Suitably Modern: Making Middle-Class Culture in Kathmandu

Suitably Modern trace the growth of a new mid¬dle class in Kathmandu as urban Nepalis harness the modern cultural resources of mass media and consumer goods to build modern identities and pioneer a new sociocultural space in one of the world's "least developed countries." Mark Liechty looks at the cultural practices of this new middle class, examin¬ing such phenomena as cinema and video viewing, popular music, film magazines, local fashion system, and advertising. He explores three interactive and mutually constitutive ethnographic terrains: a burgeoning local consumer culture, a growing mass-mediated popular imagination, and a recently emerging youth culture.

Republica 13 Nov 2009 page 10