Becoming a Global Audience : Longing and Belonging in Indian Music Television

New York, Bern, Berlin, Bruxelles, Frankfurt/M., Oxford, Wien.

What does globalization mean for the television audience?

Becoming a Global Audience examines concerns of cultural imperialism in relation to the actual experience of television reception in a postcolonial context.

The rise of satellite television in India in the context of economic liberalization in 1991 has been marked by the localization of global music television networks like MTV and Channel V.

This book argues, however, that this « Indianization is no cause for celebration.

Using indepth interviews with Indian music television viewers and theoretical approaches drawn from political-economic, cultural, and post-colonial studies, it argues instead that the reception of « Top Ten shows and nationalistic music videos is part of a profound reordering and appropriation of common sense under the changing social relations of globalization.