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India’s Middle Class

Brosius, Christiane:
India’s middle class : new forms of urban leisure, consumption and prosperity / Christiane Brosius. - New Delhi [u.a.] : Routledge India, 2010. - XVII, 381 S. : Ill. - (Cities and the urban imperative)
ISBN 978-0-415-54453-5
Rs. 795,00
£ 65.00 (Routledge UK)
DDC: 305.550954

Beschreibung
This book examines the complexities of lifestyles of the upwardly mobile middle classes in India in the context of economic liberalisation in the new millennium, by analysing new social formations and aspirations, modes of consumption and ways of being in contemporary urban India.
   Rich in ethnographic material, the work is based on empirical case-studies, research material, and illustrations. Offering a model of how urban cosmopolitan India might be studied and understood in a transnational and transcultural context, the book takes the reader through three panoramic landscapes: new ‘world-class’ real estate advertising, a unique religious leisure site — the Akshardham Cultural Complex, and the world of themed weddings and beauty/wellness, all responses to India’s new middle classes’ tryst with cosmopolitanism.
   The work will be of particular interest to scholars and researchers in sociology, South Asian studies, media studies, anthropology and urban studies as also those interested in religion, performance and rituals, diaspora, globalisation and transnational migration. [Verlagsinformation]

Inhalt
List of Plates. vii
List of Abbreviations. xi
Preface. xiii
Introduction: India Shining. 1
PART I: BELONGING TO THE WORLD-CLASS CITY
   1. The City Fantastic. 51
   2. The Enclaved Gaze: Living Abroad in India. 65
   3. 'Insulate!' The Celebration of New Gated Habitats. 91
   4. Taming the Public City and other Colonial Hangovers. 108
   5. Ordering the City and its Citizens. 127
PART II: A SPIRITUAL MEGA-EXPERIENCE: THE AKSHARDHAM CULTURAL COMPLEX
   6. Who is Who at the ACC? 161
   7. A Question of Authenticity. 174
   8. A Hierarchy of Ritual Performances. 186
   9. Theme Park Antecedents and Indigenous Concepts of Leisure Religion. 208
   10. Code-Switching and Code-Clashing. 217
   11. Critics and Sceptics. 248
PART III: 'MASTI! MASTI! MANAGING LOVE, ROMANCE AND BEAUTY
   12. 'For Whom the Bell Rings': Arranging Marriage. 269
   13. 'All You Need is Wellness' and a Good Body. 307
Conclusion: 'Indianising Modernity. 325
Glossary. 345
Bibliography. 347
About the Author. 371
Index. 373

Autorin
CHRISTIANE BROSIUS teaches at Karls Ruprecht University, Heidelberg. She gained her PhD from Europe University Viadrina, Frankfurt, and has written a number of articles and books on audio-visual media, iconography and nationalism in India. Profile page.

Quellen: Routledge (UK); WorldCat; Amazon (UK)