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Unravelling the constitutional settlement: devolution, democracy and patronage in eastern Sri Lanka Contemporary South Asia (IF 1.093) Pub Date : 2024-02-27 Bart Klem
Like other conflict-torn societies, Sri Lankans have long sought to build peace through constitutional re-design with devolution of power and minority protections. However, the preoccupation with l...
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House of the people: parliament and the making of Indian democracy Contemporary South Asia (IF 1.093) Pub Date : 2024-02-18 Shreya Das
Published in Contemporary South Asia (Vol. 32, No. 1, 2024)
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Pakistan’s foreign policy: contemporary developments and dynamics Contemporary South Asia (IF 1.093) Pub Date : 2024-02-18 Sanjukta Nath
Published in Contemporary South Asia (Vol. 32, No. 1, 2024)
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Bridging neoliberalism and Hindu nationalism: the role of education in bringing about contemporary India Contemporary South Asia (IF 1.093) Pub Date : 2024-02-18 Sneha Roy
Published in Contemporary South Asia (Vol. 32, No. 1, 2024)
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Forging new partnerships, breaching new frontiers: India's diplomacy during the UPA rule 2004–14 Contemporary South Asia (IF 1.093) Pub Date : 2024-02-18 Dhanabalan Thangam
Published in Contemporary South Asia (Vol. 32, No. 1, 2024)
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Making bureaucracy work: norms, education and public service delivery in rural India Contemporary South Asia (IF 1.093) Pub Date : 2024-02-18 Therese Boje Mortensen
Published in Contemporary South Asia (Vol. 32, No. 1, 2024)
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Childlessness in Bangladesh: intersectionality, suffering and resilience Contemporary South Asia (IF 1.093) Pub Date : 2024-02-18 Anindita Majumdar
Published in Contemporary South Asia (Vol. 32, No. 1, 2024)
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Body on the barricades: life, art and resistance in contemporary India Contemporary South Asia (IF 1.093) Pub Date : 2024-02-18 Bharti Arora
Published in Contemporary South Asia (Vol. 32, No. 1, 2024)
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Books Available for Review Contemporary South Asia (IF 1.093) Pub Date : 2024-02-18 Dr Raphael Susewind
Published in Contemporary South Asia (Vol. 32, No. 1, 2024)
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Freedom inc.: gendered capitalism in new Indian literature and culture Contemporary South Asia (IF 1.093) Pub Date : 2024-02-18 Suryakumar Murugaiah, P. Divakar
Published in Contemporary South Asia (Vol. 32, No. 1, 2024)
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The South Asia Gallery, Manchester Museum Contemporary South Asia (IF 1.093) Pub Date : 2024-01-19 William Gould
In February 2023, the Manchester Museum opened its new South Asia Gallery. Co-curated by a collective - 'individuals from British Asian communities in and around Manchester and fellow experts', the...
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Jurisprudence and geography of Hindu majoritarianism: thinking with the 2019 Ayodhya judgement Contemporary South Asia (IF 1.093) Pub Date : 2024-01-19 Vera Lazzaretti, Knut A. Jacobsen
In this introduction, we first outline the background to this collection of papers and recall some of the conversations that were its genesis, before introducing the questions we wish to address th...
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Consolidating a political dynasty: Abhishek Banerjee, the Trinamool Congress, and the 2023 panchayat elections in West Bengal Contemporary South Asia (IF 1.093) Pub Date : 2023-12-27 Ritanjan Das, Kenneth Bo Nielsen
In this viewpoint article, we analyse the consolidation of Abhishek Banerjee as the future leader of the Trinamool Congress (TMC), the dominant political party in West Bengal and one of the most in...
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Multilingual education in south Asia: at the intersection of policy and practice Contemporary South Asia (IF 1.093) Pub Date : 2023-11-27 Gaoxin Li, Jianguang Sun
Published in Contemporary South Asia (Vol. 31, No. 4, 2023)
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Reordering Adivasi worlds: representation, resistance, memory Contemporary South Asia (IF 1.093) Pub Date : 2023-11-27 Harsh Vikram Singh
Published in Contemporary South Asia (Vol. 31, No. 4, 2023)
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Of histories (un)shared: India – Pakistan, postage stamps, and 1857 Contemporary South Asia (IF 1.093) Pub Date : 2023-11-27 Sridhar Krishnan
While much has been written about how imperialist and Indian nationalist historiographies have approached 1857, scant attention has been paid to how it has been remembered in Pakistan. This article...
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The dynamic of stepwise migrations of Nepalese high-skilled migrants via the Middle East Contemporary South Asia (IF 1.093) Pub Date : 2023-11-27 Marko Valenta, Marianne Garvik
This article explores the experiences of Nepalese highly skilled migrants who use temporary migration to the Gulf region as a stepping-stone to further migration to developed countries outside the ...
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Undignified names: caste, politics, and everyday life in North India Contemporary South Asia (IF 1.093) Pub Date : 2023-11-27 Bhawani Buswala
Focusing on the experiences of the marginalised castes in North India, this article examines the use of given names in intercommunity micro interactions and how it shapes the practices of everyday ...
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Popular geopolitics of ‘nuclear India’: tracing the evolution of India’s ‘regional’ and ‘global’ identities in the English daily The Hindu from 2011–2020 Contemporary South Asia (IF 1.093) Pub Date : 2023-11-27 Tanvi Pate
Conventional wisdom on India’s nuclear geopolitics takes a top-down approach, foregrounding state perceptions of India’s nuclear role in regional and global politics. This conventional approach ove...
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A preliminary review of India’s rural economic crisis: stagnant wages, piling debt and waning demand Contemporary South Asia (IF 1.093) Pub Date : 2023-11-27 Isha Gupta
Aggregate growth numbers for India present a positive outlook as its economic momentum builds back and the economy displays full recovery following the Covid-19 crisis. It consequently reflects the...
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Caste and partition in Bengal: the story of Dalit refugees, 1946–1961 Contemporary South Asia (IF 1.093) Pub Date : 2023-11-27 Soham Jorapur, Antara Chatterjee
Published in Contemporary South Asia (Vol. 31, No. 4, 2023)
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Mother cow, mother India, a multispecies politics of dairy in India Contemporary South Asia (IF 1.093) Pub Date : 2023-11-27 Hema Vaishnavi Ale
Published in Contemporary South Asia (Vol. 31, No. 4, 2023)
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Renunciation and longing: the life of a twentieth-century Himalayan Buddhist saint Contemporary South Asia (IF 1.093) Pub Date : 2023-11-27 V. Kalyani, M. Surya Kumar
Published in Contemporary South Asia (Vol. 31, No. 4, 2023)
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Maritime security complexes of the Indo-Pacific region Contemporary South Asia (IF 1.093) Pub Date : 2023-11-27 Anmol Mukhia
Published in Contemporary South Asia (Vol. 31, No. 4, 2023)
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The Outsiders Within: A Dalit Feminist Standpoint in the Life Narratives of Dalit Women Contemporary South Asia (IF 1.093) Pub Date : 2023-11-27 V. Kalyani, Latha Lavanya
Published in Contemporary South Asia (Vol. 31, No. 4, 2023)
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Evacuee Cinema: Bombay and Lahore in Partition Transit (1940-1960) Contemporary South Asia (IF 1.093) Pub Date : 2023-11-27 Varda Nisar
Published in Contemporary South Asia (Vol. 31, No. 4, 2023)
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Masculinity, consumerism and the post-national Indian city: streets, neighbourhoods, home Contemporary South Asia (IF 1.093) Pub Date : 2023-11-27 Chinggelniang
Published in Contemporary South Asia (Vol. 31, No. 4, 2023)
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Books Available for Review Contemporary South Asia (IF 1.093) Pub Date : 2023-11-27
Published in Contemporary South Asia (Vol. 31, No. 4, 2023)
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Dharmaśāstra and the legal personality of deities in the Ayodhya verdicts (2010 & 2019) Contemporary South Asia (IF 1.093) Pub Date : 2023-11-27 Christopher T. Fleming
This article explores how Hindu deities and places of worship are understood as legal persons in the Supreme Court of India’s (2019) and the Allahabad High Court’s (2014) verdicts concerning the ‘A...
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The ritual of parikramā, Hinduization of space and the case of Ayodhyā Contemporary South Asia (IF 1.093) Pub Date : 2023-11-26 Knut A. Jacobsen
The article looks at the uses of the concept of parikramā (circumambulation of a sacred spot) in the 2019 Supreme Court of India judgement on the Ayodhyā dispute and its aftermath. It unpacks the H...
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The view from Mathura: nationalist projections in local perspective Contemporary South Asia (IF 1.093) Pub Date : 2023-11-21 Nick Tackes
Following the Indian Supreme Court's verdict allowing the construction of a Rām Mandir at the site of the former Babri Masjid in 2019, Hindu nationalists have put renewed pressure on the North Indi...
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From ‘house of horrors’ to ‘sensitive’ governance: sex workers’ shelter detention in India Contemporary South Asia (IF 1.093) Pub Date : 2023-10-18 Vibhuti Ramachandran
Indian law prescribes ‘protective custody’ for sex workers, placing them in carceral shelters after police and NGO-initiated raids and rescues. Frequent allegations of abuse and incidents of escape...
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Passionate politics: democracy, development and India’s 2019 general election Contemporary South Asia (IF 1.093) Pub Date : 2023-08-29 Lidis Garbovan
Published in Contemporary South Asia (Vol. 31, No. 3, 2023)
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Making the right choice: narratives of marriage in Sri Lanka Contemporary South Asia (IF 1.093) Pub Date : 2023-08-29 Nupur Pattanaik
Published in Contemporary South Asia (Vol. 31, No. 3, 2023)
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Muslim New Womanhood in Bangladesh Contemporary South Asia (IF 1.093) Pub Date : 2023-08-29 Anushka Chaudhuri
Published in Contemporary South Asia (Vol. 31, No. 3, 2023)
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Markets, capitalism and urban space in India: right to sell Contemporary South Asia (IF 1.093) Pub Date : 2023-08-29 Shahid Mohammad Lone
Published in Contemporary South Asia (Vol. 31, No. 3, 2023)
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Subcontinental drift: domestic politics and India’s foreign policy Contemporary South Asia (IF 1.093) Pub Date : 2023-08-29 Javed Alam
Published in Contemporary South Asia (Vol. 31, No. 3, 2023)
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Kashmir at the crossroads: inside a 21st-century conflict Contemporary South Asia (IF 1.093) Pub Date : 2023-08-29 Syed Eesar Mehdi
Published in Contemporary South Asia (Vol. 31, No. 3, 2023)
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Identity, nationhood and Bangladesh independent cinema Contemporary South Asia (IF 1.093) Pub Date : 2023-08-29 V. Kalyani
Published in Contemporary South Asia (Vol. 31, No. 3, 2023)
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India’s Pakistan conundrum: managing a complex relationship Contemporary South Asia (IF 1.093) Pub Date : 2023-08-29 Namita Barthwal
Published in Contemporary South Asia (Vol. 31, No. 3, 2023)
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Urban development and environmental history in Modern South Asia Contemporary South Asia (IF 1.093) Pub Date : 2023-08-29 Purnima Dhavan
Published in Contemporary South Asia (Vol. 31, No. 3, 2023)
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Books Available for Review Contemporary South Asia (IF 1.093) Pub Date : 2023-08-29
Published in Contemporary South Asia (Vol. 31, No. 3, 2023)
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The Ayodhya decision and Marwari mercantile patronage: materializing a devotional geography for Rāma through Hanumān Contemporary South Asia (IF 1.093) Pub Date : 2023-08-29 R. Jeremy Saul
This article argues that even as the legal dispute over the Ram Janmabhumi site remained unresolved for decades, an unimpeded surge in Marwari mercantile financing of new temples for Hanumān, Rāma’...
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Role of anti-/pro-public sector bias in shaping perceived performance and fairness: an experimental exploration in South Asia Contemporary South Asia (IF 1.093) Pub Date : 2023-08-15 Hasan Muhammad Baniamin, Ishtiaq Jamil
People may evaluate the same level of performance differently because of different biases. The study explores the possible effects of anti-/pro-public-sector bias on perceived performance and fairn...
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Playing it the nation’s way: tradition, cosmopolitanism, and the native-masculine of Hindi sports films Contemporary South Asia (IF 1.093) Pub Date : 2023-08-09 Pooja Radhakrishnan, Dibyakusum Ray
The generic popularity of Hindi sports films has been overwhelming in recent years. The article examines this genre of Hindi films through the thematic construction of the sports‘man’ and its evolu...
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Asserting caste? Bhishti sanitation workers and Muslim caste associations in Jaipur Contemporary South Asia (IF 1.093) Pub Date : 2023-08-07 Gayatri Jai Singh Rathore
ABSTRACT The article analyses the ways in which low-ranked Muslims mobilise collective terms for self-identification to avail preferential state policies (reservations). Specifically, it focuses on the strategies deployed by the Bhishtis, a caste group associated with carrying water, to be listed as Other Backward Classes (OBC) and claim municipal sanitation work as ‘safāī karamchārī’. Reservation
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Organising the Sheikh sanitation workers in Srinagar: from the politics of dignity to Pasmanda activism? Contemporary South Asia (IF 1.093) Pub Date : 2023-08-02 Hafsa Sayeed Shah
ABSTRACT This article seeks to make sense of the collective mobilisation of sanitation workers, who mainly belong to the Sheikh caste, in Kashmir’s capital Srinagar. Based on ethnographic fieldwork and interviews, I document how two organisations—the sanitation workers’ union and the All Jammu and Kashmir Pasmanda Tabqajat Federation—pursue a politics of dignity to counter the historical and systemic
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Anjuman, jami‘at, and association: what Sayyid organizations tell us about associational forms among Muslim caste groups Contemporary South Asia (IF 1.093) Pub Date : 2023-07-31 Julien Levesque
ABSTRACT In the early decades of the twentieth century in colonial India, the development of education, the expansion of electoral politics, and the decennial censuses led many caste communities, or ‘caste groups’, to organize collectively in search of internal solidarity and public assertion. Informed by the notions of service and reform, Muslims participated in this new associationism. Among them
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Caste politics, minority representation, and social mobility: the associational life of Muslim caste in India Contemporary South Asia (IF 1.093) Pub Date : 2023-07-27 Julien Levesque, Soheb Niazi
ABSTRACT Social stratification among Muslims in South Asia, specifically the phenomenon of Muslim caste, has recently gained scholarly and media attention, particularly in India. However, the public discussion – often empirically shallow and politically polarized – fails to adequately explain the mechanisms through which Muslims perpetuate social inequality while invoking egalitarian principles. This
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Afterword: questions for the study of Muslim castes and anti-caste Islam Contemporary South Asia (IF 1.093) Pub Date : 2023-07-26 Joel Lee
ABSTRACT This afterword critically engages with the introduction and five essays of this special section on Muslim caste associations, illuminating their distinctive contributions and posing questions toward the further development of a collective research agenda.
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The political life of Muslim caste: articulations and frictions within a Pasmanda identity Contemporary South Asia (IF 1.093) Pub Date : 2023-07-21 Shireen Azam
ABSTRACT The topic of Muslim caste has been getting space in media discourse and national politics recently through the concept of ‘Pasmanda’ – a term which refers to lower-caste Muslims. As the term gets wider purchase, it is important to question the concept and the category. What is the relationship of the category of Pasmanda with Muslim caste? Which struggles of Muslim lower castes is the term
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Social mobility and politicisation of caste among the Rayeens of Uttar Pradesh Contemporary South Asia (IF 1.093) Pub Date : 2023-07-21 Azeem Ahmed
ABSTRACT This article examines the role of caste organisations in the process of social mobility of a marginalised Muslim birādarī, focusing specifically on the Rayeen (vegetable sellers) caste. The article maps the caste panchāyat, association, and Foundation, highlighting their respective role and function in the process of social mobility and political representation. I show that the various organisations
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Networks, space and belonging: the Marwaris in Manipur Contemporary South Asia (IF 1.093) Pub Date : 2023-07-20 S. Seigoulien Haokip
This article aims to supplement existing economic analyses of the Marwari mercantile network by exploring how the network is both grounded spatially and reproduced culturally in Manipur. It discuss...
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Caste and politics in (West) Bengal: in conversation with Sekhar Bandyopadhyay Contemporary South Asia (IF 1.093) Pub Date : 2023-07-12 Sucharita Sen, Sekhar Bandyopadhyay
ABSTRACT Although many commentators believed that caste did not matter in West Bengal, in recent years it has emerged as a significant factor in electoral politics. The decline of the Left and the rise of the centrist-incumbent have fanned identity politics and the resurgence of caste-based political mobilisation. In this conversation, Sekhar Bandyopadhyay, a well-known expert in the history and politics
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Dynastic dilemma in South Asia: influence, networks and shamefacedness Contemporary South Asia (IF 1.093) Pub Date : 2023-07-10 Ritanjan Das, Kenneth Bo Nielsen, Arild Engelsen Ruud
ABSTRACT This article contributes to the growing literature on political dynasticism in contemporary South Asia and shifts the focus from the much-debated national level dynasties to the usually ignored dynasties operating at subnational and regional levels. Analytically, it investigates the ‘moment’ of succession, conceptualised as the period when new heirs are actively enrolled in a dynastic formation
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The relationship between female labor force participation and violent conflicts in South Asia Contemporary South Asia (IF 1.093) Pub Date : 2023-06-27 Matías Morales Cerda, Gladys López-Acevedo, Raymond Robertson
ABSTRACT This paper explores the link between the prevalence of violent conflicts and the extremely low female labor force participation rates observed in South Asian countries. The Labor Force Surveys from Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, India, and Pakistan are merged with the Global Terrorism Database to estimate the effect of terrorist attacks on female labor supply. We exploit the geographical variation
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‘I don’t know how we can stop ragging’: a qualitative study on the perceptions of staff and work-affiliated individuals at a Sri Lankan University, on the phenomena of ragging Contemporary South Asia (IF 1.093) Pub Date : 2023-06-23 Ayanthi Wickramasinghe, Birgitta Essén, Jill Trenholm, Pia Axemo
ABSTRACT Ragging in Sri Lanka is a longstanding initiation ritual, similar to hazing and bullying. The severe harassment of new students by seniors has led to adverse consequences including depression, university dropouts and suicide. Although, a significant problem, research on ragging is scarce. This research aimed to explore how staff and work-affiliated individuals at Jaffna University resonate
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The Ayodhya case, freedom of religion, and the making of modernist ‘Hinduism’ Contemporary South Asia (IF 1.093) Pub Date : 2023-06-23 Ratna Kapur
This article offers a close reading of the 2019 Supreme Court decision in the Ayodhya case supporting the construction of a temple dedicated to Rām, a central deity in the Hindu pantheon. It unpack...
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Reordering Adivasi worlds: representation, resistance, memory Contemporary South Asia (IF 1.093) Pub Date : 2023-06-20 Daniel J. Rycroft
Published in Contemporary South Asia (Vol. 31, No. 2, 2023)
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Policy for cultural and creative industries in India: the issue of regulation through digital policy Contemporary South Asia (IF 1.093) Pub Date : 2023-06-20 Philippe Bouquillion, Christine Ithurbide
ABSTRACT This article examines the evolution of public policy for cultural and creative industries in the context of building India as a digital nation. How has the rise of digital industries in the building of the country permeated policies related to cultural industries, and what have been the consequences of this trend? It will also explore the tensions regarding the evolution of the role of the