New Media and the Dalit Counter-public Sphere

Abstract

The recent surge of online mobilization among Dalits, who belong to India’s most oppressed caste groups, signals a remarkable trend in Internet activism and political engagement. Analyzing Dalit mobilization online, this article argues that technological affordances and distinct cultural practices associated with digital media have enabled certain sections of Dalits to resist the dominant caste narrative, thereby contributing to mobilization against caste-based discrimination. However, multiple “counter-narratives” within the subaltern digital sphere and hybrid media systems have placed limitations on unified action, signaling the need to address mediated factional positions and caste Hindu narratives online in efforts to strengthen the Dalit social movement. This article forwards the argument by examining the expansion of web forums organized by Dalits, with a closer focus on a nationwide online agitation that drew reference to the Black Lives Matter movement in the United States.