Gods Mediated Main MenuIntroductionCourse DescriptionSeeing God: Hindu Devotion and ImagesRamayana: Hindu Epic and TelevisionRam and Politics: Media and the Emergence of Hindu NationalismGanesha Drinks Milk: Global Hinduism and ScienceAlexander Hennc74c27bd5a9a00bae40eec23a507efaad2ed2400
Media and the transformation of religion in South Asia
The making of Ramanand Sagar's Ramayana TV series, 1986
Doordarshan, "Seeing Far," India’s government-run TV
The enormous popularity of the TV-epic
TV-devotion, family values, and Hindu community
Critical perspectives, commercialization, video-latry, Hindu hegemony
Read: Lutgendorf, Philip. All in the (Raghu) Family: A Video Epic in Cultural Context, in: Babb, L.A. and S. Wadley (eds.) Media and the Transformation of Religion in South Asia, Philadelphia 1995: University of Pennsylvania Press. pp. 217-253
Watch: Ramanand Sagar. Ramayana (Hindi with English subtitles), Episode I, 1987, 34 mins.
Assignment: Summary Paper The summary paper asks you to give an account of the readings of the week. It should be 400 to 550 words in length. Major criteria for the assessment and grading of your summary papers will be that your paper provides a summary that strives for a wide, well-balanced, and thoroughly illustrated representation of the topics, arguments, and cases covered in the sources. Since the material is complex and covers many different things, it is important that you present what you think is essential and then elaborate the gist of it. The goal is to be concise, but also informative, analytical, but also illustrative. As with other assignments, evidence that you have studied the assigned material and mastered its complexity, argument, and terminology will guide your grading.