Articulating Dissident Citizenship, Belonging, and Queerness on Cyberspace

Abstract

On December 11, 2013, the Indian Supreme Court reinstated Section 377, which criminalizes sexual acts “against the order of nature.” This article is a meditation on the acts of individual and collective resistance undertaken by dissident citizens (Sparks) in order to challenge and articulate strategies to intervene and critique the State and civil society's role in this decision. Activism is the study of the relationship between the virtual and the actual (Dave). Using three case studies, this article examines how dissident, queer citizens attempt to create queer counter-publics on digital space, thereby claiming a performative and participative form of citizenship. I extend Dave's study of activism by drawing upon a range of experiences of activists and civilians “within the field” alongside the digital articulation and assimilation of these movements.