Talk:Anustup Basu

By Anirudha Patel

Anustup Basu is a Professor in English, Media and Cinema Studies, and Criticism at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, as of November 2022. According to his university profile, his research interests include film and media, the political philosophy of information, postcolonial theory, digital cultures, science and technology.

In 2021, he endorsed the "Dismantling Global Hindutva" conference and made the allegation

"the current government of India [in 2021] has instituted discriminatory policies including beef bans, restrictions on religious conversion and interfaith weddings, and the introduction of religious discrimination into India’s citizenship laws. The result has been a horrifying rise in religious and caste-based violence, including hate crimes, lynchings, and rapes directed against Muslims, non-conforming Dalits, Sikhs, Christians, adivasis and other dissident Hindus. Women of these communities are especially targeted. Meanwhile, the government has used every tool of harassment and intimidation to muzzle dissent. Dozens of student activists and human rights defenders are currently languishing in jail indefinitely without due process under repressive anti-terrorism laws."

Publications

1. Basu, Anustup. Hindutva as Political Monotheism. Duke University Press, 2020. https://doi.org/10.1215/9781478012498.
2. Basu, Anustup. Bollywood in the Age of New Media: The Geo-televisual Aesthetic. Edinburgh University Press, 2010. http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.3366/j.ctt1r2brj.
3. Basu, Anustup. "Hindutva 2.0 as Information Ecology." In Spaces of Religion in Urban South Asia, edited by I. Keul, Routledge South Asian Religion Series. Routledge, 2021. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003106067-13.

   Anustup Basu makes up the concept "Hindutva 2.0 as Information Ecology" and writes about related events to justify it as an ecology that permeates various aspects of Indian society. The author finds it upsetting that people are taking their Hindu identity on digital platforms. The author believes that people should not talk about Hinduism online because this media-savvy approach to nationalism has led to a “redefinition of Indian secularism”. However, the author does not make any effort to talk about how the redefinition of Indian Secularism is taking place, i.e., it lacks empirical substantiation.

4. Basu, Anustup. "The Popular." BioScope: South Asian Screen Studies, vol. 12, nos. 1-2, 2021, pp. 144-147. https://doi.org/10.1177/09749276211026158.
5. Basu, Anustup. "Counter-History, Counter-Memory and the Harami: The Fictional World of Kangal Malshat." In Nabarun Bhattacharya: Aesthetics and Politics in a World after Ethics, edited by S. Bhattacharya, A. Chattopadhyay, & S. Sengupta, pp. 132-147. Bloomsbury Publishing, 2020. https://doi.org/10.5040/9789389812473.ch021.
6. Basu, Anustup. "Dharmendra Singh Deol: Masculinity and the Late-Nehruvian Hero in Hindi Cinema." In Indian Film Stars: New Critical Perspectives. Edited by M. Lawrence. British Film Institute, 2020.
7. Basu, Anustup. "Filmfare, the Bombay Industry, and Internationalism (1952–1962)." In Industrial Networks and Cinemas of India: Shooting Stars, Shifting Geographies and Multiplying Media, edited by M. Mehta & M. Mukherjee. Routledge, 2020. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429326028-12.