Digitization of Caste
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Publications Tagged with "Digitization of Caste"
1 publication found
2026
1 publicationBeyond Borders, Across Faiths: The Digitization of Muley Jat Identity
Digital platforms have shaped the ways in which caste identities are defined across geographical and religious differences. This paper deals with the identity formation of the Muley (Muslim) Jats, a community that resides in western Uttar Pradesh and how digital spaces allow the formation of a collective caste consciousness for the Hindu and Muslim Jats found across India and abroad. The research is built on six months of digital ethnography watching across three connected spaces: the community site Jatland.com, Instagram pages, and YouTube channels dedicated to Jat history and community life. Over this period, posts, videos, captions, comment sections and images were collected through field notes, screenshots, and worked through thematic analysis. Theoretically, this study is based on the ideas of how a community imagines itself in digital spaces, adopted from Benedict Anderson’s imagined communities, and how a community sees itself as connected through roots, adopted from C.H. Cooley’s looking glass self and how a community present itself on digital spaces through presentation, like glorifying their caste on digital spaces, adopted from Ervin Goffman’s presentation of self. What is shown by the material is that belonging is created around shared ancestry, gotra ties, and common narrative. But this sense of unity is not stable. It comes apart when the topic is elections, honor, or communal violence. These platforms reveal gender imbalance, and the leadership is mainly male, while women’s experiences and voices stay largely at the margins. The article argues that placing caste online is not a one-time transfer of something into a new space. It is an ongoing process by which identity is being made and remade, not just displayed.
