Description
Book SynopsisTrade Review“This is the first major ethnographic study of the way in which the mobilization of a public is now carried out in India primarily through the new digitally powered mass media. From populist politics, court judgments, sensational crime and corruption to police brutality, Cody examines with brilliant clarity and theoretical sophistication the coming together of publics as well as counterpublics in Tamil Nadu.” * Partha Chatterjee, professor emeritus, Columbia University *
“In this fascinating study, Cody shows how popular sovereignty is shaped within the media-saturated environment of Tamil Nadu politics, making sovereign power vulnerable to popular politics generated by the fact of the ‘news event’ and its circulation. His unraveling of the boundaries between online and offline communicative acts, the virtual and the actual, or the old media and new media, is accomplished with great sensitivity and attention to the empirical, which provides the grounds for the conceptual to emerge. A splendid achievement.” * Veena Das, Johns Hopkins University *
Table of ContentsIntroduction: In the Event of News
Chapter One Populist Publics
Chapter Two Defamation Machine
Chapter Three Law at Large
Chapter Four Celebrity Outlaws
Chapter Five Short Circuits
Epilogue: Environmental Engineering
Acknowledgments
Notes
Bibliography
Index
