Springe direkt zu Inhalt

Prof. Radhika Gajjala, Ph.D.: Gendered Indian Digital Publics - Labor and Affect

Radhika Gajjala

Radhika Gajjala
Bildquelle: Radhika Gajjala

News vom 29.04.2021

The emergence of overlapping and intertwining publics occurs through the formation of both localized social media interactions and global facing publics. Common affective characteristics of such publics include ideological clashes, interpersonal disputes, feelings of being “left out” but they also include affects leading to self-affirmation, validation, friendship and collaboration. Affective bonds and filter bubbles of people who share similar political views or social ideals form but also encounters with people who have opposing views occur. All the while individuals in these spaces are fully aware of surveillance, stalking and trolling that occurs as they negotiate these digital publics.

Drawing long term digital ethnographic research in South Asian and Indian digital diasporic contexts and with a focus on particular case studies and moments, I examine how affective intensities create resonances in across social media platforms through hashtag activisms as they trans-nationalize localized issues. Methods for extracting and visualizing such connections through the digital interface are also discussed. The focus is on gendered political and entrepreneurial subjects as they emerge in digital publics and the key ways in which affects are deployed by different actors in making selves and others visible as political and/or entrepreneurial subjects.

4 / 5