Diginaka: English 2020

Differential and changing access to the Internet in Indiahas led to an explosion of user-created content across various platforms and media. This turn to the digital also has political and economic consequences, as seen in the imposition of AADHAAR and demonetisation. While the digital divide intensifies social hierarchies of caste, class and gender, it can also become part of post-capitalist ecologies, traversing the formal and informal sectors, even as the digital becomes central to social and political practices in different marginalised communities. Diginaka: Subaltern Politics and Digital Media in Post-Capitalist India explores this complex space of the digital from multiple perspectives and locations. This book explores various aspects of the digital in India, from documentaries, digital video activism in Mumbai, free WiFi and digital populism, to more intimate representations of the digital through circuits of affect, care and motherhood. The chapters focus on crucial areas of study such as the city, documentary and cinematic texts, gender and sexuality, labour, censorship and digital archives. Ultimately, the volume seeks to diagram various entry points into post-capitalist media ecologies as channels connecting the local and the digital in India.