Gay Bombay: Globalization, Love and (Be)longing in Contemporary India [Paperback]

"Parmesh Shahani is an original. …This book will inspire and provoke many interested in understanding the intersections between sexuality, globalization, and new media." - Henry Jenkins, Author of Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide.

"Gay Bombay is a must-read! Shifting seamlessly through the personal, the Gay Bombay community, the national and the transnational, the book gives the reader unique understanding into what is means to be gay and Indian." - Jyoti Puri, Director, Graduate Program in Gender/Cultural Studies, Simmons College.

"Gay Bombay is a path-breaking study of homosexuality in modern Bombay/Mumbai that will be essential reading for students of gender and sexuality." - Rachel Dwyer, Professor of Indian Cultures and Cinema, University of London

'Parmesh Shahani is an original. …This book will inspire and provoke many interested in understanding the intersections between sexuality, globalization, and new media.' - Henry Jenkins, Author of Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide

'Gay Bombay is a must-read! Shifting seamlessly through the personal, the Gay Bombay community, the national and the transnational, the book gives the reader unique understanding into what is means to be gay and Indian.' - Jyoti Puri, Director, Graduate Program in Gender/Cultural Studies, Simmons College

'Gay Bombay is a path-breaking study of homosexuality in modern Bombay/Mumbai that will be essential reading for students of gender and sexuality.' - Rachel Dwyer, Professor of Indian Cultures and Cinema, University of London

Through a multi-sited ethnography in an online-offline community, Parmesh Shahani examines how Internet technologies, the media industry, audiences and broader socio-historical contexts shape gay identity in contemporary urban India. He realizes that the identity of a gay man in the community is negotiated on the stability of the idea of Indianness. For readers across the world focused on India, Gay Bombay will serve as a memorable journey through various transitions in urban India.

Some of the key features of this volume include:

" an exciting path breaking ethnography, which combines a large macro sweep with an intensely personal narrative. The author's memories flow in and out of the main narrative to create a distinct reading experience.

" a unique and timely look at urban contemporary Indian sexuality

" an integrated approach that illuminates how new media technologies, the media industry, audiences, and broader socio-historical contexts shape gay identity in contemporary urban India

" a different perspective on globalization in post-liberalization urban India, as India re-positions itself as a global superpower. How are its minorities being treated? How are they asserting themselves in this new imagination of the nation-state?

" weaving in of personal experience that helps us understand male same-sex desire in relation to quotidian experiences in a city like Bombay.