The nation imagined : a critical study of nationhood and identity through the cover art of Indian speculative literature : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Media Studies at Massey University, Wellington, New Zealand

Abstract

Over the past decade (2013–2023), India, the largest democracy in the world, has experienced a pronounced rise in religious nationalism, marked by its entrenchment in mainstream media, visual culture, and political rhetoric. This thesis examines the role of popular visual culture in shaping ideas of nationhood by focusing on the book cover art of Indian Speculative and Fantasy Fiction (ISFF). It argues that ISFF genre art functions as a visual discourse that not only mirrors but actively constructs and contests dominant narratives of Indian identity. Drawing upon Jacques Rancière’s aesthetics of politics and Roland Barthes’ semiotics, this study demonstrates how ISFF book covers encode visual themes—such as hyper-masculine portrayals of Hindu warrior-heroes, mythological iconography, and saffronised aesthetics—that reinforce nationalist myths of a unified, Hindu-centric “imagined community”. Through detailed visual analysis, the thesis reveals the ideological significance of these representations, exposing how they contribute to exclusionary conceptions of Indianness while simultaneously providing a platform to challenge hegemonic narratives. Specifically, it identifies tensions between religious nationalism, caste hierarchies, and the commodification of mythology in India’s contemporary political landscape. By situating these visual motifs within India’s broader visual and political history, the research highlights their capacity to naturalise historical revisionism and propagate militant masculinities tied to Hindu nationalist ideologies. This thesis makes an original contribution to the interdisciplinary study of visual culture and politics by elucidating how genre-specific visual discourse in ISFF reflects, mediates, and complicates contemporary identity politics in India. It offers a critical lens through which to understand how popular culture operates as an ideological apparatus that negotiates complex socio-political narratives within a globalising and increasingly polarised society.