Striking by Telegram, Avatar, and Geotag: Changing ICT Landscapes of Virtual Protest in India

Authors

  • Winifred R. Poster Washington University in St. Louis, International Affairs Program

Keywords:

India, labor, strike, virtual protest, telegram, Second Life, landscape

Abstract

Protest is often very much about place, even when it is virtual. This is apparent when examining virtual strikes via India over the past century: a telegraph strike in 1908, a Second Life strike in 2007, and a strike on FireChat, Instagram, and other platforms in 2019–20. This historical view reveals how Indian protestors who challenge the hegemonies of technology—from signalers, to software engineers, to data rights and antiracism activists—have been engaged in virtual strikes for over a century. In common, they have been linking physical, network, and digital landscapes as a key part of their strategy. Through this, they do the critical work of coproducing place in virtual strikes. 

Author Biography

Winifred R. Poster, Washington University in St. Louis, International Affairs Program

I study feminist labor theory, digital globalization, and Indian outsourcing.  For the past two decades, I’ve been following high-tech firms from the US to India, both in earlier waves of computer manufacturing and software, and more recent waves of back-office work and call centers.  My focus is on the intersection of post-colonial computing with the political economy of service labor.  I’m curious how information communication technologies are changing the meaning of work, dispersing it transnationally, incorporating new types of workers, and reshaping identities. Additional areas of interest include: Information and communication technology, labor and work, gender, ethnicity, digital culture, digital humanities, automation, 

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Published

2021-10-12

Issue

Vol. 15 (2021)

Section

Articles

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