Virtual Book Launch: Ravinder Kaur's Brand New Nation

The early 21st century was an optimistic moment of global futures-making. The chief narrative was the emergence of the BRIC nations, branded afresh as resource-rich hubs of untapped talent and potential, “opened up” for foreign investments. The tantalizing promise of economic growth also offered utopian visions of “good times”, and even restoration of lost glory to the nation’s citizens. Brand New Nation reaches into the past as well as the future of this phenomenon. It discloses the on-the-ground experience of the relentless transformation of the nation-state into an attractive investment destination for speculative global capital.

Ravinder Kaur provocatively argues that to be deemed an attractive nation-brand in the global economy today is to be affirmed as a proper nation. The infusion of capital produces investment-fueled nationalism, a populist force that can be turned into an instrument of coercion. Grounded in the history of modern India, the book reveals the close kinship between identity economy and identity politics, publicity and populism, and violence and economic growth.

Join us on 27 August, 4:00 pm (CEST/Copenhagen time)

Speakers
Satish Deshpande (Delhi)
Thomas Blom Hansen (Stanford)
Ravinder Kaur (Copenhagen)
Saloni Mathur (UCLA)
William Mazzarella (Chicago)
Sumathi Ramaswamy (Duke)
Srirupa Roy (Göttingen)

Registration
Register on our website (https://asiandynamics.ku.dk/) for Zoom link and further information about how to attend. Registration will close on 25 August.

Visit Stanford University Press’ website (https://www.sup.org/books/title/?id=26515) for description, reviews and excerpts from the book.