Capitalist dreams and nationalist designs in Twenty-First-Century India: A conversation with Ravinder Kaur

By September 23, 2020

In this conversation, The Polis Project’s Suchitra Vijayan and Vasundhara Sirnate, discuss Prof. Ravinder Kaur’s new book Brand New Nation: Capitalist Dreams and Nationalist Designs in Twenty-First-Century India. Prof Kaur walks us through the transformation of the Indian nation-state into a neoliberal business enterprise and theorizes the process of branding the nation-state through a rich visual archive of posters and advertising material. She articulates the connection between those early years of “India rising” rhetoric and aggressive push for globalization is largely responsible for the emergence of authoritarian populism under Modi. We explore the unintended political consequences of the corporatization of the State, what this means for the future.

Prof. Ravinder Kaur

Prof. Kaur is an Associate Professor of Modern South Asian Studies at the University of Copenhagen. She is the author of Since 1947: Partition Narratives among the Punjabi Migrants of Delhi.

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Suchitra Vijayan is the founder and executive director of The Polis Project and the author of Midnight’s Borders: A People’s History of Modern India and How Long Can the Moon Be Caged? Voices of Indian Political Prisoners.

Capitalist dreams and nationalist designs in Twenty-First-Century India: A conversation with Ravinder Kaur


Suchitra Vijayan is the founder and executive director of The Polis Project and the author of Midnight’s Borders: A People’s History of Modern India and How Long Can the Moon Be Caged? Voices of Indian Political Prisoners.