Politics of iconization a study of Ambedkar in visual culture

Abstract

The thesis problematizes the iconization of our nationalist heroes into the making of Ambedkar as a Dalit icon through a study of visual representation in the form of statutes, photographs and biopics. It has assesses the role of representation in constructing reality and how the visual media is involved in what Stuart Hall calls, politics of significance . It explains that a search for what is hidden beneath the obvious can lead to an awareness of constructednessand#8223; of reality. Ambedkarand#8223;s growing presence in the visual culture, while at one level suggests the emergence of counter-icon, at another level it brings us back to the reality of approaching life, aesthetics and politics through the fetishization of the historic persona. newline