Desecration and the politics of 'image pollution': Ambedkar statues and the 'sculptural encounter' in India. Issue 1 (2nd January 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Nayar, Pramod K
• Is Part Of: Celebrity studies. Volume 11:Issue 1(2020)
• Page Start: 116
• Page End: 124
• Publication Date: 2020-01-02
• Subjects: B.R. Ambedkar -- statues -- desecration -- public modernity -- profane aesthetics; Fame -- Periodicals; Celebrities -- Periodicals; 306.405
• DOI: 10.1080/19392397.2020.1704389
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1939-2397

Abstract

ABSTRACT: This essay examines the culture of statue-desecration in contemporary India. The focus is the desecration of Ambedkar statues. The first section argues that the installation of Ambedkar statues is a process of sacralising, reconfiguring public histories and modernities, while instituting a new iconicity. In section two, the essay moves on to examining the 'profane aesthetics' of desecration. This includes studying the emergence of a 'counter-spectacle' in the political culture jamming of desecration, the creation of a culture of image pollution and the making of an affrontier.