Jean-Thomas Martelli
Biographic Data
| ID | 287031 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Jean-Thomas Martelli |
| GIVEN NAMES | Jean-Thomas |
| FAMILY NAME | Martelli |
| SIGNATURE | MARTELLI J |
| AFFILIATIONS | Centre for Social Sciences and Humanities |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-4555-179X |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 12 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 24 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 12 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2018 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2023 |
| H-INDEX | 4 |
Populism à la Carte: The paradoxical political communication of Narendra Modi on Twitter
How and where is democracy ‘hacked’? Studies examining the variability of the populist discourse rely on the—often tacit—assumption that global digital platforms are used similarly from one country to the other. By examining political rhetoric on Twitter, we show that populist communication is tailored to a particular audience profile rather than a particular social media (SM). More specifically, we compare Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's t…
The sound, the fury and the silences: The politics of influence in digitalizing India
There is no conflict of interest to declare
Populist Careers as Autonomy-Making: A Longitudinal Ethnography of Political Entry in North India
Accomplished populists are researched from distant quarters, long after their populist turn. Yet, populism—the attempt to represent the people through being the people—is not an overnight decision; it results from a gradual self-fashioning welded to the political trajectory of its bearer. This article proposes to explore populism diachronically as a political career. It builds on a seven-year ethnography of Indian student activism and political e…
Do Populist Leaders Mimic the Language of Ordinary Citizens? Evidence From India
Minimal understandings of populism focus on measuring explicit stances of antielitism and people centrism. What remains poorly understood is the way less overt forms of populist rhetoric enable leaders to emulate the language of common citizens to achieve electoral success. This article suggests that the study of the populist discourse also requires taking into account their implicit occurrences, that is, those conveying connect, closeness, commo…
Chat-H I: Exploring Indian National Identity Through Machine-Generated Text
Situated at the crossroads of computational politics and intellectual history, the article abstracted here interrogates Chat-Hi:, the prototype of an interactive art installation using a natural language processing model trained on a large database of speeches by Indian prime ministers since 1946. Machine learning (ML)–powered, Chat-Hi: generates analytically intelligible answers to viewers’ questions, such as: What is the idea of India? The medi…
Can the Popular Disembody Populism? Students and the Re-appropriation of the Nationalist Floating Signifier in Contemporary Indian Politics
This ethnographic account chronicles the journey of one of the largest anti-government protests since India’s independence. It examines the pivotal role of students—initially activists and then first-time participants—in crystallizing challenges to the ruling dispensation, not only by opposing it directly, but through subverting its way of claiming representation. More specifically, it is the strategic reuse of the pervasive anti-institutional an…
The Politics of Our Selves: Left self-fashioning and the production of representative claims in everyday Indian campus politics
Through engaging with everyday practices among student activists in contemporary Indian campus politics, this ethnographic study examines the breadcrumb trail between the left and self-fashioning. It focuses on a performative modality of political representation in Indian democracy by tracing the formation of biographical reconfigurations that implement subject-oriented techniques. The article charts their relevance in producing political legitim…
Dreamers: How young Indians are changing the world
International audience
How Campuses Mediate a Nationwide Upsurge against India's Communalization. An Account from Jamia Millia Islamia and Shaheen Bagh in New Delhi
We return to the notion of generational communities introduced in this special issue in light of the ongoing pan-Indian protests spearheaded by students against the Indian government’s initiative to define accession to citizenship on religious lines. Applicable to individuals who entered India prior to 2014; the recent Act of Parliament permits the authorities to grant citizenship to “persecuted minorities” from three neighboring countries while …
The Spillovers of Competition: Value-based Activism and Political Cross-fertilization in an Indian Campus
The recent spur of student-led mobilizations in India led to the portrayal of select public universities as the epitome of resistance, dissent and countercultural politics. Departing from essentialist approaches to student politics, this article outlines the processes by which campus spaces activate the formation of political attitudes among participants. It builds on an archival and ethnographic account of educated youth politics in one of the m…
Generational Communities: Student Activism and the Politics of Becoming in South Asia
The wide resonance of the aphorism, “from shadows to the stars,” closing the 2016 suicide letter of lower caste student activist Rohith Vemula suggests broken hopes for South Asian educated youth. It points at the tragic obstacles to political change and social upliftment experienced by many young people, reflecting a characteristic desire for individual and collective change. The astounding protests that ensued from Rohith’s suicide in India are…
From one participant cohort to another: Surveying inter-generational political incubation in an Indian University
Several recent studies propose that political choices of Indian youth can hardly be distinguished from those of their parents in many respects. Contrary to this well-established understanding, this article shows that when set apart from the spheres of family and work, students in a flagship Indian university—mostly in the social sciences and humanities—gradually transform their political attitudes in light of prolonged exposure to a campus enviro…
Do Populist Leaders Mimic the Language of Ordinary Citizens? Evidence From India
Minimal understandings of populism focus on measuring explicit stances of antielitism and people centrism. What remains poorly understood is the way less overt forms of populist rhetoric enable leaders to emulate the language of common citizens to achieve electoral success. This article suggests that the study of the populist discourse also requires taking into account their implicit occurrences, that is, those conveying connect, closeness, commo…
The Politics of Our Selves: Left self-fashioning and the production of representative claims in everyday Indian campus politics
Through engaging with everyday practices among student activists in contemporary Indian campus politics, this ethnographic study examines the breadcrumb trail between the left and self-fashioning. It focuses on a performative modality of political representation in Indian democracy by tracing the formation of biographical reconfigurations that implement subject-oriented techniques. The article charts their relevance in producing political legitim…
Generational Communities: Student Activism and the Politics of Becoming in South Asia
The wide resonance of the aphorism, “from shadows to the stars,” closing the 2016 suicide letter of lower caste student activist Rohith Vemula suggests broken hopes for South Asian educated youth. It points at the tragic obstacles to political change and social upliftment experienced by many young people, reflecting a characteristic desire for individual and collective change. The astounding protests that ensued from Rohith’s suicide in India are…
From one participant cohort to another: Surveying inter-generational political incubation in an Indian University
Several recent studies propose that political choices of Indian youth can hardly be distinguished from those of their parents in many respects. Contrary to this well-established understanding, this article shows that when set apart from the spheres of family and work, students in a flagship Indian university—mostly in the social sciences and humanities—gradually transform their political attitudes in light of prolonged exposure to a campus enviro…
How Campuses Mediate a Nationwide Upsurge against India's Communalization. An Account from Jamia Millia Islamia and Shaheen Bagh in New Delhi
We return to the notion of generational communities introduced in this special issue in light of the ongoing pan-Indian protests spearheaded by students against the Indian government’s initiative to define accession to citizenship on religious lines. Applicable to individuals who entered India prior to 2014; the recent Act of Parliament permits the authorities to grant citizenship to “persecuted minorities” from three neighboring countries while …
The Spillovers of Competition: Value-based Activism and Political Cross-fertilization in an Indian Campus
The recent spur of student-led mobilizations in India led to the portrayal of select public universities as the epitome of resistance, dissent and countercultural politics. Departing from essentialist approaches to student politics, this article outlines the processes by which campus spaces activate the formation of political attitudes among participants. It builds on an archival and ethnographic account of educated youth politics in one of the m…
Populist Careers as Autonomy-Making: A Longitudinal Ethnography of Political Entry in North India
Accomplished populists are researched from distant quarters, long after their populist turn. Yet, populism—the attempt to represent the people through being the people—is not an overnight decision; it results from a gradual self-fashioning welded to the political trajectory of its bearer. This article proposes to explore populism diachronically as a political career. It builds on a seven-year ethnography of Indian student activism and political e…
Can the Popular Disembody Populism? Students and the Re-appropriation of the Nationalist Floating Signifier in Contemporary Indian Politics
This ethnographic account chronicles the journey of one of the largest anti-government protests since India’s independence. It examines the pivotal role of students—initially activists and then first-time participants—in crystallizing challenges to the ruling dispensation, not only by opposing it directly, but through subverting its way of claiming representation. More specifically, it is the strategic reuse of the pervasive anti-institutional an…
From one participant cohort to another: Surveying inter-generational political incubation in an Indian University
Several recent studies propose that political choices of Indian youth can hardly be distinguished from those of their parents in many respects. Contrary to this well-established understanding, this article shows that when set apart from the spheres of family and work, students in a flagship Indian university—mostly in the social sciences and humanities—gradually transform their political attitudes in light of prolonged exposure to a campus enviro…
Dreamers: How young Indians are changing the world
International audience
How Campuses Mediate a Nationwide Upsurge against India's Communalization. An Account from Jamia Millia Islamia and Shaheen Bagh in New Delhi
We return to the notion of generational communities introduced in this special issue in light of the ongoing pan-Indian protests spearheaded by students against the Indian government’s initiative to define accession to citizenship on religious lines. Applicable to individuals who entered India prior to 2014; the recent Act of Parliament permits the authorities to grant citizenship to “persecuted minorities” from three neighboring countries while …
The Spillovers of Competition: Value-based Activism and Political Cross-fertilization in an Indian Campus
The recent spur of student-led mobilizations in India led to the portrayal of select public universities as the epitome of resistance, dissent and countercultural politics. Departing from essentialist approaches to student politics, this article outlines the processes by which campus spaces activate the formation of political attitudes among participants. It builds on an archival and ethnographic account of educated youth politics in one of the m…
Generational Communities: Student Activism and the Politics of Becoming in South Asia
The wide resonance of the aphorism, “from shadows to the stars,” closing the 2016 suicide letter of lower caste student activist Rohith Vemula suggests broken hopes for South Asian educated youth. It points at the tragic obstacles to political change and social upliftment experienced by many young people, reflecting a characteristic desire for individual and collective change. The astounding protests that ensued from Rohith’s suicide in India are…
Can the Popular Disembody Populism? Students and the Re-appropriation of the Nationalist Floating Signifier in Contemporary Indian Politics
This ethnographic account chronicles the journey of one of the largest anti-government protests since India’s independence. It examines the pivotal role of students—initially activists and then first-time participants—in crystallizing challenges to the ruling dispensation, not only by opposing it directly, but through subverting its way of claiming representation. More specifically, it is the strategic reuse of the pervasive anti-institutional an…
The Politics of Our Selves: Left self-fashioning and the production of representative claims in everyday Indian campus politics
Through engaging with everyday practices among student activists in contemporary Indian campus politics, this ethnographic study examines the breadcrumb trail between the left and self-fashioning. It focuses on a performative modality of political representation in Indian democracy by tracing the formation of biographical reconfigurations that implement subject-oriented techniques. The article charts their relevance in producing political legitim…
Chat-H I: Exploring Indian National Identity Through Machine-Generated Text
Situated at the crossroads of computational politics and intellectual history, the article abstracted here interrogates Chat-Hi:, the prototype of an interactive art installation using a natural language processing model trained on a large database of speeches by Indian prime ministers since 1946. Machine learning (ML)–powered, Chat-Hi: generates analytically intelligible answers to viewers’ questions, such as: What is the idea of India? The medi…
Populism à la Carte: The paradoxical political communication of Narendra Modi on Twitter
How and where is democracy ‘hacked’? Studies examining the variability of the populist discourse rely on the—often tacit—assumption that global digital platforms are used similarly from one country to the other. By examining political rhetoric on Twitter, we show that populist communication is tailored to a particular audience profile rather than a particular social media (SM). More specifically, we compare Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's t…
The sound, the fury and the silences: The politics of influence in digitalizing India
There is no conflict of interest to declare
Populist Careers as Autonomy-Making: A Longitudinal Ethnography of Political Entry in North India
Accomplished populists are researched from distant quarters, long after their populist turn. Yet, populism—the attempt to represent the people through being the people—is not an overnight decision; it results from a gradual self-fashioning welded to the political trajectory of its bearer. This article proposes to explore populism diachronically as a political career. It builds on a seven-year ethnography of Indian student activism and political e…
Do Populist Leaders Mimic the Language of Ordinary Citizens? Evidence From India
Minimal understandings of populism focus on measuring explicit stances of antielitism and people centrism. What remains poorly understood is the way less overt forms of populist rhetoric enable leaders to emulate the language of common citizens to achieve electoral success. This article suggests that the study of the populist discourse also requires taking into account their implicit occurrences, that is, those conveying connect, closeness, commo…
Political science (11 works) · Sociology (11 works) · Law (10 works) · Politics (10 works) · Law (6 works) · Media studies (5 works) · Populism, Right-Wing Movements (5 works) · Gender Studies (4 works) · Gender Studies (4 works) · Ideology (4 works)