Dissertation
The Indian woman: analyzing representations of agency in Indian advertising since independence
Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Drexel University
Jun 2022
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17918/00001122
Abstract
This dissertation, "The Indian Woman: Analyzing Representations of Agency in Indian Advertising Since Independence," tracks transformations and hybridizations in feminine agency as represented in Indian advertising for beauty soap, detergent, and dairy. It is a multimodal critical discourse analysis of 44 print and video advertisements, using intersections of political economy, advertising, and social imaginary to address changes in independent India. The dissertation answers the questions: 'How is the middle class, urban Indian woman represented historically in Indian advertising?', 'How do transformations of India's political and socio-cultural imaginary impact gendered agency?', 'How are transformations in feminine agency represented in Indian commercial advertising?' and 'What forms of socio-cultural and political hybridization appear in representations of feminine agency in Indian commercial advertising?' The focus of gendered agency is original to the field of Indian advertising studies. It is critically analyzed using Goffman's frames of gendered advertising by combining the analyzed products' mediated responses to ideations of body politics, family and labor, and state identity. The dissertation conclusively contributes to an understanding of the consumer culture of middle-class, urban India, and the commodified agency represented through multiple laminations and dynamic hybridizations of Indian traditionalism and Western modernity.
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Details
- Title
- The Indian woman
- Creators
- Sreyashi Mukherjee
- Contributors
- Rachel R. Reynolds (Advisor)
- Awarding Institution
- Drexel University
- Degree Awarded
- Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
- Publisher
- Drexel University; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
- Number of pages
- x, 199 pages
- Resource Type
- Dissertation
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- College of Arts and Sciences; Communication, Culture, and Media; Communication; Drexel University
- Other Identifier
- 991018526901904721