Consuming Bollywood ― Gender, Globalization and Media in the Indian Diaspora

Although Bollywood movies were not, until recently, acknowledged by audiences in the United States, it has been widely celebrated across the world since the 1950s. In fact, Indian cinema, established in 1912, is older than Hollywood cinema (1914), which speaks to the strength of Indian culture. It is even argued that the Lumiere brothers presented their technology to Indian people before bringing it to the United States. Consuming Bollywood shows us how globalization has spread this form of cinema across international cultures, and in the modern day, connects diasporic Indian communities to their homeland and culture--particularly Indian women. Annotation c2014 Ringgold, Inc., Portland, OR (protoview.com)

Anjali Ram (PhD in Communication, Ohio University) is Professor of Global Communication at Roger Williams University. She has published in journals such as Women’s Studies in Communication, Human Development, Mind, Culture, and Activity, and Culture and Psychology and in edited books such as Mediated Women, Communicating Ethnic and Cultural Identity, and Sociology of the Diaspora: A Reader.