| This dissertation uses an ethnographic approach to study the impact of private television networks on national identity in India. It seeks to understand the urban viewers' perception of their global, national, and local identities. Participant observation and interviews at television networks and audience homes revealed a similarity in definitions of network and audience identity between respondents at television stations, and audiences themselves. The analysis showed that audiences, empowered by the multiplicity of viewing choices, overwhelmingly chose cable channels and their narratives of progress over Doordarshan and its narratives of underdevelopment. Viewing preferences were influenced by the viewers' language, class, and religion. The preference for private channels over Doordarshan is interpreted as resistance to the construction of Hindu-nation as propagated by Doordarshan. It indicates that in the long term, the availability of region and language-specific programming could contribute to the construction of decentralized, sub-national communities based on differences in class, religion, and language. |
