Francis Cody is associate professor in the anthropology department and the Asian Institute at the University of Toronto. He is the author of The Light of Knowledge: Literacy Activism and the Politics of Writing in South India.

“This is the first major ethnographic study of the way in which the mobilization of a public is now carried out in India primarily through the new digitally powered mass media. From populist politics, court judgments, sensational crime and corruption to police brutality, Cody examines with brilliant clarity and theoretical sophistication the coming together of publics as well as counterpublics in Tamil Nadu.”

• Introduction: In the Event of NewsChapter One Populist PublicsChapter Two Defamation MachineChapter Three Law at LargeChapter Four Celebrity OutlawsChapter Five Short CircuitsEpilogue: Environmental EngineeringAcknowledgmentsNotesBibliographyIndex

Francis Cody is associate professor in the anthropology department and the Asian Institute at the University of Toronto. He is the author of The Light of Knowledge: Literacy Activism and the Politics of Writing in South India.

“This is the first major ethnographic study of the way in which the mobilization of a public is now carried out in India primarily through the new digitally powered mass media. From populist politics, court judgments, sensational crime and corruption to police brutality, Cody examines with brilliant clarity and theoretical sophistication the coming together of publics as well as counterpublics in Tamil Nadu.”

• Introduction: In the Event of NewsChapter One Populist PublicsChapter Two Defamation MachineChapter Three Law at LargeChapter Four Celebrity OutlawsChapter Five Short CircuitsEpilogue: Environmental EngineeringAcknowledgmentsNotesBibliographyIndex