IIM Udaipur is the First Indian B-School to set up a Consumer Culture Lab

• Indian Institute of Management Udaipur announced the virtual launch of its ‘Consumer Culture Lab’ on November 7^th, 2020
• Webinar to officially launch the Consumer Culture Lab followed by a talk on the topic: “Return to Laughter:  Comedy Culture in India” by Dr.Vijay Parthasarathy

November 05^th,2020; Udaipur:Indian Institute of Management Udaipur announced the virtual launch of its ‘Consumer Culture Lab’ to foster consumer culture research in India.The launch of the Consumer Culture Lab and webinar on “Return to Laughter:  Comedy Culture in India”is scheduled for 7^th November 2020 at6:30 pm – 8:30 pm IST. 

This Lab has been setup by esteemed faculty and researchers associated with the institute to cater to the growing global demand for research on Indian consumers. Talking about his vision behind setting up this lab, Prof. Julien Cayla, Advisor, Consumer Culture Lab said, “I have always believed that more anthropologically-oriented approaches could benefit a wide range of people and organizations in India including government, companies, and students.” The Lab aims to bringtogether perspectives from anthropology, sociology and psychology into consumer research in India, enablingstudents, academicians and industry professionals to develop a more holistic and nuanced understanding of Indian consumers.

Inviting academics, alumni and industry experts to the launch, Prof. Janat Shah, Director, IIM Udaipur said,“The Consumer Culture Lab is a reflection of IIM Udaipur’s efforts to develop an ecosystem where creative research and diversity of thought can thrive. A unique initiative in B-schools across the country, this Lab bridges the knowledge gap and initiates a conversation on consumer culture and qualitative research in India.”The B-school aspires to create and disseminate knowledge for both the academic and non-academic researchers interested in understanding Indian consumers, he added.

The webinar ‘Return to Laughter: Comedy Culture in India’ will be held by Dr. Vijay Parthasarathy, a cultural strategist and commercial semiotician with a PhD from the University of Texas at Austin.Vijay has done extensive ethnography on stand-up comedy in India and will talk about the history of comedy in Indian culture, and the role of stand-up comedy in shaping global modernity. 

The launch will be flagged off by the core team behind the lab, including Prof. Janat Shah (Director of IIMU), Prof. Julien Cayla (Advisor of the Consumer Culture Lab), Prof. Rajesh Nanarpuzha(Faculty at IIMU), Prof. Tanvi Gupta (Faculty at IIMU), and Ms Rupali Kapoor (Research Officer at the Consumer Culture Lab). The team will also introducethe Lab’sinitiatives.

For more information, and to register for the launch event, visit: https://cclab.iimu.ac.in/launch/