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India

• Anthropology



• India's Changing Face: The Interplay of Advertising and National Self-Image

I propose to explore the ongoing construction of India’s national image through a study of the promotion of personal care and beauty aid products by the advertising industry in Delhi and Mumbai. Through an investigation of the branding and marketing of these consumer products, I will examine how the traditional and the modern are negotiated in the aspirational world of advertising and what this can tell us about India’s evolving self-image.
 
• Sociology



• Negotiations of Spousal Choice as Depicted in Recent Bollywood Films

I plan to study the construction and reception of conflict between familial duty and individual desire within the context of spousal choice in Bollywood films between 1990-2004. I posit that a shift occurred during the early 1990's, causing tension between the westernized-consumerist generation and traditionalism of family values. How are negotiations to resolve this conflict depicted and what does this show about the societal efforts towards reconciliation?