Professor Anandi Ramamurthy

My primary research interests are focused on critically analysing ‘race’ and postcoloniality in media and culture to challenge hegemonies and give voice to the voiceless.

My first book, Imperial Persuaders: Images of Africa and Asia in British Advertising, analysed various conflicting and changing ideologies of colonialism and racism in British advertising. It revealed the historical and production context of many well-known advertising icons, interrogating the commercial interests of companies in order to understand more effectively their production of racialised ideologies

Since the publication of Imperial Persuaders, I have explored contemporary representations of the Global South to consider the racialised nature of images employed across a wide range of publicity including fair trade and charity images. I am currently engaged in collaborative research which explores self-orientalisation in India’s Nation Branding.

While critically engaging with hegemonic media representations, I have also sought to explore resistance to stereotyping and racism and to collect people’s histories. My most recent book explored the history of the Asian Youth Movements in Britain. Black Star: Britain’s Asian Youth Movements was based on interviews with dozens of participants as well as a digital archive of materials relating to the movements which has been collected and stored at www.tandana.org.

The development of the archive was funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund. Jodi Burkett writes: ‘This book is a timely and important contribution to the growing field of historical literature on the 1970s and 1980s and, quite rightly, demands that we think again about the nature of black politics and activism and its location within wider discourses about British history and identity.’ 

My interest in people’s histories has also led me to collect Partition stories in Pakistan to consider the role of not just fear and violence, but also class relations that were communalised in pre-partition Punjab. This work was supported by the British Academy and will be published shortly by the Journal of Punjab Studies.

I am currently conducting research on representations of Palestine. A forthcoming article explores the visualisation of Gaza during the 2014 bombing by Israel. The strategies used by Palestinians to contest dominant narratives and representations of Palestinian history and Palestinians in general represents my current area of interest.

Department of Media Arts and Communication

Business, Technology and Enterprise

Media 

• Culture and Creativity Research Institute

Journal articles

Ramamurthy, A., & Edwards, L. (2017). (In)credible India? : a critical analysis of India’s nation branding. Communication Culture and Critique, 10 (2), 322-343. http://doi.org/10.1111/cccr.12152

Ramamurthy, A. (2016). Contesting the Visualisation of Gaza. Photographies, 9 (1), 31-50. http://doi.org/10.1080/17540763.2016.1138994

Ramamurthy, A. (2012). Absences and silences: the representation of the tea picker in colonial and fair trade advertising. Visual Culture in Britain, 13 (3), 367-381. http://doi.org/10.1080/14714787.2012.717457

Ramamurthy, A. (2011). Remembering the Asian youth movement in Manchester. Journal of the North West Labour History, 36, 31-36.

Ramamurthy, A. (2011). South Asian mobilisation in two northern cities: a comparison of Manchester and Bradford Asian youth movements. Ethnicity and Race in a Changing World, 2 (2), 26-42. http://clok.uclan.ac.uk/2096/

Ramamurthy, A. (2006). Archiving the history of a social movement: Tandana-Glow worm, the Asian Youth Movements Archive. South Asian Cultural Studies, 1 (1), 12-13. http://www.southasianculturalstudies.co.uk/Documents/Document%204%20Ramamurthy,%20A%20-%20Tandana-Glowworm%20%E2%80%93%20Archiving%20struggles%20for%20social%20justice%20The%20Asian%20Youth%20Movements.pdf

Ramamurthy, A. (2006). The politics of Britain's Asian youth Movements. Race and Class, 48, 38-60. http://doi.org/10.1177/0306396806069522

Ramamurthy, A. (2000). Landscapes of order and Imperial control: The representation of plantation production in late-Nineteenth and Early-Twentieth Century tea advertising. Space and Culture, 2 (4-5), 159-168. http://doi.org/10.1177/120633120000200407

Ramamurthy, A. (1999). Greater France: A history of French overseas expansion. EUROPEAN HISTORY QUARTERLY, 29 (1), 161-163. http://doi.org/10.1177/026569149902900108

Conference papers

Ramamurthy, A. (2015). Marxism and anti-imperialism in Britain's Asian youth movements. In MeCCSA Annual Conference : Generations, Northumbria University, 7 January 2015 - 9 January 2015.

Ramamurthy, A. (2005). Waiting for an Engineer: Memories of Partition in Porthohar. In Sustainable Development Policy Institute's Eighth Sustainable Development Conference, Islamabad, ISBN 969878450-0, (pp. 307-315).

Book chapters

Ramamurthy, A. (2021). Advertising and Race. In Farris, S., Skeggs, B., Toscano, A., & Bromberg, S. (Eds.) The SAGE Handbook of Marxism. Sage: https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/the-sage-handbook-of-marxism/book248518

Ramamurthy, A., & Wilson, K. (2017). ‘An act of struggle in the present’: History, education and political campaigning by South Asian anti-imperialist activists in Britain. In Choudry, A., & Vally, S. (Eds.) Reflections on knowledge, learning and social movements: History's schools. Abingdon: Routledge: https://www.routledge.com/Reflections-on-Knowledge-Learning-and-Social-Movements-Historys-Schools/Choudry-Vally/p/book/9781138059108

Ramamurthy, A. (2015). Spectacles and illusions: photography and commodity culture. In Photography: a critical introduction. (pp. 205-256). London: Routledge: http://doi.org/10.4324/9781315727370

Ramamurthy, A. (2014). Marxism and Anti-imperialism in Britain’s Asian Youth Movements. In Price, S., & Sabido, R.S. (Eds.) Contemporary Protest and the Legacy of Dissent. (pp. 189-206). Rowman and Littlefield: https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781783481750/Contemporary-Protest-and-the-Legacy-of-Dissent

Ramamurthy, A., & Wilson, K. (2013). "Come and Join the Freedom Lovers!": Racism, appropriation and resistance in Advertising’. In Hund, W.D., Pickering, M., & Ramamurthy, A. (Eds.) Commodity Racism and Colonial Advertising. Lit Verlag

Ramamurthy, A., & Wilson, K. (2013). "Come and Join the Freedom Lovers!": Racism, appropriation and resistance in Advertising’. In Hund, W.D., Pickering, M., & Ramamurthy, A. (Eds.) Commodity Racism and Colonial Advertising. Lit Verlag

Ramamurthy, A. (2009). Spectacles and illusions: photography and commodity culture. In Photography: a critical introduction, Fourth Edition. (pp. 205-256). London/New York: Routledge

Ramamurthy, A. (2006). Images of an industrialised Empire and Commonwealth during the shift to neo-colonialism. In Faulkner, S., & Ramamurthy, A. (Eds.) Visual culture and decolonisation in Britain. Aldershot: Ashgate

Ramamurthy, A. (2006). Images of an industrialised Empire and Commonwealth during the shift to neo-colonialism. In Faulkner, S., & Ramamurthy, A. (Eds.) Visual culture and decolonisation in Britain. Aldershot: Ashgate

Adi, H., & Ramamurthy, A. (2006). Tracing fragments in the visual culture of anti-colonial struggle in Britain. In Faulkner, S., & Ramamurthy, A. (Eds.) Visual culture and decolonisation in Britain. Aldershot: Ashgate

Adi, H., & Ramamurthy, A. (2006). Tracing fragments in the visual culture of anti-colonial struggle in Britain. In Faulkner, S., & Ramamurthy, A. (Eds.) Visual culture and decolonisation in Britain. Aldershot: Ashgate

Ramamurthy, A. (2006). Waiting for the engineer: memories of Partition in Pothohar. In At the crossroads: South Asian research, policy and development in a globalized world. Pakistan: Sustainable Development Policy Institute

Ramamurthy, A. (2005). Secular identities and the Asian Youth Movements. In 10th International conference on alternative futures and popular protests. Manchester: Manchester Metropolitan University

Ramamurthy, A. (2003). Orientalism and the paisley pattern. In Boydell, C., & Shaffer, M. (Eds.) Disentangling textiles. (pp. 121-134). Middlesex: Middlesex University Press

Books

Ramamurthy, A., & Kelemen, P. (2020). Struggling to be seen: The Travails of Palestinian Cinema. Daraja Press. https://darajapress.com/publication/struggling-to-be-seen-the-travails-of-palestinian-cinema

Ramamurthy, A. (2013). Black Star: Britain's Asian Youth Movements. London: Pluto Press.

Hund, W.D., Pickering, M., & Ramamurthy, A. (Eds.). (2013). Colonial advertising and commodity racism. Lit Verlag.

Ramamurthy, A., & Faulkner, S. (Eds.). (2006). Visual culture and decolonisation in Britain. Aldershot: Ashgate.

Ramamurthy, A. (2003). Imperial persuaders: images of African and Asian People in British Advertising. Manchester: Manchester University Press.

Internet Publications

Ramamurthy, A. (2019). Resisting Displacement, Overcoming Separation in Palestinian Cinema. https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/viewfinder/articles/resisting-displacement-overcoming-separation-in-palestinian-cinema/

Ramamurthy, A. (2019). ‘Racism, Self Defence and the Asian Youth Movements’. https://archive.discoversociety.org/2019/04/03/racism-self-defence-and-the-asian-youth-movements/

Exhibitions

Ramamurthy, A. (2005). Come what may: The Asian youth movements and campaigns for social justice in the 1970s and 1980s Britain. Manchester Central Reference LIbrary/ National Museum of Labour History.

Ramamurthy, A. (1990). Black markets: images of black people in advertising and packaging 1880-1990. Touring exhibition Manchester Cornerhouse, South Bank Centre, Coventry Art Gallery.

Ramamurthy, A. (1990). Fear and fantasy. Manchester City Art Gallery.

Media

Ramamurthy, A. (2007). Kara Tara: a history of the Asian youth movements. [Video/streaming video]. http://www.tandana.org/Video/watch-kala-tara-dvd-online.html

Presentations

Ramamurthy, A. (2015). Open Bethlehem - post screening discussion with director Leila Sansour. Presented at: Open Bethlehem screening, Sheffield Showroom Cinema, 2015

Ramamurthy, A. (2014). The lessons and legacies of Britain's Asian youth movements. Presented at: Political Studies Association, Manchester, 2014

Ramamurthy, A. (2014). Black star: Britain's Asian youth movement. Presented at: Bristol Anarchist Book Fair, Hydra Books

Other publications

Ramamurthy, A. (2005). Tandana-Glow worm archive of approximately 2000 documents relating to the Asian Youth Movements. Not specified: http://www.tandana.org/