Democratizing the Op-Ed: Anti-Caste Counterpublics & the Mainstream News

Abstract

How have anti-caste commentators in mainstream English news in India participated in media discourses on caste? In this article, I draw attention to a digital space of contestation where anti-caste writings have gained prominence—the opinion column in online news platforms. I am particularly interested in how anti-caste writings, bearing the imprint of authorial agency, have emerged in the digital sphere through structural linkages between caste, linguistic formations, and formal politics. The article considers how and in what ways historically marginalized Dalit-Bahujan commentators and their news public’s concerns are rendered visible within the space of mainstream digital news.