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"In September 1993 a devastating earthquake rocked Latur, a district near Mumbai, India. To convey the unprecedented magnitude of this disaster, the mainstream newspaper the Times of India published editorials and photographs; in addition, their internationally famous staff cartoonist, R. K. Laxman, drew a cartoon depicting a human skull and a ravaged hut. A week later, the newspaper's "letters to the editor" column included an angry reader's note criticizing Laxman's insensitivity at caricaturing human misery"--
List of contents
Acknowledgments; Introduction: the empire of cartoons; Part I. Colonial Times: 1. Upstart Punches: why is impertinence always in the vernacular?; 2. Gandhi and the satyagraha of cartoons: cultivating a taste; 3. 'Dear Shankar ... your ridicule should never bite'; Part II. National Times: 4. Becoming a cartoonist: Mr Kutty and Bireshwarji; 5. Virtual gurus and the Indian psyche: R. K. Laxman; 6. Uncommon women and common men: pocket cartoons and 'situated knowledges'; 7. Artoons and our toons: the prose of an Indian art; Part III. Global Times: 8. Crafty petitions and street humor; 9. 'All our gods and goddesses are cartoons'; Conclusions: timeless myths and timely knowledge; Notes to the text; Bibliography; Index.
About the author
Ritu Gairola Khanduri is a cultural anthropologist and historian of India. She is Assistant Professor of Cultural Anthropology at the University of Texas, Arlington. In addition to her research on media, she is currently completing a book on Gandhi and material culture. Research for Caricaturing Culture in India has been supported by the Social Science Research Council, the Fulbright Foundation, the Institute for Historical Research-Mellon Foundation and the Wenner-Gren Foundation's prestigious Carley Hunt Postdoctoral fellowship.
