Unclean, Unseen: Social Media, Civic Action and Urban Hygiene in India. Issue 4 (1st October 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Doron, Assa
• Is Part Of: South Asia. Volume 39:Issue 4(2016)
• Page Start: 715
• Page End: 739
• Publication Date: 2016-10-01
• Subjects: Activism -- class -- media -- memes -- prefigurative politics -- public space -- rubbish -- visual culture -- waste -- youth; South Asia -- Periodicals; South Asia -- Study and teaching -- Periodicals; 954.005
• DOI: 10.1080/00856401.2016.1218096
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0085-6401

Abstract

ABSTRACT: Successive Indian governments have attempted to tackle the formidable task of creating a clean India, with varied results. With the country's rapidly growing middle class eager to participate in a sanitised global consumer capitalism, many Indians are becoming frustrated with the 'unruly' nature of their urban landscape, its dirty streets and public spaces. This is particularly discernible amongst India's middle-class youth, who seem impatient with the state's apparent inability to manage waste and disorder, and it is clear that several civil society campaigns designed to promote a clean India explicitly target Indian youth. In this paper, I explore what the ideological premise of cleansing initiatives reveals about the aspirations, needs and anxieties of India's youth. Abstract :