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  • The Book Review On Arvind Rajagopal (Ed.) The Indian Public Sphere

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    Arvind Rajagopal
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    Book review by Amir Ali of The Indian Public Sphere edited by Arvind Rajagopal

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    The Book Review on Arvind Rajagopal (ed.) The Indian Public Sphere

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    Book review by Amir Ali of The Indian Public Sphere edited by Arvind Rajagopal

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    37 tayangan3 halaman

    The Book Review On Arvind Rajagopal (Ed.) The Indian Public Sphere

    Diunggah oleh

    Arvind Rajagopal
    Book review by Amir Ali of The Indian Public Sphere edited by Arvind Rajagopal

    Hak Cipta:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Unduh sebagai PDF atau baca online dari Scribd
    Tandai sebagai konten tidak pantas
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    ty ILL iversi Columbia Uni 2 8 s 3 8 8 ILLiad TN: Borrower: ZYU Patron: Lending String: *ZCU.MNU,CUY,GZM,WAU,VA@,HLS,HUH, YF Aging Date: 20150312 Journal Title: The Book review. Volume: XXXIV Issue: Month/Year: 2010 Page: wer |{-|2. Article Author: Amir Ali Article Title: How Inclusive is the Public Sphere? Imprint: [New Delhi, India, C. Chari for Perspect ILL Number: 144724026 {OO 0A Call # Z1035.A1 B59 Location: Butler Stacks Folios ODYSSEY ENABLED Maxcost: 50.001FM Shipping Address New York University Bobst Library, ILL, LL2-33B 70 Washington Square South New York, NY 10012 Fax: 212-995-4071 Ariel: no Odyssey: 128.122.149.123 Email: il@library.nyu.edu NOTICE: THIS MATERIAL MAY BE PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT LAW (TITLE 17 U.S. CODE) 6€ Professor Sharma's contribution to our understanding of early Indian social history has been that of a pioneer, to say the least. Beyond the profusion of dates and kings that marked the work of many nationalist historians, the work of Sharma, like that of D.D. Kosambi before him, opened up the discussion of history to include an analysis of the structures of exploitation, of the life of the lower classes, and transitions between social formations. yy Seudies in Ancient Polity’ provides discs sions on every nationalist historian, from AS. Altekar onwards, who authored a monograph fon ancient Indian polity. Once again, his historiographical critique could have been extended further. ‘Given that the essays have been collated from a range of eatler books, radabilsy and consistency could have been ensured by. editorial interventions, especialy in terms of ints, As, in the “Early Seudy of Oriental Desporisn, the footnotes simply do ot match the information inthe text. Rferenccs tothe present book’ or ‘the chapters that follow’ offen continue unaltered from the ealer context ofthese sy Besides, there area number of printers devil which see to confse more than they explain. Thus, on p. 75, the word ‘opponents curs instead of the moe acute “ompo nent p. 76 refer rather mystiingly to “theoretical ieigaton “Tere i ao much that could have been updated given the continuing evolution ofthe dlsciplne of history. ‘Main Trends in Indian History’ is meant to provide an overview of approaches tothe study of Indian history, yet it stops curiously, at 1957! “Historiography of the Ancient Social Order’ laments the absence ‘of work on slaves, untouchables and women in aancint Indian history—a situation that no longer hold tru given the expanding domain ‘of social history. Consequendy, some of the ‘essays appear dated. A casein poine is ‘Stages in Ancient Economy’ which provides the following analysis ofthe Harappan civilia tion: From the material point of view the chicf cause of the disappearance of the Harappa culture (sic) seems to have been the “stagnation which i evident throughout its ‘existence... At the end of this period ie goos ‘out of history practically unwept and unsung During this long period the Indus people do not make any creative or orginal contribution to the farther progres of materi lif... The How Inclusive Is The Public Sphere? Amir Ali ‘THE INDIAN PUBLIC SPHERE: READINGS IN MMEDIA HISTORY Ecited by Arvind Rajagopal ‘Oxford Univesity Press, Del 2009, pp. 1x + 338, Rs, 750.00 T: od volume attempes to capeure the particular and indeed very peculiar characteristics of the public sphere in India, There isa constant juxtaposing of the rational ordrlinese of the Habermasian public sphere to the seemingly more chaotic, raucous quality ofthe Indian public sphere. The ‘opening section of the book coneains four selections that inform us about the colonial construction of the Indian public sphere. The later pare of the book, which is itself divided ino four setions highlight and bring out developments ofthe public sphere, in the post-Independence decades of the 1950s, 605, 70s and 80s. The last section has a number of csays which analyse changes that have arisen with «wo decades of liberalization in the 1990s and the opening decade of the 21st century. “Three important phacs in debate around the public sphere emerge: (the eolonial era agains which as posted nascent nationsl- ism: (i the pos-adependence decades ofthe 50s tothe 80s; and (i) the more recent evo decades of liberation. To each of these phases canbe linked three distinc themes: {0 nationalism, (i) sate driven develop- rentals, and (il) a marke driven prolifer tion ofthe media. All thee periods and their dscnctive themes have diferent implications far the development ofthe public sphere. Ia the fist evo one finds a constced formation ofthe publi sphere and inthe last one finds the opposite extreme ofa masive prolifera: tion, expecially ofthe elecronic media “The atempe to cara che dsinciveness ofthe Indian public sphere probably explains The Book Review / March 2010/11 theory tha the Aryans destroyed the sites of Harappan culture looks plausible, and is becoming increasingly popula’ (p. 142) In the decades thar have pasted since the orginal publication ofthis esay, both the growing body of archaeological research as well a Sharmas own work on the issue have done much to contradict bath the idea ofa ‘static Harappan civilization as well asthe Aryan invasion thesis Professor Shatma’s work has received ‘much adulation; i¢ has also been at the receiving end of eiticism and caricaturization. These essays show, once again, chat there is much to be leant from his work, so long as any attempt at reading does not forego the critical approach, However, it is not lear whether this book is intended for new students, who might find themselves confused by the overlapping mass of del ‘On the other hand, those already acquainted with his work wil not find anything drama cally new to intrest them. These esays can ive you a sense of the scholarship that went ineo them, but the arrangement, and the problems mentioned earlier made one wish that the entire production had been organized better. This would have done better justice to the ideas and scholarship of one of the most significant historians of early India, Meera Visvanathan sa student of the Ph.d programme atthe Cente for Historical Studies, School of Social Sciences, Jawaharial Netra University, New Deli Sint ai rossi Cate) RO Atta the decision to include C.A. Bayly’ essay where, rather than contrasting, Bayly argues that elements of the Habermaian public sphere ‘had analogues within the north Indian C what this volume successfully does is to evoke the distinct flavour of the Indian public sphere. Christopher Pinney’s essay captures the familiar presence of images of revolutionaries like Bhagat Singh ‘and Chandra Shekhar Azad, their ‘historical trace’ existing ‘in India’s public spaces rather than in institutional archives’ (p. 69). yy cumene (p51). The dsordriness of the Indian public phere and is insrreconary poten is apured in Ranjit Gb ay inthis volume where he dicuses how rumour i beth a win and meceary carer of ingen in ay pre indus pre-literate society’ (p. 36). Subsequently, the Gisapive role thar could playin spreading and multiplying rumour i capared by Robin Jey exay where e decries ow radio wat dicouraged in pon-ndepen- dence India a it ‘ame tobe regarded 38 having ail the potenti of word-of mouth rumour and steer corer rabble sing 1 ince discon and viene” (p.179 Tnpite ofthe unre and apparent son amen to any kind of oder, Arvind Rajegpal sificane pine in his ineoduc tion othe volume i he csi that was brought ro the poli proces inthe public sphere, ithe dough the onpnized coercion of ealona er author in the pe-Indepen- dese jent de pated year the mains impetive for development Uringing abou the sine frelosng of debate (p10). The foelnieof debate hat given vy the unresticed market driven rowh (i the welling wo a cease oes vin cing rs ei “lage and imporane theme in tls sx ofthe eventeen sections that make up this volume the rle of Hind at national lnngige und he consent craton of parila Lind of public sphere. Franca Onin als about the hirrchy creed beeen English tthe language felons public inition and how now coniuionsl ‘eiation pois would often rely on ind (Pp. 133-134). Chane Gpea als about how aoc section ofthe Hindu middlecas Tea of UP ied wo fashion 2 new collcive iden foil from the Lae nineteenth century and how an imporan rand of Hind literate wat eto the ation andthe szerion of ciation and pride (105) Robin Jefe in his piece on Indian Broadating Poly fom the 19205 co the 1990s argues thatthe flare to create a sr0n5 broadeating policy led to the fcbe dvelop- sent of radio This explain the inability © develop a srong national language that would act at link language. Jey makes his point by conrastng Ind ure inthis ear to the suces tha the Philipines and Indonesia din reaing 2 national language peciely trcause ofa grener emphasis on radio and ‘roadcasing (p. 172). Peer G. Friedlander, Robin Jefey and Sanjay Seth wet onthe phenomenal expansion of Hindi newspapers. Significandy, this explosion is more about the ‘vernacular Hind pres rahe chan the Called ‘national’ Engh pees. “The analysis ofthe expansion of he Hind pres des in wid Arvind Rajagopal’ analysis of the manne in which the Ramjanambhumi movement was represented in pin. Rajagopal elk abour‘a split berween the Eng-language and the Hind-language prine publi, whose sudden mutual awarenes he © naconal television cened the context aginst which the aserion of Hinds naionl ism gained new significance’ (p. 210). News- papers such asthe Narbheret Time, Janata and Hindustan, which ae ser publications of the ler Englsh newspapers and cary content from thee newspaper are different from the more strongly veracla papers which are pull rom ces within the Hindi heartland (Fender el lok a 90 Hindi dais Punjb Keri and Dani Jagan which ae published fom Jalandhar and Kanpur respective). I is here, deep inthe hinterland frm where chese newspapes are published, that mach ofthe interesting action in tems ofthe creation ofa Hindi publ spheres taking pace. This ans ise tended in Sean Nina’ esay on ‘Local [News Gatherer’ where she describes how singer gather news fom kebe and mobs in the wake ofthe increasing localization of ‘ewspapers andthe implication in terms of a dling inthe quality of news. The ‘ational’ Engh press seems more ain to the etonah-

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