Publication date: 28 September 2023
DOI: https://doi.org/10.14324/111.9781800085541
Number of illustrations: 55
Gurus and Media
Sound, image, machine, text and the digital
Jacob Copeman (Editor), Arkotong Longkumer (Editor), Koonal Duggal (Editor)
Gurus and Media is the first book dedicated to media and mediation in domains of public guruship and devotion. Illuminating the mediatisation of guruship and the guru-isation of media, it bridges the gap between scholarship on gurus and the disciplines of media and visual culture studies. It investigates guru iconographies in and across various time periods and also the distinctive ways in which diverse gurus engage with and inhabit different forms of media: statuary, games, print publications, photographs, portraiture, films, machines, social media, bodies, words, graffiti, dolls, sound, verse, tombs and more.
The book’s interdisciplinary chapters advance, both conceptually and ethnographically, our understanding of the function of media in the dramatic production of guruship, and reflect on the corporate branding of gurus and on mediated guruship as a series of aesthetic traps for the captivation of devotees and others. They show how different media can further enliven the complex plurality of guruship, for instance in instantiating notions of ‘absent-present’ guruship and demonstrating the mutual mediation of gurus, caste and Hindutva.
Throughout, the book foregrounds contested visions of the guru in the development of devotional publics and pluriform guruship across time and space. Thinking through the guru’s many media entanglements in a single place, the book contributes new insights to the study of South Asian religions and to the study of mediation more broadly.
Related titles
Gurus and Media
Sound, image, machine, text and the digital
Publication date: September 28, 2023
Open Access PDF ISBN: 9781800085541
Paperback ISBN: 9781800085558
Hardback ISBN: 9781800085565
Trim size (hardback): 23.4cm x 15.6cm
Trim size (paperback): 23.4cm x 15.6cm
Gurus and Media is the first book dedicated to media and mediation in domains of public guruship and devotion. Illuminating the mediatisation of guruship and the guru-isation of media, it bridges the gap between scholarship on gurus and the disciplines of media and visual culture studies. It investigates guru iconographies in and across various time periods and also the distinctive ways in which diverse gurus engage with and inhabit different forms of media: statuary, games, print publications, photographs, portraiture, films, machines, social media, bodies, words, graffiti, dolls, sound, verse, tombs and more.
The book’s interdisciplinary chapters advance, both conceptually and ethnographically, our understanding of the function of media in the dramatic production of guruship, and reflect on the corporate branding of gurus and on mediated guruship as a series of aesthetic traps for the captivation of devotees and others. They show how different media can further enliven the complex plurality of guruship, for instance in instantiating notions of ‘absent-present’ guruship and demonstrating the mutual mediation of gurus, caste and Hindutva.
Throughout, the book foregrounds contested visions of the guru in the development of devotional publics and pluriform guruship across time and space. Thinking through the guru’s many media entanglements in a single place, the book contributes new insights to the study of South Asian religions and to the study of mediation more broadly.
‘Gurus and Media is an engaging and approachable edition for readerships across disciplines’
Reading Religion
‘one will be pleasantly surprised by the various perspectives on the Vedic concept of a guru and how it has mutated and grown and produced so many avatars’
The Tribune (India)
‘This fascinating book tells you everything you always wanted to know about Indian gurus in our neoliberal world (but were afraid to ask)… This gemmy volume is a smart and sophisticated critical analysis of the guru in our neoliberal context.’
International Journal of Hindu Studies
‘Gurus and Media is a crucial volume as it explores some of the complexities surrounding the subject and paves the way for future research.’
Religion and Society
‘This volume has an impressive breadth, and there is likely at least one chapter of interest to individual scholars, particularly those studying the construction, communication, and persistence of guruship.’
Nova Religio
‘This remarkable collection uses the figure of the mass-mediated guru to throw light on how modern Hindu mobilization generates a highly diverse set of religious charismatics in India. Because of the diversity of the contributors to this volume, the book is also a moveable feast of cases, methods and cultural styles in a major cultural region.’
Arjun Appadurai, Emeritus Professor of Media, Culture and Communication, New York University
‘Gurus and Media casts subtle light on a phenomenon that too often shines so brightly that it is hard to see. This collection is a tremendously rich resource for anyone trying to make sense of that ambiguous zone where authority appears at once as seduction and as salvation, as comfort and as terror.’
William Mazzarella, University of Chicago
‘Sight, sound, image, narrative, representation and performance in the complex world of gurus are richly illuminated and deeply theorised in this outstanding volume. The immensely important, but hitherto under-explored, visual and aural dimensions of guru-ship across several religious traditions have received path-breaking and wide-ranging treatment by best-known experts on the subject.’
Nandini Gooptu, University of Oxford
