Abstract
Contemporary India is witnessing interesting shifts in its socio-political, economic and cultural structures. India’s demographic patterns are changing, so are its social identities and political affiliations. A site that has been witnessing these changes in a radical manner is the body of the citizen. In a post-colonial environment, nation and national identity emerge as strong identity markers and India has been transforming itself through its discourses on national identity. Tropes of national identity have gained in prominence and public debates on the same crowd media spaces, both in India and abroad. In a neoliberal capitalistic world, discourses around identity have a significant role to play and the Indian context emerges as a complex one with its debates on national identity and the citizen’s body as a site for nationalist discourses. Deleuze and Guattari (A Thousand Plateaus. Bloomsbury, London, New York, Oxford, New Delhi and Sydney, 1988) envisioned the capitalist society in its rhizomatic structure and the multiplicities of assemblages transforming social structures rapidly in the new age. This chapter will use the concept of societies of control and micro-fascism to analyze and comprehend the changing Indian identity and the emergence of the citizen’s body as the site of contestation. Incidents reported across India compel us to look at both human and non-human beings being manipulated to create identities that challenge several existing ideological patterns. It is also interesting to note the manner in which the body also becomes a subversive site for resistance, working against the hegemonic structures. This chapter will examine Indian society at the level of micro-politics and seek to understand the shifts and responses to the new paradigms of nationalism through the works of Deleuze and Guattari.
Published Version
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call