Media and the Transformation of Religion in South Asia

Front Cover
Lawrence A. Babb, Susan S. Wadley
University of Pennsylvania Press, Nov 11, 2016 - Social Science - 312 pages

This volume explores the effects of the religious transformation taking place in India as sacred symbols assume the shapes of media images. Lifted from their traditional forms and contexts, many religious symbols, beliefs, and practices are increasingly refracted through such media as god posters, comic books, audio recordings, and video programs. The ten original essays here examine the impact on India's traditional social and cultural structures of printed images, audio recordings, film, and video.

Contributors: Lawrence A. Babb, Steve Derné, John Stratton Hawley, Stephen R. Inglis, John T. Little, Philip Lutgendorf, Scott L. Marcus, Frances W. Pritchett, Regula Burckhardt Qureshi, H. Daniel Smith, and Susan S. Wadley.

 

Contents

1 Introduction
1
Section 1 Printed Images
21
2 Impact of God Posters on Hindus and Their Devotional Traditions
24
The Work of a Modern Master
51
4 The World of Amar Chitra Katha
76
Domestic Virtue and National Integration in Amar Chitra Katha
107
Section 2 Audio Recordings
137
The Case of Qawwäti
139
Religious Music in India Today
167
Section 3 Visual Media
189
Religious Themes in Commercial Hindi Films
191
Α Video Epic in Cultural Context
217
Swadhyaya and Sacred Tapes
254
Contributor
285
Index
287
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About the author (2016)

Lawrence A. Babb is Professor of Anthropology at Amherst College. Susan S. Wadley is Professor of Anthropology at Syracuse University.

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