Towards A History Of Consumption In South Asia

This volume examines new ways of conceptualizing consumption historically in South Asia through a series of case studies on different commodities and consuming groups. It argues that notwithstanding the widespread character of poverty and the absence of a mass consumer society, consumptionpractices and attitudes about consumption have been critical factors in the constitution of South Asian society, culture, and economy since the late eighteenth century. The introduction examines patterns and trends; outlines the subject and arguments; and points to ways in which the collectionchallenges and enriches existing understandings of the subcontinent and its past.

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.

Now updated: An “eminently readable, highly engaging” anthology about the lives of ordinary citizens in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Sri Lanka (Margaret Mills, Ohio State University). For the second edition of this popular textbook, readings have been updated and new essays added. The result is a timely collection that explores key themes in understanding the region, including gender, caste, class, religion, globalization, economic liberalization, nationalism, and emerging modernities. New readings focus attention on the experiences of the middle classes, migrant workers, and IT professionals, and on media, consumerism, and youth culture. Clear and engaging writing makes this text particularly valuable for general and student readers, while the range of new and classic scholarship provides a useful resource for specialists.

At the beginning of the 21st century, alcoholism, transnational drug trafficking and drug addiction constitute major problems in various South Asian countries. The production, circulation and consumption of intoxicating substances created (and responded to) social upheavals in the region and had widespread economic, political and cultural repercussions on an international level. This book looks at the cultural, social, and economic history of intoxicants in South Asia, and analyses the role that alcohol and drugs have played in the region. The book explores the linkages between changing meanings of intoxicating substances, the making of and contestations over colonial and national regimes of regulation, economics, and practices and experiences of consumption. It shows the development of current meanings of intoxicants in South Asia – in terms of politics, cultural norms and identity formation – and the way in which the history of drugs and alcohol is enmeshed in the history of modern empires and nation states — even in a country in which a staunch teetotaller and active anti-drug crusader like Mohandas Gandhi is presented as the ‘father of the nation’. Primarily a historical analysis, the book also includes perspectives from Modern Indology and Cultural Anthropology and situates developments in South Asia in wider imperial and global contexts. It is of interest to scholars working on the social and cultural history of alcohol and drugs, South Asian Studies and Global History.

This book clarifies the crucial role of periodical press in the advance of colonial print cultures and public debates in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. The Colonial Periodical Press in the Indian and Pacific Ocean Regions is a venture of the International Group for Studies of Colonial Periodical Press of the Portuguese Empire (IGSCP-PE), which also invests in comparative studies and conceptual discussions. Moving around urban shores of the Indian and Pacific Oceans, it approaches the crucial role of periodical press in the development of colonial print cultures and public debates in these regions. By being mostly focused on press from spaces and peoples under the domain of the Portuguese Empire, it addresses a bibliographical gap in international discussions moved by the field. The outcome reflects an investment in offering decentred and de-nationalized approaches to the colonial print cultures and press histories under study, working as a platform for regional dialogues and comparative perspectives. The studies presented allow a better understanding of transits and connections of both an imperial and a trans-imperial nature, contributing to the consolidation of comparative approaches in the studies of European empires and colonialisms. This volume is indispensable for scholars and students in media studies, modern history, cultural studies, literary studies and political science.

This book brings together historical and ethnographic perspectives on Indian consumer identities. Through an in-depth analysis of local, regional, and national histories of marketing, regulatory bodies, public and domestic practices, this interdisciplinary volume charts the emergence of Indian consumer society and discusses commodity consumption as a main feature of Indian modernity. Nationalist discourse was shaped by moral struggles over consumption patterns that became a hallmark of middle-class identity. But a number of chapters demonstrate how a wide range of social strata were targeted as markets for everyday commodities associated with global lifestyles early on. A section of the book illustrates how a new group of professionals engaged in advertising trying to create a market shaped tastes and discourses and how campaigns provided a range of consumers with guidance on ‘modern lifestyles’. Chapters discussing advertisements for consumables like coffee and cooking oil, show these to be part of new public cultures. The ethnographic chapters focus on contemporary practices and consumption as a main marker of class, caste and community. Throughout the book consumption is shown to determine communal identities, but some chapters also highlight how it reshapes intimate relationships. The chapters explore the middle-class family, microcredit schemes, and metropolitan youth cultures as sites in which consumer citizenship is realised. The book will be of interest to readers from a range of disciplines, including anthropology, history, geography, sociology, South Asian studies, and visual cultures.

Economic liberalization and globalization in India in the early 1990s resulted in a whirlwind of consumerist activities. New material and visual temptations swamped the markets. Expanding field of commodification infiltrated consumer minds through media imageries. New objects of desire aroused inhibited cravings. This engendered an accelerated and intensified relationship with things and images that permeate our everyday lives. Consumerist Encounters elucidates how our all-consuming relationship with objects and their representations have transformed rapidly over the last few decades in contemporary urban India. It argues that ephemerality, frivolousness, and multiplicity of choice regulate our flirtatious encounters with commodities and their images as we restlessly use, exhaust, dispose, and move on. Such a trend is illustrated by examining a plethora of commodity-centric phenomena such as exclusion through apparel, eroticization of body images, population of the T-shirt surface with graphics and text, rise of business process outsourcing, instantaneous seeing and sharing of images, and rejection of material goods in junkyards and ruins. These explorations collectively shed light on the constant negotiation of our identities, statuses, and mobilities in the image-saturated commodity landscape.

What did advertising campaigns look like 100 years ago? How did early brands capture the imagination of Indian consumers? How deep are the roots of modern consumer behaviour in the country? Lux soaps, Jabakusum hair oil, Woodward's Gripe Water, Atlas Cycles, Dalda, Mafatlal Textiles - these evergreen brands have immortalized themselves by capitalizing on emerging trends for almost a hundred years. These popular brands as well as others lesser known (though equally iconic) can teach modern-day brands a thing or two about surviving in a market that is in constant flux. Focusing on a century bookended by two movements for independence, Branded in History draws readers into the fascinating story of how colonial Indian brands - both home-grown and foreign - were produced, distributed and marketed between 1847 and 1947, a time when branding as a concept was still in its infancy. From consumer goods to consumables, household utilities to toiletries, and heavy industries to medical supplies, this book explores the reasons behind the successes and failures of the earliest brands in the subcontinent, and presents valuable and relevant marketing lessons from an era gone by.