Split Narratives and the Clash of Indias

Newness, a prized claim in the global economy, adds value to commodities and drives nations to rebrand themselves. Premised on a particular reading of the present, newness offers a vision of an imagined future and a promise of exhilarating possibilities. The new stands apart from the old precisely as a result of its assumed potential to reconfigure and transform. As India refashions itself in cosmopolitan terms, establishing contrasts between new and old identities is a national preoccupation. Koeli Moitra Goel’s monograph offers a compelling account of the multiple ways in which the mantra of newness is recited, repeated, and reproduced in a range of material and digital sites encompassing the political and social life of the nation. The overarching objective that drives Goel’s monograph, as she states, is to examine the sources of metaphorical construction of a “new” identity for India. The monograph cogently describes how the dichotomous categories of old and new are mobilized and overlaid on other polarities such as global/local or modern/traditional. Guided by a deft theoretical engagement drawn from interdisciplinary sources, Goel introduces us to the discursive framing and the material contestations that accompany the evocation of the nation and citizen as new. Meanwhile, the monograph prompts a broader discussion of globalization.