Gay Bombay: Globalization, Love and (Be)longing in Contemporary India (Paperback)

~ (Author)
Key Phrases: embodied identity, gay male sexuality, virtual culture, Gay Bombay, New York, New Delhi (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Shahani's Gay Bombay traces the modern and the old with charming first person. This book takes you to the television studios, the editing rooms, the dance floors, the chat rooms and the private parlours to discover gay Bombay in all its subtle victories, intimate vibrancy and surprising diversity." - Wendell Rodricks.

"Parmesh Shahani is an original. …This book will inspire and provoke many interested in understanding the intersections between sexuality, globalization, and new media." - Henry Jenkins, Author of Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide.

"Gay Bombay is a must-read! Shifting seamlessly through the personal, the Gay Bombay community, the national and the transnational, the book gives the reader unique understanding into what is means to be gay and Indian." - Jyoti Puri, Director, Graduate Program in Gender/Cultural Studies, Simmons College.

"Gay Bombay is a path-breaking study of homosexuality in modern Bombay/Mumbai that will be essential reading for students of gender and sexuality." - Rachel Dwyer, Professor of Indian Cultures and Cinema, University of London

Product Description

Using a combination of multi-sited ethnography, textual analysis, historical documentation analysis, and memoir writing, the author provides macro and micro perspectives on what it means to be a gay man located in Gay Bombay at a particular point in time. Specifically, he explores what being gay means to members of Gay Bombay and how they negotiate locality and globalization, their sense of identity as well as a feeling of community within its online/offline world. On a broader level, he critically examines the formulation and reconfiguration of contemporary Indian gayness in the light of its emergent cultural, media, and political alliances. <br /><br />Key Features <br />

• Offers an exciting path breaking ethnography, which combines a large macro sweep with an intensely personal narrative. The author's memories flow in and out of the main narrative to create a distinct reading experience.
• Presents a unique and timely look at urban contemporary Indian sexuality
• Provides an integrated approach that illuminates how new media technologies, the media industry, audiences, and broader socio-historical contexts shape gay identity in contemporary urban India
• Gives a different perspective on globalization in post-liberalization urban India, as India re-positions itself as a global superpower. How are its minorities being treated? How are they asserting themselves in this new imagination of the nation-state?
• Weaves in personal experience that helps us understand male same-sex desire in relation to customary experiences in a city like Bombay

Product Details

• Paperback: 360 pages
• Publisher: Sage Publications Pvt. Ltd (April 14, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0761936483
• ISBN-13: 978-0761936480
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,138,223 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Comprehensive and Sensitive Account of Gay Bombay, April 17, 2008

By	M. Kumari - See all my reviews

This path-breaking study offers an exhaustive list of references and some very condensed academic perspectives, but balances these with personal recollections - 'memoryscapes' - and responses from interviewees. The first of its kind, this book explores the factors behind Gay Bombay, an online and offline social forum for 'gay' (and the term is problematised thoroughly in the opening section) people in the city. A very interesting read, both for the academic and the casual observer. I thought the best thing about this was the variety of perspectives presented, as well as some really moving personal accounts.