Madhavi Murty - Spectacular Realism: The Narrative Intersections of Authoritarian Nationalism and Neoliberalism in New India

Drawing from my book, Stories that Bind: Political Economy and Culture in New India (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 2022), I will suggest that popular stories give form and coherence to authoritarian nationalism and neoliberalism in India through a narrative form, which I label as spectacular realism. The narrative form of spectacular realism transforms the nation and capital into ostensibly irrefutable truths by narrating them as spectacles. Twined with the authenticity that is ideologically associated with the realism that centers the common person, these spectacles are narrated as familiar, intimate and authentic. Studying stories told through film, journalism, and popular non-fiction, I argue that Hindu nationalism and neoliberalism are conjoined, and that consent for this political economic project is crucially won in the domain of popular culture.

Madhavi Murty is an associate professor in the department of Feminist Studies, with an affiliation in Digital Arts and New Media and Critical Race and Ethnic Studies at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Her research and teaching interests center on popular media, nationalism, globalization, feminisms, postcolonial theory, cultural theory, and modalities of difference such as race, caste, and gender. Her book, Stories that Bind: Political Economy and Culture in New India (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, May, 2022), focuses on the intertwined projects of Hindu nationalism and neoliberalism in India and their narration in popular culture and was awarded the International Communication Association’s 2023 Outstanding Book Award.