Narrative Conflicts in Indian Media

This book examines how Indian identities are portrayed and mobilized in media narratives that trace back to colonial history, and which continue into contemporary politics, exploring how diverse identities within India relate to one another, and how the nation positions itself in relation to the West.

Selected to cover a range of identity conflicts that captured news attention during the early to mid-2020s, the book presents case studies that focus on media portrayal of selected religious, nationalist, racial, ethnic, caste, and gendered conflicts concerning Indians, particularly in the context of resurgent Hindu nationalism. Chapters are based on mediated narrative contestations on diverse platforms, including mainstream news outlets, alternative smaller news outlets, YouTube influencers, and WhatsApp or Telegram groups. These issues include debates about shifting gender dynamics and growing consumerism in society; regime change and Sheikh Hasina in Bangladesh; India-Canada diplomatic tensions over Sikh separatism and hate speech; growing attention to caste discrimination (particularly in US universities); Indophobia from the West; and the men’s rights movement which calls for a holistic understanding of gender, including children’s rights and fathers’ rights. The book ultimately demonstrates that peacetime contestations share essential elements of wartime propaganda, with such propaganda playing a role in the realization of neo-imperial strategic goals.

Contributing to the growing but fragmented study of how globalization and nationalism interact globally, this book will be of interest to scholars and researchers of postcolonial studies, international communication, political communication, globalization, social movements and South Asian Studies.