Expanding the Digital Public Sphere: Marginalised women’s use of digital media in environmental justice movements

24th October 2022

This research is situated in India and examines how indigenous and other marginalised women use digital media to counter dominant narratives on environmental justice and development in two ways. First, using critical discourse analysis, it understands how women and their perspectives are represented in digital media, specifically alternative media, which is seen as a growing ecosystem of counter narratives. Second, the power asymmetries that have shaped how women use and participate in digital media to position their alternative narratives of development will be examined through participatory research with grassroots organisations.

While both, digital media as a public sphere, and environmental justice movements have been studied, the two strands of literature are rarely combined. This research fills an empirical gap in the two literatures by focusing on how indigenous and marginalised women’s ability to exercise voice and power in the digital public sphere influences their participation in conversations on environmental justice, climate change and sustainable development.