The Technopolitics of Communication in Modern India

This book offers a groundbreaking account of the role of media technologies in Indian nationalism and democracy. From the Brexit referendum in 2016 to the phenomenon of ‘Trumpism’, there has been much speculation about the role played by new media in an apparent return of illiberal politics and primordial identities. Dhital argues these developments could best be understood by not taking identity for granted as a static and exclusive form of affiliation. She also emphasises how the technical and material are interwoven into human thought and action rather than acting upon them externally. She accordingly focuses on the technopolitical means by which groups have been ventriloquised during critical periods in Indian political history, across various media – from newspapers and magazines to radio broadcasts, speeches and online platforms. Chapters cover prison writing produced during the emergency of 1975-77, regulation of public speech during the 2014 general election, and the Citizenship Amendment Act protests of 2019-20. Through these case studies, Dhital works towards an alternative, more reflexive, basis for popular representation, one that does not sacralise ‘the people’ and assume power in their name.