Objects and afterlives : three Godrej objects and the history of modern India / Lakshmi Subramanian

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Subramanian, Lakshmi, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Godrej Group.

Commercial products--India--History.

Commercial products.

Consumption (Economics)--India--History.

Consumption (Economics).

India--Economic conditions.

India.

Economic history.

Genre:

History

Physical Description:

1 online resource

Place of Publication:

Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2026

Summary:

"The book offers a rich historical study of goods and commodities in modern India, focusing on three iconic objects, namely the Godrej Storwel, the office chair, and the refrigerator. It pays close attention to the larger material context in which manufacturing experiments were undertaken by a premier business house, namely Godrej & Boyce, whose goods became household names, and were sought after by an emerging middle class. It simultaneously documents and analyses the emergence and success of a business firm over time, through a period of chronic shortages, government oversight, and a narrow consumer base that changed with liberalization in the 1990s. It makes a strong pitch for a careful and critical reading of business archives and demonstrates how these can be deployed to write a nuanced history of production and consumption"-- Provided by publisher

Contents:

The making of a brand : the Storwel in Indian middle-class imagination, 1947–1990

A chair for all seasons : experiments with seating

The coolest one! Refrigeration and the Indian middle class

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index

Online resource; title from PDF title page (Cambridge Core, viewed August 17, 2026)

Other Format:

Print version: Subramanian, Lakshmi Objects and afterlives

ISBN:

9781009700818

1009700812

OCLC:

1611121051

Publisher Number:

CIPO000418411

Access Restriction:

Restricted for use by site license