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Abstract

The new economic reforms of 1991 led to the emergence of a consumption-driven economy and a booming service industry, producing new aspirations and sensibilities. Delhi’s new ‘world-class’ spaces of employment, pleasure and consumption demand new modes of belonging. At the level of the workforce in the service industry, belonging is mediated by proficiency in English and soft skills. Similarly, the clients also must demonstrate a knowledge of taste and distinction that goes beyond possessing the monetary means to consume. However, neither of these dispositions and skills are naturally given. My PhD dissertation is a detailed ethnographic study of grooming institutions that have emerged as sites that teach clients new lifestyle practices and how to be ‘professional’. They range from spoken English and personality development classes to finishing schools and image management. Aspirations to be part of the global culture of leisure and work are verbalized in the form of training modules like "emotional intelligence", "international etiquette", "personalized English conversation", "image management", "cosmopolitan diva" and “interview skills training”. Through their classes and pedagogy, I argue that the grooming schools in Delhi are breaking down the seemingly global-urban lifestyle into teachable components that will enable a cultural and aesthetic fit with the new sites of employment and consumption. I develop the visual and bodily fashioning of new selves and the production of new subjectivities by focussing on language, soft skills, bodily practices, and appearance management as taught in the different grooming schools of Delhi.

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