ABSTRACT
The human body is a key site in the battle for new markets. It is the body that is fed. The post-independence notion that sovereignty is signalled by economic self-sufficiency and political nonalignment has been set aside as outmoded. Neoliberalism cherishes the consuming subject. Its economics depend on it. The preoccupation with consumption is accordingly deemed a freedom and a right. Hyper-nationalism is premised on an insular and circular reasoning. It prevails because of its alliance with power and its deployment of historical prejudices. Curiously, even as culture has become a contested zone, the resistance to neoliberalism in this domain has been at best limited. The most visible, annually recurring, challenge has come from the Right Wing which has seized on the increasing popularity of Valentine’s Day to register its outrage over what it regards as the polluting influence of foreign culture on Indian society.
