BRICS| The Global as the Postcolonial: Desire, Identity, and Liminality in Indian Rock

Abstract

This essay uses the concept of desire to reinfuse existing conversations about the postcolonial condition and its relationship with globalization. The essay uses the Indian uptake of the seemingly alien cultural practice of rock music to understand the confluence of vestigial structures of colonialism and a globalizing subjectivity that challenge unified notions of a national identity in India. By exploring media coverage of rock and testimony from musicians, the essay unravels the liminal spaces of destabilized identities and fragmented subjectivities that mark the global postcolonial condition. In doing so, it illuminates the role of structures, past and present, in shaping cultural desire and determining affective responses to global culture.