.” New Review of Film and Television Studies 17(4).
• Nakassis, C. and Amanda Weidman. 2018 (in press). “Vision, Voice, and Cinematic Presence.” differences 29(3).
• Nakassis, C. 2018. “Indexicality’s Ambivalent Ground.” Special Issue – (Meta)Semiosis and Social Life: Essays in Honor of Michael Silverstein, Signs and Society 6(1):281–304.
• Nakassis, C. 2017. “Rajini’s Finger, Indexicality, and the Metapragmatics of Presence.” Signs and Society 5(2):201–242.
• Nakassis, C. 2016. “Scaling Red and the Horror of Trademark.” In E. Summerson Carr and Michael Lempert, eds. Scale: Discourse and Dimension in Social Life. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, pp. 159–184. *** The entire volume is available for download here.***
• Nakassis, C. 2016. “Linguistic Anthropology in 2015: Not the Study of Language.” American Anthropologist 118(2):330–345.
• Nakassis, C. 2015. “A Tamil-speaking Heroine.” Bioscope 6(2):165-186.
• Nakassis, C. 2014. “Suspended Kinship and Youth Sociality in Tamil Nadu, India.” Current Anthropology 55(2):175–199. JSTOR
• Nakassis, C. 2014. “Realism, On and Off the Screen.” In Anand Pandian, ed. Subramaniyapuram: The Tamil Film in English Translation. Chennai: Blaft Publications, pp. 217–223.
• Nakassis, C. 2013. “Materiality, Materialization. A Comment on Hull, Matthew. 2012. Government of Paper. Berkeley: University of California Press.” HAU: Journal of Ethnographic Theory 3(3):399–406. pdf
• Nakassis, C. 2013. “The Quality of a Copy.” In T. Kuldova, ed. Fashion India: Spectacular Capitalism. Trondheim: Akademika forlag, pp. 142–165.
• Nakassis, C. and Llerena Searle. 2013. “Introduction: Social value projects in post-liberalisation India.” Contributions to Indian Sociology 47(2) (June):169-183,special issue, Social Value Projects in Post-liberalisation India (edited by C. Nakassis and Llerena Searle).
• Nakassis, C. 2013. “Youth Masculinity, ‘Style’, and the Peer Group in Tamil Nadu, India.” Contributions to Indian Sociology 47(2) (June):245-269, special issue, Social Value Projects in Post-liberalisation India (edited by C. Nakassis and Llerena Searle).
• Nakassis, C. 2013. “Para-s/cite, Part I. The Parasite.” The Semiotic Review (N.S.) 1 (May 2013). PDF
• Nakassis, C. 2013. “Para-s/cite, Part II. The Paracite.” The Semiotic Review (N.S.) 1 (June 2013). PDF
• Nakassis, C. 2013. “Citation and Citationality.” Signs and Society 1(1) (April):51-78.
• Nakassis, C. 2013. “Brand and Their Surfeits.” Cultural Anthropology, theme issue Brand Neoliberalism (edited by C. Nakassis), 28(1):111-126.
• Nakassis, C. 2013. “Introduction: Brand Neoliberalism.” Cultural Anthropology, theme issue Brand Neoliberalism (edited by C. Nakassis), 28(1):110.
• Nakassis, C. 2012. “Brand, Citationality, Performativity.” American Anthropologist 114(4):624-638.
• Nakassis, C. 2012. “Counterfeiting What? Aesthetics of Brandedness and BRAND in Tamil Nadu, India.” Anthropological Quarterly 85(3):701-722, Special Collection – Pirates and Piracy, Broadly Conceived.
• Nakassis, C. 2010. Youth and Status in Tamil Nadu, PhD thesis, University of Pennsylvania, Department of Anthropology.
• Nakassis, C. 2009. “Theorizing Realism Empirically.” New Cinemas 7(3): 211-235.
• Nakassis, C. and Dean, Melanie. 2007. “Desire, Youth, and Realism in Tamil Cinema.” Journal of Linguistic Anthropology. 17(1): 77-104.
• Nakassis, C. and Snedeker, Jesse. 2002. “Beyond Sarcasm: Intonation and Context as Relational Cues in Children’s Recognition of Irony.” In Proceedings-of-the-Annual-Boston-University-Conference-on-Language-Development. 26(2): 429-440.
• Nakassis, C. 1982. Solution, 6321. Amer. Math. Monthly, 89:505.
Translations
• Hart, Kausalya, Nakassis, C, and Pandian, Anand. 2014. “Subramaniyapuram: The Screenplay (by M. Sasikumar).” In Anand Pandian, ed. Subramaniyapuram: The Tamil Film in English Translation. Chennai: Blaft Publications, pp. 1–205.
Book Reviews
• Nakassis, C. 2015. Review of LaDousa, C. (2014) Hindi Is Our Ground, English Is Our Sky. New York: Berghahn Books. Journal of Linguistic Anthropology 25(3):358-360.
• Nakassis, C. 2015. Review of Clark- Decès, I. (2014) The Right Spouse: Preferential Marriages in Tamil Nadu. Stanford: Stanford University Press. Journal of Anthropological Research 71(2):268-270.
• Nakassis, C. 2012. Review of Annamalai, E. (2011) Social Dimensions of Modern Tamil. Chennai, India: Cre-A: . Journal of Linguistic Anthropology 22(3):261-263.
• Nakassis, C. 2012. Review of Sharma, N. (2010) Hip Hop Desis. Durham, NC: Duke University Press. Journal of Linguistic Anthropology 22(3):277-279.
• Nakassis, C. (2005) “Formalizing Context.” Review of Gauker, C. (2003) Words without Meaning. Cambridge, MA : MIT Press. Theory and Psychology . 15(1): 128-131.
Working Papers (email cnakassi@uchicago.edu for a copy of these papers)
• Nakassis, C. “Poetics of Praise and Cinematic Encompassment.” Working Papers of the Chicago Tamil Forum – Poesis/Politics of Language and Praise in Tamilagam (May 25-27, 2017). Version: 6.1.2017
• Nakassis, C. “Spoofs and the Politics of the Film Image’s Ontology in Tamil Cinema.” Working Papers of the Chicago Tamil Forum – Politics of Media, Media of Politics (May 19-21, 2016). Version: 12.15.2016
• Nakassis, C. “Bus Routes.”
Other
• “For Barney.” Remembrance and introduction read at Remembering John Bernard Bate (1960-2016), a memorial session of the Chicago Tamil Forum, May 20, 2016. (Also included in the .pdf are remembrances from Paul Friedrich, James Fernandez, E. Annamalai, Whitney Cox, Blake Wentworth, among others.)
Presentations
• “Citing and Being.” CNRS Seminar – Language practices as social practices – fieldwork, method, theory, at Le laboratoire de sciences du langage Structure et Dynamique des Langues (Unité Mixte de Recherche du CNRS, de l’INALCO et de l’IRD), Paris, France, June 8, 2018. (Invited talk)
• “The Hero’s Mass and the Ontological Politics of the Image in Tamil Cinema.” Chicago Tamil Forum – Mass Publicity and Politics in Tamilagam, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL May 24–26, 2018.
• “Image-Texts and Image-Acts of Presence and the Real.” Paper presented at the Inaugural Conference of the Society for Linguistic Anthropology, Philadelphia, PA, March 10, 2018.
• “Further Thoughts on ‘Linguistic Anthropology in 2015: Not the Study of Language.’ Plenary Session, “New Horizons In and For Linguistic Anthropology,” Inaugural Conference of the Society for Linguistic Anthropology, Philadelphia, PA, March 8, 2018.
• “Roundtable: Linguistic Anthropology in Asia.” Midwest Conference on Asian Affairs. University of Notre Dame, September 16, 2017.
• “Adulation and Encompassment in Tamil Cinema.” Langage et Société: Un dialogue entre Paris et Chicago.” University of Chicago Center in Paris, France, June 12–14, 2017. Video here.
• “Poetics of Praise and Cinematic Encompassment.” Chicago Tamil Forum – Poesis/Politics of Language and Space in Tamilagam, a workshop in honor of John Bernard Bate (1960–2016). May 25–27, 2017.
• “Horizons of Semiosis” (Commentary paper on the panel: Bounding Identities and Identifying Boundaries: Predestined Social Roles), Michicagoan Graduate Student Conference, Ann Arbor, MI, May 5–6, 2017.
• “The Hero’s Mass and the Ontological Politics of the Image in Tamil Cinema.” Paper presented at New York University, Media, Culture, and Communication department (invited), December 8, 2016; presented at Mass Culture Workshop, The University of Chicago, December 2, 2016; paper presented at Indiana University – Bloomington, March 9, 2017.
• Commentary on Webb Keane’s Ethical Life. American Anthropological Association, Minneapolis, MI, November 17, 2016.
• “Rajini’s Finger, Indexicality, and the Metapragmatics of Presence.” Paper presented to the Semiotics of the Image workshop (C. Nakassis – organizer), October 14–15, 2016.
• “Introduction: Opening Up the Indexicality of the Image, Again,” a roundtable at the Franke Institute of Humanities (C. Nakassis – organizer), October 13, 2016.
• Remembering John Bernard Bate (1960–2016), a memorial session of the Chicago Tamil Forum. Introductory comments and remembrances. May 20, 2016, The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL.
• “Spoofs and the Ontology of the Film Image in Tamil Cinema.” Paper presented at the Chicago Tamil Forum workshop (organizer, paper participant), University of Chicago, May 19–21, 2016.
• “Onscreen/Offscreen: Ontologies of the Image in South Indian Cinema.” Linguistic Anthropology Working Group, Department of Anthropology, University of California – Berkeley, December 4, 2015 (invited).
• “Identity / Quality, a commentary on Regimes of Iconicity.” Commentary paper for the panel “Regimes of Iconicity,” American Anthropological Association, Denver, CO, November 18, 2015.
• “Spoofs and the Politics of the Film Image’s Ontology in Tamil Cinema.” Paper presented for the panel, “Tamilness in Cinema: Deconstruction, Interrogation, and Entrenchment of Stereotypes,” Annual Conference on South Asia, Madison, WI, October 25, 2015.
• “Bus Routes.” Paper presented at the Chicago Tamil Forum workshop (organizer, paper participant), University of Chicago, May 21–23, 2015.
• “Item Numbers and the Ontology of the Image in Tamil Cinema.” Department of Anthropology and the South Asia Studies Program Colloquium, University of California – San Diego, April 13, 2015 (invited).
• “The Style of Tamil Youth Linguistic Practice, On and Off the Screen.” Workshop, Linguistic Anthropology interest group, University of California – San Diego, April 13, 2015 (invited).
• Roundtable discussant, Neoliberal Frontiers” (with Susan Gal, Michael Silverstein, and Susanne Cohen). Neoliberal Frontiers: Language and Political Economy Revisited, The University of Chicago, 6 March, 2015 (co-organizer with Andrew Graan and Susan Gal).
• “The Finger.” Paper presented for the panel: “Parsing the Body,” American Anthropological Association meetings, Washington, DC, December 4, 2014.
• “Bringing the Distant Voice Close: Language, Youth, and Belonging in Urban Tamil Nadu.” Tamil Studies Conference, The University of Toronto, May 17, 2014.
• “NEED FLUENCY”: English-Tamil Code-Mixing and the Double Voicing of Youth “Style.” ISLA Language and Linguistics Group, University of Notre Dame, March 21, 2014. (invited)
• “‘Item Numbers’ and the Performativity of the Image in Tamil Film.” Department of Anthropology, Liu Institute for Asia and Asian Studies, University of Notre Dame, March 20, 2014 (invited); presented at the Chicago Tamil Forum (May 29-31, 2014)
• “What is a brand that a nation could be one? And what is a nation that it could be branded?” Discussant paper presented for the panel: “Semiotics of Nation Branding,” American Anthropological Association meetings, Chicago, IL November 24, 2013.
• “The Horror of Trademark.” Paper presented for the panel: “The Pragmatics of Scale,” American Anthropological Association meetings, Chicago, IL November 21, 2013.
• “Symptomatic Interdiscursivity, Feeling, and the Time of Enregisterment.” Discussant paper for the panel: “Space, Scale, and Stratification.” Michicagoan Graduate Student Conference, Ann Arbor, MI May 11, 2013.
• “The Beyond of Parody.” Discussant paper for the panel: “Parody and Sincerity in Contemporary Political Culture.” AES/APLA Conference, Chicago, IL April 13, 2013.
• “Roundtable discussion: Trans-communications and the productions of sociality” (with Miyako Inuoue, Michael Fisch, and Phillip Grant). Trans-Science Conference, The University of Chicago, 15 December, 2012.
• “From English to Tamil on Music Television.” Paper presented at the Tamil Studies Workshop, The University of Chicago, 19 October 2012.
• “Disfluent Speech, Foreign Bodies: Femininity and Film in Tamil Nadu, India.” Paper presented at The Annual Conference on South Asia (Panel: Femininity, Transgression and Embodiment in Contemporary India), Madison, WI, 12 October 2012.
• “Ontology, Brand, Citationality: Brand and Brandedness in Tamil Nadu, India.” Paper presented at the European Association for Social Anthropology meetings, July 12, 2012, Nanterre, France.
• “Commenting on Uttering Others.” Discussant comments on the panel Uttering Others, Michicagoan Graduate Student Conference in Linguistic Anthropology,” University of Chicago, May 12, 2012.
• “Suspended Kinship and Youth Sociality in Tamil Nadu, India.” Paper presented at the Tamil Studies Workshop, The University of Chicago, 2 March 2012.
• “Item Numbers, Performativity, and the Ontology of the Filmic Image in South Indian Film.” Paper presented at Audible Intimacies: A Symposium on Song in South Indian Cinema, The University of Chicago, 16 February 2012; presented at the Berkeley Tamil Studies Conference, Berkeley California, 20–22 April 2012.
• “Hybrid performativities, English use, and youth peer groups in Tamil Nadu, India.” Paper presented at the American Anthropological Association Meetings, Montreal, 18 November 2011; presented at the Tamil Studies Workshop, The University of Chicago, 11 November 2011.
• “Classing, Middling, Spacing.” Commentary paper for the panel Spatial Practice and New Middle Classes: Situating Class in the Postcolonial City, Anthropological Association Meetings, Montreal, 19 November 2011.
• “The Aesthetics of Realisms: Between the “New Face” and the “Super Star.” Paper presented to Toronto Tamil Studies Conference, University of Toronto, May 14, 2011.
• “Brand Desires, Anxieties, Ignorances: Young Men’s Peer Groups and the Aesthetics of Brandedness in Tamil Nadu, India.” Paper presented to the Semiotics Workshop, University of Chicago, April 7, 2011.
• “Status through the Screen: Rethinking Realism in Tamil Commercial Cinema.” Paper presented to the University of Chicago, South Asia Languages and Civilization, March 10, 2011. (invited)
• “Youth Status, Style, and Branded Forms in South India.” Paper presented to the Chicago-area Consumer Culture Community (C4), DePaul University, March 4, 2011.
• “Status through the Screen: Audiences and Actors in Commercial Tamil Cinema.” Paper presented to the University of Chicago, Department of Anthropology, February 28, 2011. (invited)
• “Style, Brand, and Globalization in Tamil Nadu, India.” Paper presented to the University of Oklahoma, School of International and Area Studies. December 16, 2010. (invited)
• “Counterfeiting What? Aesthetics of Brandedness and BRAND in Tamil Nadu, India.” American Anthropological Association Meetings. (New Orleans, LA), November 17, 2010 (Panel: “Brands, Counterfeiting, Authenticity, Authority”; organized by Constantine V. Nakassis).
• “Youth Status and Hero-Oriented, Commercial Film in Tamil Nadu, India.” The Annual Conference on South Asia (Madison, WI), October 17, 2010 (Panel: “Media and New Technologies”).
• “Youth Masculinity, “Style” and the Brand in Tamil Nadu, India.” American Anthropological Association Meetings (Philadelphia, PA). December 5, 2009. (Panel: Self-fashioning Projects and Class Anxiety in Contemporary Urban India; organized by L. Searle, M. Dean, and C. Nakassis)
• “Notes on higher education in Madurai , Tamil Nadu.” College Education: Challenges of the Market, the Academia and the Political Society. (Centre for the Study of Culture and Society, Bangalore , India ). June 20–21, 2008.
• “Youth masculinity and style in Madurai , Tamil Nadu.” AIIS Junior Fellows Annual Conference (Gurgaon , India) January 7-8, 2008.
• “The meaningfulness of eating disorders.” Semiotics Workshop (University of Pennsylvania , Philadelphia , PA). December 11, 2001.
• “Beyond Sarcasm: Intonation and Context as Relational Cues in Children’s Recognition of Irony.” Annual-Boston-University-Conference-on-Language-Development (BUCLD, Fall 2001).