Privileging Localism and Visualizing Nationhood in Anti-Consumption

Abstract

The main aim of this research is to understand the genesis and nature of an anti-consumption movement in India and its emphasis on nationalism through localism. This research adopted a case study design, including in-depth interviews and discursive analysis. Through a historical analysis this research shows the influence of anarchist political philosophy in a contemporary anti-consumption movement. It demonstrates that anti-consumption is inflected with discourses of freedom, anti-authoritarianism, and anti-statism, which are central to the anarchist conception of localism. This research shows that anti-consumption movements in India use consumption objects to privilege local over both national and international. This helps to expand the framework of product-place-images and country-of-origin effects by showing how nationalism can become anti-nationalist in an anti-consumption discourse. It further helps to differentiate anti-consumption from consumer resistance as a deeper systemic challenge to consumerist lifestyle and consumer culture.