Culture and Politics in South Asia: Performative Communication Dev Nath Pathak (South Asian University, New Delhi, India) 9781138201132

This volume looks at the politics of communication and culture in contemporary South Asia. It explores languages, signs and symbols reflective of current mythologies that underpin instances of performance in present-day India and its neighbouring countries. From gender performances and stage depictions to protest movements, folk songs to cinematic reconstructions and elections to war-torn regions, the chapters in the book bring the multiple voices embedded within the grand theatre of popular performance and the cultural landscape of the region to the fore.

Breaking new ground, this work will prove useful to students and researchers in sociology and social anthropology, art and performance studies, political studies and international relations, communication and media studies and culture studies.

Dev Nath Pathak is Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology at South Asian University, New Delhi, India.

Sasanka Perera is Professor, Department of Sociology and Vice President at South Asian University, New Delhi, India.

'The conjunction of performance and communication offers us the means to understand the relationship between text and context in all its complexity. This volume offers us insights into the mutual unsettling, shaping, giving meaning to performative communication as tradition, resistance, compliance, and as myriad instances of cultural politics. And in that process it provides startlingly new insights on both performance and communication. A powerful collection that breaches disciplinary boundaries and contributes to new thinking.'

Pradip Ninan Thomas, Associate Professor, School of Communication and Arts, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, The University of Queensland, Australia

'Very broad in scope, this volume addresses issues of contemporary concern in the politics of culture across South Asia. It will be of interest to scholars across many fields of study and its comparative perspective will fill a critical gap in the literature on this subject.'

Roma Chatterji, Professor, Department of Sociology, University of Delhi, India