Media and Public Spheres

The thematic cluster media and public spheres addresses processes of cultural circulation sustained by modern technologies of communication. Such modes of circulating discourse and images have a crucial impact on all research areas at CeMIS, namely political, economic, social and religious processes in modern India. Research in this cluster takes a broad understanding of the public sphere as its starting point, which not only comprises political deliberation and persuasion, but also religion, advertising and entertainment. Recognizing how media practices and the public spheres they maintain have become a constitutive part of socio-cultural life in modern India, related research also focuses on the social, political, religious, and economic transformations linked to changes in mediascapes. At the same time, work on media and the public sphere highlights the global interconnectedness of contemporary India.

The theme "Media and Public Spheres" is present in all research clusters and constitutes a cross section building a constitutive part of the interdisciplinary approach.