Abstract

This article examines how Hindu migrant-refugee men use the digital smartphone application WhatsApp to make collective claims on Indian citizenship based on their experiences of exclusion as a religious minority in Pakistan. Drawing on long-term digital and in-person ethnography, I explore the ways that Pakistani Hindu migrant-refugee men commonly exchange images of young Hindu women, reportedly forcefully converted as part of marriages to Muslim men. The circulation of these images on WhatsApp facilitates homosocial bonds between migrant-refugee men based on a shared vulnerability, in contrast with dominant configurations of a muscular Hindu masculinity in India. In addition, men share images from WhatsApp in immigration proceedings, mobilizing them as evidence of religious and caste-based persecution in Pakistan. Mobilizing a wounded masculinity, men’s exchange of images on social media fosters a Pakistani Hindu political community. I argue that these exchanges hinge on gendered hierarchies that shape migrants’ patriarchal claims to citizenship in Hindu majoritarian India.

摘要

本文研究了印度教移民难民如何使用数字智能手机应用程序 WhatsApp 根据他们在巴基斯坦作为宗教少数群体的排斥经历来集体主张印度公民身份。利用长期的数字和面对面的民族志，我探索了巴基斯坦印度教移民难民男性通常交换年轻印度教女性图像的方式，据报道，这些女性是在与穆斯林男性结婚时被强行转换的。这些图像在 WhatsApp 上的传播促进了基于共同脆弱性的移民难民男性之间的同质社会纽带，这与印度肌肉发达的印度教男子气概的主导配置形成鲜明对比。此外，男性在移民诉讼中分享来自 WhatsApp 的图像，将其作为巴基斯坦宗教和基于种姓的迫害的证据。调动受伤的男子气概，男性在社交媒体上交换图像培养了巴基斯坦印度教政治社区。我认为，这些交流取决于性别等级制度，这些等级制度塑造了移民在印度教多数主义印度对公民身份的父权要求。