The Indian Public Sphere (Hardcover)

Arvind Rajagopal

ISBN 10: 019806103X / ISBN 13: 9780198061038

Published by OUP India, New Delhi, 2009

About this Item

Hardcover. The reader is part of the prestigious Themes in Politics series, which presents essays on important issues in the study of political science and Indian politics. It examines the role of the media in India's history and development, bringing together a collection of essays on its interplay with politics, society and culture. The book surveys the range of communication media in India and shows how their regulation and use has developed from the pre-independence period to the end of the twentieth century. This innovative and critical selection of essays has been organized thematically; the discussion moves from the public sphere in colonial times to the development era, the rise of the vernacular media, the impact of television and the emergence of newer forms of media like the Internet in the 1990s. The readings cover a range of disciplines, from history to political science and anthropology, and have been written by experts in the field. The reader will be of interest to students and scholars of Indian politics and governance, media and culture studies, sociology as well as the informed lay reader. This volume examines the media in the Indian public sphere and its interplay with politics, society and culture, and analyzes its transition from the colonial to the post-colonial period Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability.

Seller Inventory # 9780198061038

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Indian Public Sphere (Hardcover)
• Publisher: OUP India, New Delhi
• Publication Date: 2009
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 019806103X
• ISBN 13: 9780198061038
• Binding: Hardcover
• Condition: new

About this title

Synopsis

Part of the Themes in Politics series, this volume examines the emergence of the Indian public sphere and its interplay with politics, society, and culture. It surveys a wide range of communication media contributing to this development--oral, print, radio, television, cinema, and the Internet--through an analysis of the transition from the colonial to the postcolonial period.

The essays in this volume show that mediation is a social process that extends beyond 'the media' and must be understood as a component of historical dynamics. They explore a wide range of historical and political mediations--from the use of the drum and buffalo horn as instruments of peasant insurgency against the British, and early Hindi pulp fiction, to socio-political implications of advertising, Hindu tele-epics, saas-bahu serials and the Internet.

Identifying the continuities and changes in media from an interdisciplinary perspective, the essays are organized into four themes--the formation of a colonial public sphere; the emergence of a national popular domain; transformations in national developmentalism; and emergent orders such as consumerism and digital culture. A comprehensive introduction provides an understanding of Indian media through the analytical framework of the public sphere.

Topical and illuminating, this volume will appeal to students and scholars of Indian politics and governance, media and culture studies, journalism, history, and sociology, as well as the lay reader.

About the Author

Arvind Rajagopal is Professor in the Departments of Media, Culture and Communication, Sociology, and Social and Cultural Analysis at the Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development at New York University.