by Hannah Arendt, 1973
The research project "Mediatized Solidarity" examines media practices of Indian protest movements. Recent years offer numerous case studies of different protest movements in India, in the context of which people have shown solidarity with and among protesters in diverse and creative ways. While on the one hand the increasing popularity of candlelight demonstrations and vigils is an aesthetic approach to new global urban forms of protest, there is also a constant recourse to historical repertoires and forms of expression of solidarity and social cohesion. In the current pandemic situation of physical distancing, solidarity is expressed through media even more than before - via social media, television, internet news, or radio.
The aim of the project is to provide a primarily theoretically informed analysis of media practices, strategies, and associated discourses for the staging of solidarity, which can be demonstrated on the basis of various recent protest movements in India.