Christiane Brosius

The Politics of Representations in Hindu Nationalism (Anthem South Asian Studies)

Empowering Visions

This new study looks at the crucial role played by audiovisual media in Hindu cultural nationalism. The application of new media technology in the context of the construction of 'Indianness' by Hindutva's main political wing, the Bharatiya Janata Party (Party of the Indian People, BJP), is a fascinating example of in-house indoctrination and emotive mobilization that demands critical attention.

The Politics of Representation in Hindu Nationalism

This book examines the complexities of lifestyles of the upwardly mobile middle classes in India in the context of economic liberalisation in the new millennium, by analysing new social formations and aspirations, modes of consumption and ways of being in contemporary urban India. Rich in ethnographic material, the work is based on empirical case-studies, research material, and illustrations. Offering a model of how urban cosmopolitan India might be studied and understood in a transnational and transcultural context, the book takes the reader through three panoramic landscapes: new ‘world-class’ real estate advertising, a unique religious leisure site — the Akshardham Cultural Complex, and the world of themed weddings and beauty/wellness, all responses to India’s new middle classes’ tryst with cosmopolitanism. The work will be of particular interest to scholars and researchers in sociology, South Asian studies, media studies, anthropology and urban studies as also those interested in religion, performance and rituals, diaspora, globalisation and transnational migration.

New Forms of Urban Leisure, Consumption and Prosperity

India’s Middle Class

Roland Wenzlhuemer

Today, hardly anything moves as fast across the globe as images and media. This fact opens new avenues to explore social and cultural change, but also poses new theoretical challenges of how to grasp and better understand these changes and flows. Moreover, such movements across geophysical and cultural borders have a historical depth that enables us to explore globalisation and localisation in new ways. Transculturality is still a relatively new field of research in the Humanities through which we sharpen our competence and ‘literacy’ to come to terms with the complexity of globalised cultures. This volume ventures into new domains of research on the transculturality of images and addresses the need to develop new or modify established often ethno- and Eurocentric interpretations of what happens when images travel. It does so by bringing together cutting-edge research from fields such as art history, cultural anthropology, colonial history, Islamic studies, religious studies and literary criticism.

Towards a Multi-Sited Reading of Image Flows

Transcultural Turbulences

Ute Husken

This book explores the interaction of rituals and ritualised practices utilising a cross-cultural approach. It discusses whether and why rituals are important today, and why they are possibly even more relevant than before.

Christiane Brosius

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