Knowing Digital Governance from Below
Affective Knowledges and Feminist Resistance in Digital India
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 2651870 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Claire Crawford (0000-0001-5789-463X), Claire Antonia Crawford (0000-0003-4637-4967, University of Cambridge, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Volume | 8 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 107-129 |
| Publication date | 2025-04-03 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of Extreme Anthropology (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2535-3241 • E-ISSN: 2535-3241 |
| Publisher | University of Oslo Library (PUBLISHER • NO) |
| DOI | 10.5617/jea.11782 |
| OpenAlex | W4409140278 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 3 |
This paper considers the question of what it is to 'know' digital governance through an experiential, bottom-up lens, and presents some empirical detail from recent fieldwork with feminist movement actors in northern India - both formally organised feminist 'workers' and the broader social movement. Despite existing post-structural, feminist, post- and de-colonial work that has demonstrated the importance of understanding partial and situated perspectives, governance through the digital (rather than of the digital) has largely been understood from top-down, policy perspectives that focus on the intentions behind the governance tools. Drawing on digital ethnographic work carried out between 2019 and 2023, I argue that what is revealed through studying digital governance from the perspective of those who are governed is a deeply affective relationship with digital technology. Working within a digital space, feminists acknowledge and respond to their own perceived lack of knowledge of digital technology: a 'digital skills divide'. This is explicitly acknowledged; the partialness of knowledge is part of the knowledge itself. In the context of increasing threats and perceived threats in the digital space - of violence, harassment and surveillance - feminists seek to organise specifically around the need for better digital skills and also employ strategies to keep themselves 'safe' while organising online. Digital governance from this perspective is a power relationship of socio-technical intimacies as well as a simply an organising structure
Business · Corporate governance · Political science · Computer Science · E-Government and Public Services · FinTech, Crowdfunding, Digital Finance · Legal and Policy Issues · Finance
| Unique citing works | 3 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 3 |
| Citation span | 2025 - 2026 (2) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 3 |