Private Digital Spaces: Politics and WhatsApp in India
Key information
- Date
- Time
-
5:00 pm to 6:30 pm
- Venue
- SOAS, Philips Building
- Room
- Khalili Lecture Theatre (KLT)
About this event
Join us for a fascinating talk by Dr Lipika Kamra, who will present her research on the evolving role of WhatsApp in shaping political and social dynamics in India.
Drawing on extensive digital ethnographic research conducted in urban north India, Dr Kamra’s work examines how political actors in India leverage the affordances and habits of WhatsApp to cultivate new forms of political intimacy and kinship within WhatsApp’s private digital spaces. Her research explores how people navigate the complexities of right-wing nationalism while personal and domestic spheres become increasingly intertwined with everyday political life.
Presenting arguments from book that she is co-authoring on the politics of privacy and private digital spaces in contemporary times, Dr Kamra will discuss how WhatsApp functions as a disciplinary tool, influencing social norms and redefining boundaries of inclusion and exclusion within India’s emerging “ethnic democracy.”
Organised by the SOAS Digital Research Network and supported by the Centre for Creative Industries, Media and Screen Studies, and the Centre for Global Media and Communication.
Image: Yuri Samoilov (cc) via Flickr
