#108 Capitalist dreams and nationalist designs w/ Ravinder Kaur

Politics Theory Other

Ravinder Kaur joins PTO to talk about her new book, 'Brand New Nation: Capitalist Dreams and Nationalist Designs in Twenty-First-Century India'. We spoke about how in both India, and around the world ethnonationalism in alliance with domestic and international capital seeks to rebrand entire nations as attractive investment opportunities. We talked about who and what is left out of the airbrushed picture of the branded nation, why it is that nationalism and capitalist globalisation are not antithetical as was commonly supposed in the 1990s, and we also talked about how India's democratic history and self-portrayal as open and convivial is used to favourably contrast India with China, even in the era of Hindu nationalism.