Product Description: The book examines the historical and spatial flows of Indian popular cinema from Bombay (Mumbai) and other production centres on the Indian subcontinent to different spaces of consumption for nearly a century culminating in the Bollywood-inspired-Oscar-winning film Slumdog Millionaire...read more

Product Description: The book examines the historical and spatial flows of Indian popular cinema from Bombay (Mumbai) and other production centres on the Indian subcontinent to different spaces of consumption for nearly a century culminating in the Bollywood-inspired-Oscar-winning film Slumdog Millionaire...read more

Product Description: East Asian pop culture can be seen as an integrated cultural economy emerging from the rise of Japanese and Korean pop culture as an influential force in the distribution and reception networks of Chinese language pop culture embedded in the ethnic Chinese diaspora...read more

Conventional political science depicts legitimate elections as rational affairs in which informed voters select candidates for office according to how their coherently presented aims, ideologies and policies appeal to the self-interest of the electorate. In reality elections, whether in first world democracies, or in the various governmental systems present in Asia, can more realistically be seen as cultural events in which candidates’ campaigns are shaped, consciously or unconsciously, to appeal to the cultural understanding and practices of the electorate. The election campaign period is one in which the masses are mobilized to participate in a range of cultural activities, from flying the party colours in noisy motorcycle parades to attending political rallies for or against, or simply to be entertained by the performances on the political stage, and to gambling on the outcome of the contest. The essays in this book analyse electioneering activities in nine Asian countries in terms of popular cultural practices in each location, ranging from updated traditional cultures to mimicry and caricatures of present day television dramas. In presenting political election as an expression of popular culture this book portrays electoral behaviour as a meaningful cultural practice. As such this book will appeal to student and scholars of political science and cultural studies alike, as well as those with a more general interest in Asian studies.