Sagorika Singha is is currently an International Research Group on Authoritarianism and Counter-Strategies Associate Fellow as well as a Visiting Fellow at the University of Potsdam, Germany.
PhD in Cinema Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, India (2020)
MPhil, Cinema Studies (2014)
MMC (Master of Mass Communication), Assam University, India (2009)
Digitalisation, Internet Cultures, YouTubers, Indian Elections, Social Engagement
Duration
3 months, November 2025 - February 2026
Host at the University of Passau
Prof. Dr. Wolfram Schaffar
(Chair of Development Politics)
Date: 5th February 2026, 10 - 12pm
The talk examines the evolution of the "network society" concept, noting its early promise for global democratic engagement but highlighting the subsequent decline of democratic values worldwide. Focusing on India and the Global South, it introduces the idea of "local digital," where digital cultures are deeply shaped by local histories and power dynamics. The presentation will contend that platform capitalism in decolonised regions is sustained by affect, identity, and labour, and calls for critical, locally grounded approaches to understanding digital culture and resistance.
India, the world’s largest democratic electorate with over 900 million registered voters, is more active online than ever before. Social media and the internet have transformed the country’s electoral landscape. In the 2024 general elections, regional YouTubers played a pivotal role in the right-wing Bharati Janata Party’s (Indian People’s Party, BJP hereafter) campaign. Their “authentic” identity, and their roles “as custodians of culture, tradition, and local narratives” allows such “ordinary” creators to “humanise the politicians” through their content on their everyday issues (Simran 2023) (Khan et al., 2024). Dr. Singha's project argues that these YouTube influencers allow their local connection to wield significant influence in shaping political perspectives, which is taken advantage of by political campaigning. In an ascending authoritarian state such as India, this often augments the right-wing socio-political refrains. Through an ethnography of a specific set of such Indian Influencers and placing them within the context of labour studies and digital culture studies, this project critically dissects the relationship between local digital cultures and global networks. It demonstrates how communities with fraught territorialized histories fit into such networks which are increasingly used to conform to larger authoritarian agendas in the garb of economic prospects. The project further conceptualizes how labour is increasingly embedded in the formation of distributive networks, contributing to the transformation in the understanding of social engagement through content creators. In a controversial example, the state of Uttar Pradesh announced a new social media policy encouraging influencers to promote the State government’s initiatives, schemes, et.al. with prize payments.
