Mapping Queer Space(s) of Praxis and Pedagogy

Abstract

Chapter 10: Online Romeos and Gay-dia: Exploring Queer Spaces in Digital India Rohit K. Dasgupta builds on the complexity of negotiating identity in public spaces by refocusing attention on the subversive potential of digital queer spaces in India. Academic discourses on queer sexuality in contemporary India have so far concentrated on textual, cinematic, and sociological representations, with little scholarship on the digital landscape and the various ways in which it shapes the construct of the queer male identity in India. Dasgupta examines how Internet and digital technologies, the media industry, and sociohistorical contexts provide a subversive space within which queer male identity is negotiated. Also offering an overview of media development in India, Dasgupta discusses queer representations in mass media and digital queer spaces in India, which are a consequence of the shifting political and social landscapes of urban and suburban India. Finally, Dasgupta reviews key debates in digital culture and queer studies, situating the Indian queer digital space within the intersection of globalization and postcolonial praxis.