Introduction

In a post 2012 era of South Asian hashtag publics, we see that digital activists—trans, queer, feminist, and Dalit—have taken it upon themselves to talk truth to power to correct disinformation and misrepresentation or lack of representation in mainstream media and on social media. These movements occur in an environment of instant interaction where the activists face various kinds of push back. They populate social media spaces in an effort to express themselves on the one hand and to educate the rest of the world on issues of gender and caste oppression in India. Such hashtag publics often brought into being by online protest movements from the geographical region of South Asia highlight gender, caste, religion and queer identities as they voice their anger and protest against social oppression (contemporary and historical) through social media. This Commentary and Criticism section selected submissions that engage the emergence of political subjectivities from the geographical region of south Asia through these modes of interaction. Platforms where political subjects emerge and push against matrices of domination might include Instagram, Twitter, WhatsApp, Tiktok, Snapchat, and so on.