Propaganda: A Hindu View

Dear Colleagues,

Propaganda has been one of the abiding concerns of the modern media age. Beginning with religious origins in the Catholic church in the post-reformation context, the term “propaganda” has grown to encompass not only direct dehumanization techniques deployed against perceived enemies by military forces and political interests, but also about the experience of everyday life in the secular modern world. Advertising, news, pop culture, and even education are seen by scholars as sites for propaganda, as well as contestation and resistance.

This proposed special issue of Religions aims to explore Hindu encounters and experiences with the phenomenon of propaganda from an interdisciplinary perspective, ranging from historical analyses of colonial encounters and debates between Christian missionaries and Hindu scholars in the past to contemporary investigations of media representations of Hindus and Hinduism, in addition to broader philosophical and theological reflections from a Hindu perspective on modern mass media and propaganda.

Specific topics might include:

-the encounters of early modern Hindu thinkers like Swami Dayananda Saraswati, Sri Aurobindo, Vivekananda, and Mahatma Gandhi with colonial critics of Hinduism

-the role of propaganda in colonial British India

-the interplays and disjunctures between colonial discourses about “Hinduism” and the “caste-system” and premodern cultures and social realities of South Asia

-the role of religious propaganda in inter-religious violence in South Asia

-propaganda and Hindu discourses of reform

-implications of the Indian constitution’s recognition of the right to propagate religions

-propaganda in news reporting about Hindus and Hinduism

-education as a site of propaganda, contestation and resistance

-demonization of Hinduism and Hindus in TV shows, movies and popular culture

-Hindu views of truth and representation in relation to contemporary media concerns like “fake news”

-Hindu views of art and aesthetics in relation to modern media genres like “mythological fiction”

-Hindu views of isolation, narcissism and mental health in relation to dehumanization and propaganda

-the debate over terms like “Hindu Nationalism” and “Hinduphobia”

-the situation of “Hindu” identity in global identitarian discourses (such as the equation of “Hindu Nationalism” and “White Nationalism” in media)

- anthropocentrism as a form of propaganda particularly in relation to discourses about Hindu views of plants, animals, and nature

Queries about other topics are also welcomed.

Prospective contributors please inquire with an abstract under 300 words by October 1, 2021 (The paper submission deadline is February 1, 2022). You can reach the guest editor at juluri@usfca.edu.

Prof. Dr. Vamsee Juluri
Guest Editor

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