“Our Kommitment to the Nation”: Where Mary Kom (Identity) Meets Dalmia Cement (Development/Market)* Esse Dakter, Liyanage Darshana Research Scholars, Department of Cultural Studies, Tezpur University, Assam, India *This is a developed and updated version of paper parented at the International Seminar on Human Development and the Marginalised Sections in Northeast India: Issues, Challenges and Way Forward, on 18–20 March, 2013 at Assam University, Silchar, Assam, India. The authors acknowledge the guidance of Dr. Debarshi Prasad Nath, and valuable comments and suggestions by the participants especially those of Prof. Pradip Jyotii Mahanta, Dr. Parasmoni Dutta and Mr. Jayanta Vishnu Das of Department of Cultural Studies, Tezpur University. Online published on 7 May, 2014. Abstract Advertisements are rich ethnographic texts. Further, they are contested sites of social, cultural, political and ideological meanings in contemporary societies. The objective of this paper is to examine the cultural imaginings of development in North-East India, narrated in advertising form. This is a case study of 2013 advertising campaign for Dalmia cement featuring the Manipuri/North-East/Indian Olympic medalist Mary Kom, with a view to reveal the way it has incorporated issues of identities in North-East India and development prospects of construction-development equation. The paper will elaborate the complex meaning-making process of the said advertising campaign through a multidisciplinary reading. The focus is on importance of both Mary Kom and cement for the region, one being a symbol of North-Eastern-ness and the other a metaphor for development. It identifies an emerging new trend in the formulation of identities in the region, where a regional identity is reinforced by the prospects of development/market. This is a qualitative analysis where a set of reading tools like content analysis, semiotic analysis and discourse analysis are applied. Top Keywords Identity, development, cement, North-East India, Mary Kom. Top |