"Photos of the Gods"
The Printed Image and Political Struggle in India

Distribution by the University of Chicago Press only to customers in the USA and Canada. Customers elsewhere should visit the UK website of Reaktion Books.
Distributed for Reaktion Books
239 pages
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50 color plates, 87 halftones
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7-1/2 x 9-3/4
- Contents
- Review Quotes
Table of Contents

Contents
Introduction: The Possibility of a Visual History
1. Indian Images Under the Shadow of Colonialism
2. Staging Hinduism: Lithographs and Popular Theatre in Calcutta, 1870-1885
3. Peshwas, Parrots and Bombs: Lithographs and Politics in Western India, 1870-1885
4. Lithographs and the Camera in Bombay and Delhi, 1890-1925
5. Pastoral Realism: The Nathdvara Devotional Aesthetic, 1925-1935
6. The Politics of Popular Images: From Cow Protection to M. K. Gandhi, 1890-1950
7. Half-Seen in Advance: Picture Production in Independent India, 1950-2000
8. What Pictures Want Now: Rural Consumers of Images, 1980-2000
Epilogue: The Recursive Archive
References
Select Bibliography
Acknowledgements
A Note on Transliteration
List of Illustrations
Index
1. Indian Images Under the Shadow of Colonialism
2. Staging Hinduism: Lithographs and Popular Theatre in Calcutta, 1870-1885
3. Peshwas, Parrots and Bombs: Lithographs and Politics in Western India, 1870-1885
4. Lithographs and the Camera in Bombay and Delhi, 1890-1925
5. Pastoral Realism: The Nathdvara Devotional Aesthetic, 1925-1935
6. The Politics of Popular Images: From Cow Protection to M. K. Gandhi, 1890-1950
7. Half-Seen in Advance: Picture Production in Independent India, 1950-2000
8. What Pictures Want Now: Rural Consumers of Images, 1980-2000
Epilogue: The Recursive Archive
References
Select Bibliography
Acknowledgements
A Note on Transliteration
List of Illustrations
Index
Review Quotes
Vibhuti Sachdev | Art History
"Pinney’s book is a fascinating read, with a narrative that is intersperesed with its own ’xeno-real’ moments... Photos of the Gods is a book that must not be ignored."
Daniel J. Rycroft | Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute
"An exceptional monograph. . . .Pinney radically alters existing understandings of popular culture and neo-traditional art in South Asia that often suppress their political efficacy. Combining sustained anthropological research, witnessed in the wide range of imagery and interviews cited, and insightful historical reflection . . . Pinney will inspire a generation of visual historians. . . . The text deals with these complex ideas with remarkable coherence and clarity. Photos of the Gods will be come to be recognized as one of the seminal text defining subaltern visuality. Inventive and challenging, in terms of methodology and ambition, it deserves to be read by all students and political transformation in South Asia and beyond."
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