Culture and Politics in South Asia

Culture and Politics in South Asia
Author: Dev Nath Pathak
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Total Pages: 274
Release: 2017-07-20
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1351656139

This volume looks at the politics of communication and culture in contemporary South Asia. It explores languages, signs and symbols reflective of current mythologies that underpin instances of performance in present-day India and its neighbouring countries. From gender performances and stage depictions to protest movements, folk songs to cinematic reconstructions and elections to war-torn regions, the chapters in the book bring the multiple voices embedded within the grand theatre of popular performance and the cultural landscape of the region to the fore. Breaking new ground, this work will prove useful to students and researchers in sociology and social anthropology, art and performance studies, political studies and international relations, communication and media studies and culture studies.

Politics in South Asia

Politics in South Asia
Author: Siegfried O. Wolf
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 223
Release: 2014-11-10
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 3319090879

The book introduces central themes that have preoccupied the field of South Asian politics over the last few decades and identifies new, emerging areas of research. Presenting both general political theory and context-specific case studies, the collection draws attention to the methodological challenges of working on an area-specific theme and the importance of generating generalizable insights linked to theory. Hence it will be of interest for political scientists working on South Asian politics as well as on other non-Western societies. The collection represents an unusually broad survey of scholarship emerging from a range of leading academic centres in the field.

Government and Politics in South Asia

Government and Politics in South Asia
Author: Robert C Oberst
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 344
Release: 2018-04-19
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 0429974841

This comprehensive but accessible text provides students with a systematic introduction to the comparative political study of the leading nations of South Asia: India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Nepal. The seventh edition is extensively revised and updated, benefiting from the fresh perspective brought on by adding a new author to the team. New material includes discussions of political parties and leaders in India, the Zardari regime and changes to the Pakistani constitution, the rocky relationship between Pakistan and the Obama administration, new prospects and dangers facing Bangladesh, continuing political violence in Sri Lanka, and the troubles facing Nepal as it attempts to draft a new constitution. Organized in parallel fashion to facilitate cross-national comparison, the sections on each nation address several topical areas of inquiry: political culture and heritage, government structure and institutions, political parties and leaders, conflict and resolution, and modernization and development. A statistical appendix provides a concise overview of leading demographic and economic indicators for each country, making Government and Politics in South Asia an invaluable addition to courses on the politics of South Asia

Modern South Asia

Modern South Asia
Author: Sugata Bose
Publisher: Psychology Press
Total Pages: 276
Release: 2004
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780415307871

A wide-ranging survey of the Indian sub-continent, Modern South Asia gives an enthralling account of South Asian history. After sketching the pre-modern history of the subcontinent, the book concentrates on the last three centuries from c.1700 to the present. Jointly written by two leading Indian and Pakistani historians, Modern South Asia offers a rare depth of understanding of the social, economic and political realities of this region. This comprehensive study includes detailed discussions of: the structure and ideology of the British raj; the meaning of subaltern resistance; the refashioning of social relations along lines of caste class, community and gender; and the state and economy, society and politics of post-colonial South Asia The new edition includes a rewritten, accessible introduction and a chapter by chapter revision to take into account recent research. The second edition will also bring the book completely up to date with a chapter on the period from 1991 to 2002 and adiscussion of the last millennium in sub-continental history.

Tolerance, Secularization and Democratic Politics in South Asia

Tolerance, Secularization and Democratic Politics in South Asia
Author: Humeira Iqtidar
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 227
Release: 2018-07-19
Genre: History
ISBN: 1108428541

Offers fresh perspectives on the relationship between secularization, tolerance and democracy through a theoretically informed look at South Asian politics.

Humour and the Performance of Power in South Asia

Humour and the Performance of Power in South Asia
Author: Sasanka Perera
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Total Pages: 184
Release: 2022-01-25
Genre: Humor
ISBN: 1000535401

This book critically examines the role and politics of humour and the performance of power in South Asia. What does humour do and how does it manifest when lived political circumstances experience ruptures or instability? Can humour that emerges in such circumstances be viewed as a specific narrative on the nature of democracy in the region? Drawing upon essays from India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, this volume discusses many crucial historical and contemporary themes, including dance-drama performances in northern India; caste and stand-up comedy in India; cartoon narratives of citizens’ anxieties; civic participation through social media memes in Sri Lanka; media, politics and humorous public in Bangladesh; the politics of performance in India; and the influence of humour and satire as political commentaries. The volume explores the impact of humour in South Asian folklore, ritual performances, media and journalism, and online technologies. This topical and interdisciplinary book will be essential for scholars and researchers of cultural studies, political science, sociology and social anthropology, media and communication studies, theatre and performance studies, and South Asian studies.

Culture, Conflict and the Military in Colonial South Asia

Culture, Conflict and the Military in Colonial South Asia
Author: Kaushik Roy
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Total Pages: 228
Release: 2017-08-25
Genre: History
ISBN: 1351584529

This book offers diverse and original perspectives on South Asia’s imperial military history. Unlike prevailing studies, the chapters in the volume emphasize both the vital role of culture in framing imperial military practice and the multiple cultural effects of colonial military service and engagements. The volume spans from the early East India Company period through to the Second World War and India’s independence, exploring themes such as the military in the field and at leisure, as well as examining the effects of imperial deployments in South Asia and across the British Empire. Drawing extensively on new archival research, the book integrates previously disparate accounts of imperial military history and raises new questions about culture and operational practice in the colonial Indian Army. This work will be of interest to scholars and researchers of modern South Asian history, war and strategic studies, military history, the British Empire, as well as politics and international relations.

Media as Politics in South Asia

Media as Politics in South Asia
Author: Sahana Udupa
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Total Pages: 235
Release: 2017-07-14
Genre: Art
ISBN: 1351972219

From the puzzling liberalization of media under military dictatorship in Pakistan to the brutal killings of journalists in Sri Lanka, and the growing influence of social media in riots and political protests in India, Nepal and Bangladesh, the chapters analyse some of the most important developments in the media fields of contemporary South Asia. Attentive to colonial histories as well as connections within and beyond South Asia in the age of globalization, the chapters combine theoretically grounded studies with original empirical research to unravel the dynamics of media as politics.

Global Digital Cultures

Global Digital Cultures
Author: Aswin Punathambekar
Publisher: University of Michigan Press
Total Pages: 327
Release: 2019-06-06
Genre: Computers
ISBN: 0472125311

Digital media histories are part of a global network, and South Asia is a key nexus in shaping the trajectory of digital media in the twenty-first century. Digital platforms like Facebook, WhatsApp, and others are deeply embedded in the daily lives of millions of people around the world, shaping how people engage with others as kin, as citizens, and as consumers. Moving away from Anglo-American and strictly national frameworks, the essays in this book explore the intersections of local, national, regional, and global forces that shape contemporary digital culture(s) in regions like South Asia: the rise of digital and mobile media technologies, the ongoing transformation of established media industries, and emergent forms of digital media practice and use that are reconfiguring sociocultural, political, and economic terrains across the Indian subcontinent. From massive state-driven digital identity projects and YouTube censorship to Tinder and dating culture, from Twitter and primetime television to Facebook and political rumors, Global Digital Cultures focuses on enduring concerns of representation, identity, and power while grappling with algorithmic curation and data-driven processes of production, circulation, and consumption.

Popular Culture and the State in East and Southeast Asia

Popular Culture and the State in East and Southeast Asia
Author: Nissim Otmazgin
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 233
Release: 2013-03-01
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1136622950

This volume examines the relations between popular culture production and export and the state in East and Southeast Asia including the urban centres and middle-classes of Taiwan, South Korea, Japan, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, China, Thailand, and the Philippines. It addresses the shift in official thinking toward the role of popular culture in the political life of states brought about by the massive circulation of cultural commodities and the possibilities for attaining "soft power". In contrast to earlier studies, this volume pays particular attention to the role of states and cross-state cultural interactions in these processes. It is the first major attempt to look at these issues comparatively and to provide an important corrective to the limitations of existing scholarship on popular culture in Asia that have usually neglected its political aspects. As part of this move, the essays in this volume suggest a widening of disciplinary perspectives. Hitherto, the preponderance of relevant studies has been in cultural and media fields, anthropology or history. Here the contributors explicitly draw on other disciplinary perspectives – political science and international relations, political economy, law, and policy studies – to explore the complex interrelationships between the state, politics and economics, and popular culture. This book will be of interest to students and scholars of Asian culture, society and politics, the sociology of culture, political science and media studies.