Abstract
Against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic, this paper documents how ordinary digital technologies, such as WhatsApp, were (re)appropriated for communication and pandemic coordination at a time when face-to-face meetings were impossible. However, there was also an emergent ‘dark’ side to its use. In the context of India’s democratic backsliding, middle-class Resident Welfare Associations (RWAs) deployed everyday technologies to (re)configure exclusionary digital socio-spatial boundaries through practices of ‘grassroots authoritarianism’. The paper documents how the national government co-opted RWAs in the implementation of COVID-19 rules and examines their role as an extension of the state within a longer history of middle-class power in India’s cities. We evidence how the ‘WhatsApp panopticon’ was mobilized as a tool of everyday community care and surveillance to shape morality regimes and influence the compliance of residents with national and locally enforced rules. We argue that digital socio-spatial practices of securitization, fear and compliance represent forms of ‘grassroots authoritarianism’ that echo and ensconce state-led ideological change in India. Building on ‘everyday authoritarianism’ we show how digital technologies and middle-class organizations are mediating India’s authoritarian shift from below.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 1121-1140 |
Number of pages | 20 |
Journal | Territory, Politics, Governance |
Volume | 11 |
Issue number | 6 |
Early online date | 16 Feb 2023 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 18 Aug 2023 |
Bibliographical note
Funding:This work was supported by The Leverhulme Trust and WhatsApp Misinformation and Social Science Research Award.
Keywords
- urban governance
- India
- nationalism
- COVID-19
- digital geographies
- authoritarianism
- borders