Peer Reviewed Publications by Moumita Sen
Religion , 2023
This article shows how the burgeoning Hindu festivals in small town West Bengalin Hooghly and Nad... more This article shows how the burgeoning Hindu festivals in small town West Bengalin Hooghly and Nadiacan be understood as a dynamic interplay of political patronage, play as rivalry and revelry, and finally piety. The article argues that in a strategic implementation of competitive Hindutva (Hindu nationalism), the concept of utsab instead of puja is employed by the political leadership to appease the Hindu majority while ostensibly signalling towards Hindu-Muslim harmony and inclusivity. In addition, it argues that the need for decentralisation and fair distribution of resources between the metropolis and the rest of the state is expressed through festival rivalries. Furthermore, the article demonstrates the place of popular culture and aspirations towards a global urban lifestyle in the spaces of libidinal pleasures and pageantry in the festival. Finally, despite the increasingly transgressive revelry, there is a continuing, shrinking yet inviolable presence of devotion and Brahminical or priestly caste doctrine in the festival.
Corona-Jihad Memes: The Shifting Iconology of Islamophobia from Hindu Nationalists, 2023
This article analyses the visual rhetoric of anti-Muslim imagery in the memetic internet cultures... more This article analyses the visual rhetoric of anti-Muslim imagery in the memetic internet cultures generated by Indian users, as well as the transnational iconology of terror that the Muslim male body is made to embody. The core problem the article addresses is located at the intersection of three crucial contemporary challenges: the global pandemic, rising global anti-Muslim ideology, and the role of socially mediated popular political imagery. Here, I look at corona-jihad memes – a subset of anti-Muslim popular imagery made viral through social media. These images illustrated the fake news spread globally, connecting Indian Muslims with the pandemic. Here, I show the strategies of representation used by Hindu nationalist users to create an iconology – or a mode of recognition – for the Muslim male as the threatening and dehumanised other, through a process of mimicry, counter-influence, translation, and flow in a rich intermedial world of transnational imagery.
Journal of Material Culture , 2022
This article focuses on the forging of a new iconography for Mahishasur, a 'demon' in Hindu mytho... more This article focuses on the forging of a new iconography for Mahishasur, a 'demon' in Hindu mythology who was reclaimed by indigenous communities both as a 'god' and as a champion of their political autonomy. The public political ritual of venerating Mahishasur was deemed blasphemous by the Hindu nationalist party in power. Among clay-modellers of Bengal, the dominant 'demon' image of Mahishasur embodies the highly-valued skill of Naturalistic sculpture; but the movement needed a new benevolent image. Through interviews with image-makers and organisers of this political ritual in several villages of West Bengal, I will show how local aesthetic ideals of masculinity, virtue, and political ideology are expressed in the new aesthetic form(s) and iconographies of this emerging hero of Indian politics.
Nine Nights of Power Durgā, Dolls, and Darbārs, 2021
In this chapter I propose a theory of political deification based on a case study of the West Ben... more In this chapter I propose a theory of political deification based on a case study of the West Bengal chief minister. The elaborate network of power and political interest among political actors, the patrons of the festival today, leads to the deification of the minister in various forms. However, just as there is an unrestrainable process of entwining the image of the goddess and that of the minister, simultaneously, there exists an undeniable process of disavowals and dissociations. I show what these disavowals are and why they are necessary. No matter how close the icons of Durgā and Mamata Banerjee may come to each other; even if they are infinitely repeated and juxtaposed on every street corner, they never truly become indistinguishable in the contemporary Durgā Pūjā of Kolkata. I use emic political discourse to make a larger argument about secularisation and Caste Hindu Bengali religiosity.
Spaces of Religion in Urban South Asia, 2021
The chapter focuses on the repercussions of building a street shrine dedicated to the Hindu deity... more The chapter focuses on the repercussions of building a street shrine dedicated to the Hindu deity Shani in a gentrifying area in Kolkata. When the shrine was established in 1981, it transformed the social dynamics between the local Hindu and Muslim community and contributed to the renaming of the entire locality. In 2016, the Muslim community built an imposing mosque in the place of an old tomb, making use of networks of political patronage under the new ruling party. Through a set of interviews with Hindu inhabitants, the chapter inquires into the intentions of building the Shani shrine in the neighbourhood, looking closely at the patronage and production of the shrine. Based on interviews with Muslim inhabitants, the author shows how the act of building the Hindu shrine caused a series of reactions, one of which being the establishment of a competing mosque in the area. The patronage of the mosque involved the larger Muslim community from outside the neighbourhood, illustrating thus the importance of claiming public spaces through the use of religious identity and symbols.
Simmons, Caleb, Moumita Sen, and Hillary Rodrigues, eds. Nine Nights of the Goddess: The Navaratri Festival in South Asia. SUNY Press, ., 2018
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, a... more JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].
The Politics of Caste in West Bengal (Routledge)
Journal of Religion, Media and Digital Culture, 2019
This article addresses the reframing of Hindu history, mythology and rituals in a WhatsApp group ... more This article addresses the reframing of Hindu history, mythology and rituals in a WhatsApp group as part of a larger social movement called the ‘Mahishasur movement’ arising from a nation-wide controversy around a religio-political ritual. It addresses the mediatized controversy that led to the movement, the creation of this particular social media network, the material circulated on it and the nature of hierarchy between different participants. Contrary to existing scholarship, the findings from my fieldwork in different parts of India show that non-elite precariat groups involved in identity politics at different levels participate in social media activism which has so far been understood as a domain of Anglophone middle classes. The article shows the possibilities and challenges generated by the participation of these non-elite political activists in rural and small town India in social activism alongside their urban counterparts on social networking sites particularly WhatsApp.
Religion and Technology in India: Spaces, Practices and Authorities, 2018
A wide-eyed goddess with ten arms, bright yellow in color, flanked by her children on both sides,... more A wide-eyed goddess with ten arms, bright yellow in color, flanked by her children on both sides, with a white horse-like lion at her feet lightly biting the arm of a sap-green colored 'demon'this was the traditional Durga murti (image) in the early twentieth century in Bengal.
Books by Moumita Sen
The autumnal Navarātri festival—also called Durgā Pūjā, Dassehra, or Dasain—is the most important... more The autumnal Navarātri festival—also called Durgā Pūjā, Dassehra, or Dasain—is the most important Hindu festival in South Asia and wherever Hindus settle. A nine-night-long celebration in honor of the goddess Durgā, it ends on the tenth day with a celebration called “the victorious tenth” (vijayadaśamī). The rituals that take place in domestic, royal, and public spaces are closely connected with one’s station in life and dependent on social status, economic class, caste, and gender issues. Exploring different aspects of the festival as celebrated in diverse regions of South Asia and in the South Asian diaspora, this book addresses the following common questions: What does this festival do? What does it achieve, and how? Why and in what way does it sometimes fail? How do mass communication and social media increase participation in and contribute to the changing nature of the festival? The contributors address these questions from multiple perspectives and discuss issues of agency, authority, ritual efficacy, change, appropriation, and adaptation. Because of the festival’s reach beyond its diverse celebrations in South Asia, its influence can be seen in the rituals and dances in many parts of Western Europe and North America.
Nine Nights of the Goddess: The Navaratri Festival in South Asia, 2018
Explores the contemporary nature and the diverse narratives, rituals, and performances of the Nav... more Explores the contemporary nature and the diverse narratives, rituals, and performances of the Navarātri festival.
Nine Nights of the Goddess explores the festival of Navarātri—alternatively called Navarātra, Mahānavamī, Durgā Pūjā, Dasarā, and/or Dassain—which lasts for nine nights and ends with a celebration called Vijayadaśamī, or “the tenth (day) of victory.” Celebrated in both massive public venues and in small, private domestic spaces, Navarātri is one of the most important and ubiquitous festivals in South Asia and wherever South Asians have settled. These festivals share many elements, including the goddess, royal power, the killing of demons, and the worship of young girls and married women, but their interpretation and performance vary widely. This interdisciplinary collection of essays investigates Navarātri in its many manifestations and across historical periods, including celebrations in West Bengal, Odisha, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, and Nepal. Collectively, the essays consider the role of the festival’s contextual specificity and continental ubiquity as a central component for understanding South Asian religious life, as well as how it shapes and is shaped by political patronage, economic development, and social status.
Drafts by Moumita Sen
In Review , 2022
This article demonstrates the supremacy of priestly and other so-called 'upper' caste Hindu IT wo... more This article demonstrates the supremacy of priestly and other so-called 'upper' caste Hindu IT workers in social and professional networks of the tech industry in Silicon Valley, California. Indian and Hindu IT workers practice Islamophobiawhich is defined as anti-Muslim ideology in this article-in their social media practices. There are nuances in the way these workers considered and negotiated identity and ideology in personal communication. In their peer groups, however, Islamophobic and casteist messages served to solidify alliances within heterogenous Hindu groups. The exclusion of Muslims and oppressed caste workers was a collateral effect of favouritism and nepotism among 'upper' Hindu castes.
Three Flowers measured in White Evening Stars, 2020
A critical analysis of the genre of anthropological filmmaking and visual anthropology. This arti... more A critical analysis of the genre of anthropological filmmaking and visual anthropology. This article will soon be published in English and Bangla for the catalogue of Goutam Ghosh's collected works published by Kunsthaus Hamburg.
Talks by Moumita Sen
You Tube, 2020
A Theory From The Margins Zoom Webinar with Prof Achille Mbembe about his forthcoming monograph '... more A Theory From The Margins Zoom Webinar with Prof Achille Mbembe about his forthcoming monograph 'Out Of The Dark Night: Essays on Decolonization', due out with Columbia University Press, 2021. Recorded on Zoom in Oslo Norway and Johannesburg, South Africa on Oct 22 2020. With Achille Mbembe, Moumita Sen, Boddhisattva Chattopadhyay, Sindre Bangstad, Kristin Soraya Batmangchelichi and Samwel Moses Ntapanta.
Book Reviews by Moumita Sen
Journal of South Asian Development, 2020
Papers by Moumita Sen
Journal of Religion, Media and Digital Culture
This article analyses the visual rhetoric of anti-Muslim imagery in the memetic internet cultures... more This article analyses the visual rhetoric of anti-Muslim imagery in the memetic internet cultures generated by Indian users, as well as the transnational iconology of terror that the Muslim male body is made to embody. The core problem the article addresses is located at the intersection of three crucial contemporary challenges: the global pandemic, rising global anti-Muslim ideology, and the role of socially mediated popular political imagery. Here, I look at corona-jihad memes – a subset of anti-Muslim popular imagery made viral through social media. These images illustrated the fake news spread globally, connecting Indian Muslims with the pandemic. Here, I show the strategies of representation used by Hindu nationalist users to create an iconology – or a mode of recognition – for the Muslim male as the threatening and dehumanised other, through a process of mimicry, counter-influence, translation, and flow in a rich intermedial world of transnational imagery.
Journal of Material Culture
This article focuses on the forging of a new iconography for Mahishasur, a ‘demon’ in Hindu mytho... more This article focuses on the forging of a new iconography for Mahishasur, a ‘demon’ in Hindu mythology who was reclaimed by indigenous communities both as a ‘god’ and as a champion of their political autonomy. The public political ritual of venerating Mahishasur was deemed blasphemous by the Hindu nationalist party in power. Among clay-modellers of Bengal, the dominant ‘demon’ image of Mahishasur embodies the highly-valued skill of Naturalistic sculpture; but the movement needed a new benevolent image. Through interviews with image-makers and organisers of this political ritual in several villages of West Bengal, I will show how local aesthetic ideals of masculinity, virtue, and political ideology are expressed in the new aesthetic form(s) and iconographies of this emerging hero of Indian politics.
SUNY Press, 2018
Nine Nights of the Goddess explores the festival of Navarātri alternatively called Navarātra, Mah... more Nine Nights of the Goddess explores the festival of Navarātri alternatively called Navarātra, Mahānavamī, Durgā Pūjā, Dasarā, and/or Dassain which lasts for nine nights and ends with a celebration called Vijayadaśamī, or the tenth (day) of victory. Celebrated in both massive public venues and in small, private domestic spaces, Navarātri is one of the most important and ubiquitous festivals in South Asia and wherever South Asians have settled. These festivals share many elements, including the goddess, royal power, the killing of demons, and the worship of young girls and married women, but their interpretation and performance vary widely. This interdisciplinary collection of essays investigates Navarātri in its many manifestations and across historical periods, including celebrations in West Bengal, Odisha, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, and Nepal. Collectively, the essays consider the role of the festival s contextual specificity and continental ubiquity as a central component for understanding South Asian religious life, as well as how it shapes and is shaped by political patronage, economic development, and social status.
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Peer Reviewed Publications by Moumita Sen
Books by Moumita Sen
Nine Nights of the Goddess explores the festival of Navarātri—alternatively called Navarātra, Mahānavamī, Durgā Pūjā, Dasarā, and/or Dassain—which lasts for nine nights and ends with a celebration called Vijayadaśamī, or “the tenth (day) of victory.” Celebrated in both massive public venues and in small, private domestic spaces, Navarātri is one of the most important and ubiquitous festivals in South Asia and wherever South Asians have settled. These festivals share many elements, including the goddess, royal power, the killing of demons, and the worship of young girls and married women, but their interpretation and performance vary widely. This interdisciplinary collection of essays investigates Navarātri in its many manifestations and across historical periods, including celebrations in West Bengal, Odisha, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, and Nepal. Collectively, the essays consider the role of the festival’s contextual specificity and continental ubiquity as a central component for understanding South Asian religious life, as well as how it shapes and is shaped by political patronage, economic development, and social status.
Drafts by Moumita Sen
Talks by Moumita Sen
Book Reviews by Moumita Sen
Papers by Moumita Sen
Nine Nights of the Goddess explores the festival of Navarātri—alternatively called Navarātra, Mahānavamī, Durgā Pūjā, Dasarā, and/or Dassain—which lasts for nine nights and ends with a celebration called Vijayadaśamī, or “the tenth (day) of victory.” Celebrated in both massive public venues and in small, private domestic spaces, Navarātri is one of the most important and ubiquitous festivals in South Asia and wherever South Asians have settled. These festivals share many elements, including the goddess, royal power, the killing of demons, and the worship of young girls and married women, but their interpretation and performance vary widely. This interdisciplinary collection of essays investigates Navarātri in its many manifestations and across historical periods, including celebrations in West Bengal, Odisha, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, and Nepal. Collectively, the essays consider the role of the festival’s contextual specificity and continental ubiquity as a central component for understanding South Asian religious life, as well as how it shapes and is shaped by political patronage, economic development, and social status.