Table Of ContentThe Indian Public Sphere
The Themes in Politics series presents essays on important issues in
the study of political science and Indian politics. Each volume in the
series brings together the most significant articles and debates on an
issue, and contains a substantive introduction and bibliography.
OTHER BOOKS IN THE SERIES
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Asha Sarangi (ed.)
Globalization and Politics in India
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Hindu Nationalism and Governance
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(Oxford India Paperbacks)
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The Indian Public Sphere
Readings in Media History
edited by
Arvind Rajagopal
1
1
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4
Contents
List of Illustrations, Tables, and Charts ix
Preface xi
Acknowledgements xv
Publisher’s Acknowledgements xvii
List of Abbreviations xix
Introduction 1
The Public Sphere in India: Structure and Transformation
Arvind Rajagopal
PART I: FORMATION OF A COLONIAL PUBLIC SPHERE
1. Transmission 31
Ranajit Guha
2. The Indian Ecumene: An Indigenous Public Sphere 49
C.A. Bayly
3. The Politics of Popular Images: From Cow Protection 65
to M.K. Gandhi, 1890–1950
Christopher Pinney
vi Contents
4. Obtaining Moral Consensus in a Law and Order 88
Society: Indian Responses
Rajeev Dhavan
PART II: THE NATIONAL POPULAR
5. Redefining Obscenity and Aesthetics in Print 101
Charu Gupta
6. The Hindi Political Sphere 121
Francesca Orsini
7. ‘Women-Oriented’ Narratives and the New Indian Woman 135
Purnima Mankekar
8. Who is it that is Singing? Shot–Music–Speech 151
Aniket Jaaware
PART III: NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT AND
MEDIATIC INFRASTRUCTURE
9. The Mahatma Didn’t Like the Movies and Why it 171
Matters: Indian Broadcasting Policy, 1920s–1990s
Robin Jeffrey
10. ‘Subliminal Charge’: How Hindi-Language Newspaper 188
Expansion Affects India
Peter G. Friedlander, Robin Jeffrey, and Sanjay Seth
11. A ‘Split Public’ in the Making and Unmaking of the 207
Ram Janmabhumi Campaign
Arvind Rajagopal
12. Forging Public Opinion: The Press, Television, and 228
Electoral Campaigns in Andhra Pradesh
G. Krishna Reddy
PART IV: EMERGENT ORDERS: LOCALIZATION,
CONSUMERISM, DIGITAL CULTURE
13. Close Distance: Constructing ‘the Indian Consumer’ 247
William Mazzarella
Contents vii
14. Local News Gatherers 260
Sevanti Ninan
15. Globalization, Sexuality, and the Visual Field: Issues 278
and Non-issues for Cultural Critique
Mary E. John
16. Internet in India 291
K. Gopinath
17. Call Centre Conundrum 312
D. Wood
Appendix: Literacy, Print, Radio, and Television Growth
1941–2006 320
Select Bibliography 329
Notes on Contributors 337
4
Illustrations, Tables, and Charts
ILLUSTRATIONS
3.1: Photographic montage of Gandhi embodying 78
other figures of political potency, c. mid-1940s,
central India
3.2: Jay Hind, photographic montage of Subhash 79
Chandra Bose, Gandhi and others, c. mid-1940s,
central India
3.3: Gandhi reveals his true allegations to B.K. Dutt, 81
c. 1931. Just as Hanuman, the monkey-god tears
open his chest to reveal his allegiance to his master,
the god Ram, so here Gandhi tears open his (inferior)
peaceful exterior to reveal his faith in revolutionary
struggle
3.4: Mata ka Bandhan Mochan, late 1940s. Rising Art 83
Cottage, Calcutta. Bose accepts Bhavani’s sword,
repeating earlier imagery in which Shivaji received
the same sword
3.5: The ten avatars of Subhash Chandra Bose, c. 1950 86
x Illustrations, Tables, and Charts
TABLES
4.1: Offences by Publication in the Indian Penal Code 96
10.1: Daily Newspaper Circulation, Literacy, and India’s 190
Population, 1961–98
12.1: Population Change in Andhra Pradesh and 233
Newspaper Change in Telugu, 1961–91
A Table 1: Literacy and Media Growth, 1941–2006 324
CHARTS
A Chart 1: Readership Growth versus Television Viewership 320
Growth, 1977–2001
A Chart 2: Growth in Print, Radio, and Television and in 321
Literacy, 1941–2001
A Chart 3: Growth in Population versus Growth in Literary, 321
1941–2005
A Chart 4: Growth in Readership and in Literacy, versus 322
Population Growth, 1941–2005
A Chart 5: Growth in Newspaper Readership and Television 322
Viewership versus Growth in Population and in
Literacy, 1941–2005
A Chart 6: Growth in Newspaper Circulation versus Estimated 323
Readership, 1941–2005
