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Politics on Memes and Memes on Politics

Vol. 58, Issue No. 30, 29 Jul, 2023
Nikhil Kumar Gupta

From social media to political campaigns, the presence of memes is felt in ways that transcend the mere purpose of humour. This article attempts to understand the nature of memes as an instrument of political communication in the public sphere and how it is contributing towards a more deliberative public space.

The Public Sphere Rediscovered

Vol. 57, Issue No. 23, 04 Jun, 2022
Muzaffar Ali

This article aims to re-evaluate the infl uence the Greeks and especially Aristotle have had on Jürgen Habermas’s thought via Hannah Arendt. The purpose of such a reassessment is to argue that Habermas’s reconstruction of the public sphere is conceptually yet indirectly embedded in the Aristotelian historical and intellectual trajectory, which is often neglected.

Gender Politics and Public Sphere

Vol. 56, Issue No. 16, 17 Apr, 2021
Zohra Batul

Shrines of Sufi saints in Kashmir are an important public space in the larger vacuum of spatial avenues for Kashmiri women. Shrines provide demarcated spaces and roles for women in its property and rituals, and facilitate religious education, socialisation, as well as political mobilisation. Despite being steeped in piety and devotion, mystic legacies and practices still pose as a relatively liberal alternative to the male-dominated public sphere in the valley. Drawing on ethnographic research, this paper seeks to unpack the gender politics in a religious public space and its ramifications for our larger understanding of the public sphere itself.

Dalit Journals in Colonial Madras (1869–1943)

Vol. 55, Issue No. 42, 17 Oct, 2020
J Balasubramaniam

The contribution of Dalit journals is virtually undocumented in the history of Tamil print media, and the only historiographic trends that have received scholarly attention so far are the Brahmin nationalist perspective and the non-Brahmin Dravidian perspective. Based on colonial records and journals, this article attempts to construct a history of Dalit journals in colonial Madras by analysing the sociopolitical contexts and the content of 42 journals published from 1869 to 1943. The wide-ranging conversations in these journals suggest that Dalits were not only active agents in creating a modern identity, questioning their marginalisation, but were also involved in knowledge production in an otherwise restricted public sphere.

Can Independent Journalism Thrive under Paywalls?

Vol. 54, Issue No. 4, 26 Jan, 2019
Paywalls divide the public sphere by exacerbating information inequalities and thwarting a common understanding of what constitutes a public good, thereby hurting democracy.

How is Multilingual Freelance Journalism Transforming the Media Landscape in India?

Vol. 53, Issue No. 19, 12 May, 2018
Changes in the technological landscape and the political economy of news media have opened up new spaces for freelance journalism, particularly in multilingual spaces. Freelance journalists occupy a precarious position due to their place within neo-liberal logics, but at the same time, are less beholden to many of the political, social, and commercial pressures constraining reporting and editing in big media houses. Biographical sketches of three Chennai-based freelancers demonstrate different possibilities of engaging as a freelancer across languages.

Light Shines through Gossamer Threads

Vol. 38, Issue No. 17, 26 Apr, 2003
Sumi Krishna

Gender relations in some adivasi (tribal) societies are relatively more egalitarian than among other communities but enormous changes are now taking place in their resource base and livelihoods. How does this affect the women's spaces in the domestic and public spheres? This paper explores the process of change as a scattered semi-nomadic group of adivasi foragers come together to form a village settlement. Focusing on one family, and one woman among them, it reflects upon whether and how an indigenous democratic fabric and relative gender egalitarianism may be retained in the face of structural changes in the adivasi life worlds. Using a personal narrative, shaped by different 'dialogical levels', the paper traces the dialogical stages through which the 'story' unfolds. It suggests that the narrative as a qualitative research tool may be used to interrogate women's political spaces and to bring the family into development discourse.

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