Global Digital Cultures: Perspectives from South Asia

Aswin Punathambekar, Sriram Mohan (eds.)

Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press (2019), viii, 317 pp.

Contains index

ISBN 978-0-472-13140-2 (hbk); 978-0-472-12531-9 (ebook)

"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." (Publisher description)

Introduction: Mapping Global Digital Cultures / Aswin Punathambekar and Sriram Mohan, 1
PART ONE: INFRASTRUCTURES
1 Politics of Algorithms, Indian Citizenship, and the Colonial Legacy / Payal Arora, 37
2 Digital Television in Digital India / Shanti Kumar, 53
3 Imagining Cellular India: The Popular, the Infrastructural, and the National / Rahul Mukherjee, 76
4 Bridging the Deepest Digital Divides: A History and Survey of Digital Media in Myanmar / Daniel Arnaudo, 96
PART TWO: PLATFORMS
5 Dating Applications, Intimacy, and Cosmopolitan Desire in India / Vishnupriya Das, 125
6 Anomalously Digital in South Asia: A Peri-Technological Project for Deaf Youth in Mumbai / Shruti Vaidya and Kentaro Toyama, 142
7 The Making of a Technocrat: Social Media and Narendra Modi / Joyojeet Pal, 163
8 Twitter as Liveness: #ShamedInSydney and the Paradox of Participatory Live Television / Sangeet Kumar, 184
PART THREE: PUBLICS
9 The Remediation of Nationalism: Viscerality, Virality, and Digital Affect / Purnima Mankekar and Hannah Carlan, 203
10 Clash of Actors: Nation-Talk and Middle-Class Politics on Online Media / Sahana Udupa, 223
11 Private Publics: New Media and Performances of Pakistani Identity from Party Videos to Cable News / Mobina Hashmi, 245
12 The Man on the Moon: A Semiotic Analysis of Scopic Regimes in Bangladesh / Muhammad Nabil Zuberi, 261
13 Media and Imperialism in the Global Village: A Case Study of Four Malalais / Wazhmah Osman, 280

Topics:

Digital Communication, Digital Media Digital Platforms & Intermediaries Transnational Communication

Countries:

Bangladesh India Myanmar / Burma Pakistan