Bahujan researcher-designer on caste, labour and social justice in design & tech.
Also building IXD/UX for non profits & arts. Chilli & Cat mom.
RN
@cis_india
If I had a dollar for everytime a Brahmin announced their brahmin caste without anyone asking , I would have the same number of dollars as social settings I have attended
I think it’s hard to acknowledge that your academic/professional ambitions are at odds with what makes you feel happy right now. There is a revulsion to safety and joy, especially as a Bahujan, an expectation of ‘excellence’ from self.
3/n
Can only come from someone with nothing to stand for. Research *is* activism. Science *is* activism. Journalism *is* activism. What you choose to research, how your positionality intersects with it and What you choose to ignore in research all make an Activist researcher.
Activists make for bad scientists. Activists make for bad researchers. Activists make for bad journalists. Activism is essential for democracy to thrive. But let us not confuse activism for science, research, journalism, etc., which happens far too frequently.
If you see a grant, funding, or collaboration opportunity, keep me in your thoughts!
My areas of work are Design and Caste, Design Justice, Labour and Platforms, Caste on digital platforms, AI and creative labour.
7/n
Again educated savarnas fail to notice that it's not "illiterate" who are doing this to country but their fellows in RSS/BJP. Most divisive leaders and loyal+blood thirsty votebank of BJP is English educated urban savarna, but here madam will blame the underprivileged.
Studied in a Christian missionary convent school, learnt critical thinking from atheist father and Hindu deeply religious mother who believe in live and let live. None of my classmates "converted to Christianity". These illiterate terrorists are doing enormous harm to India.
It’s been an extremely difficult decision. I have worked towards a PhD for the last 4-5 years and this is the biggest academic achievement for me, my family and my community. A lot of inspiring people have supported me through this.
2/n
I want to engage in more mediums/formats of research beyond text, including teaching, design practice, media practice and design education.
Hopefully will put out some work later this year :)
6/n
It’s also to acknowledge how much community, friendship, love and support are important in my professional /scholarly journey, especially as a Bahujan, when these spaces are often hostile.
Also how important being situated in the context of your work is.
4/n
While I don’t have a plan right now, I am glad to have achieved something in a domain of work I was not trained in. The future is uncertain but I want to make an attempt to work on my research proposal independently.
5/n
Hi
#HCI
#STS
#Infosci
, I am applying for a PhD this year in the US. I am interested in questions on Caste, HCI and Design, especially "How the design of digital platforms reproduces caste". Please suggest advisors who are looking for students & would be interested in this topic!
How do you all travel for a conference to the US? The visa waiting list is 350 days and getting a visa from a third country is impossibly complex. So much for diversity and global south scholarship
Any marginalised identity's presence in science, research and journalism is always going to be fundamentally an act of activism. Perhaps people who are on top of all chains of oppression and privilege can keep pretending their work is neutral, objective and meritious.
Activists make for bad scientists. Activists make for bad researchers. Activists make for bad journalists. Activism is essential for democracy to thrive. But let us not confuse activism for science, research, journalism, etc., which happens far too frequently.
Hopefully, things will work out 🫡
If there are any collaboration opportunities, you can reach out to me here or at my email: human [at] strangerobot [dot] design
9/n
#AoIR2023
First-ever conference acceptance 🥳
Still have a long way to go but happy to make a start somewhere 😅
---
Friends, if you know any organisations/grants which can help me fund travel to a conference in the US, please share 🙈
In addition to research, I also work as a communication and Interaction designer for FoSS and Social justice organisations, have experience with design audits and have extensive training in Media Arts and Interactive Arts.
8/n
Excited to share my first published conference paper from my upcoming research on Independent Anticaste publishing on the Internet.
… This piece was presented at
#4S
and
#AOIR
, and will be presenting some more on it at
@uva_gdc
later this year.
Hi friends, I am planning to apply for PhD in US this year in HCI, InfoSci, STS and in-between! I have an affinity towards intersections of critical-caste-tech, digital-culture, design-studies, & creativity . If you know people/programs to look out for, please share🙈
All the conflict on who should get what reservation is happening in the absence of any comprehensive data. The Indian state has avoided caste census precisely to consistently pitch marginalised groups against each other for a shrinking pie of under-proportional reservation.
Hi folks,
I am open to paid freelance,consultation,commision opportunities...
..I work with design research, 3d animation, film, creative coding, visual design, curation, ar/vr, illustrations, interactive experiences, web design among other things.
Work:
Hello Design Twitter,
I would be teaching a workshop with design students in coming weeks around the broad theme of "Critical Futures & Critical Making"
Talking of individual design practice at the intersection of gender,caste,class,tech,environment & contextual socio-politics.
@vaniIlaessence
North indian food isn't delhi food in restraunts, idk why delhi mughalai is so popular tbh, so much good stuff from bengal,UP, Orissa, assam, rajasthan, Kashmir and all we get is some stupid red curry as representation 😭
#Aadhaar
#biometric
#accessiblity
Today I was almost denied a service because my finger prints didn't match to my Aadhar ID.
*Finger prints don't work for me *ever*
I suffer from a condition "Hyperhidrosis" which is excessive sweating and peeling of palms.
Hello,
#DBAInternet
, I am looking for writings/essays/podcats on Dalit Bahujan Adivasi Media Cultures ( Internet Usage, Social media dynamics, community building, assertion, visual culture, publishing avenues..etc ). Preferably written by members of the DBA community.
Earlier this year worked with
@div_online
on my first report for
@cis_india
The research takes a deep dive into the design of Urban Company's labour interface and its impact on the workers.
Would be sharing a thread discussing the report soon :)
How do app design choices affect working conditions for app-based gig workers?
The report "Designing Domestic Work Platforms" by
@div_online
and
@thestrangerobot
seeks to answer this by focusing specifically on the Urban Company app.
@urbancompany_UC
How do people doing research alone keep themselves sane, on schedule, and accountable? I keep falling into an endless spiral of being overwhelmed and lost.
#PhD
I am sitting on funded PhD offers in the US, prestigious universities, perhaps the biggest academic achievement in my whole family. I am v proud.
What does one do when an opportunity arises but emotionally you are not ready? You just know the sacrifices are not adding up?
Anurag Kashyap, an upper caste man, is now comparing Yashica to Kangana Ranaut, someone who was suspended from Twitter for genocidal speech.
Shame on everyone enabling this.
Already 4th time this year when someone explains that their dating profile reads “bhakts swipe left” and they end up meeting the perfect person; who as we learn also happens to be from their caste! all this magic even in US! What secret codes are they putting on their profiles!
Academic twitter!
What are some good graduate courses in Media Studies and Digital Cultures with a critical eye but also are open to a hands on approach! (with reasonable fees )
I am considering
@UvA_Amsterdam
, University of Oslo, University of Bergen at the moment!!
Forgot to share food pics from 2022 so here it is... This was the year I got back to meat eating and cooking, to embrace my "impurities" and also Vitamin B12, the year has gone in learning how to handle meat. This was also the year of a lot of feasts
@EAO_memes
@surajyengde
Enabling and failing to condemn, further failing to acknowledge his own language, instead he doubled down in shouting down any criticism, even when it was coming from the community. Suraj is enabling, I am quite disappointed.
Lalu Yadav is ridiculed In upper caste liberal spaces for his language and accent without them having understanding that a grass roots leader has to speak the language of their people, that doesn't take away from ideology, leadership or oratorship. Woke aesthetic without ethics.
Since
@NCResq
post on dark patterns in Urban Company went viral. Plugging our research on dark patterns and exploitative design decisions on UC worker app. Things are much more grim on the worker end of these apps as exploitation is the business model.
My dad (late 60s, not tech savvy) got confused by one of the worst dark patterns I've ever seen inside the Urban Company app, and ended up paying for UC plus even though he didn't mean to. They automatically add a 6 month membership to your cart and make it confusing to remove
After reading tons of articles about black struggle and algorithmic marginalisation, really refreshing to find work in the digital caste discrimination in India, Indian critical technology discourse is caste sanitised and that needs to change.
Avg liberal savarna comprehension skills. What is pure, and who is impure, why does contact with something disgust someone, especially for someone who comes from a "pure" caste group?
Okay, I officially give up to follow on the Wire and Meta drama, it has gone too convoluted, too many actors involved, too many motivations. Hope Indian Independent journalism recovers from this eventually..
@blnaveen
Here is my design thinking course: "Critically think and plan before doing anything, also use pen and paper to think, also talk to others and share ideas when thinking, maybe use a white board with sticky notes". Hogaya democratised design. For free!
Hello Bengaluru,
Travelled 12,000 miles, leaving my toddler, for a 4-day visit to cast my vote.
Bengaluru, rise up! Head to the booth and make your voice count! 🗳️🌟
Voted for VIKSITBHARAT
Voted for DEVELOPMENT
#Vote
#Inked
#ViksitBharat
So glad to mint my first NFT, I am selling my coveted design degree from the National Institute of Design to support my research work into tech and design critique and also to extract some tangible value out of it in the process.
I will be at the global gathering this September as one of the recipients of the Equity Fund!!
Would love to connect with people from the global south attending the conference later this year.
Also anyone with any experience in Portuguese visa processes in India 🐵
🌴Global Gathering Tickets: Less Than a Month Left to Apply for Yours!
The gathering will take place September 27, 28, 29 in Estoril, Portugal, and we have increased capacity to 1,000 folks.
Apply before April 15!
It's important to acknowledge that the attacks on convents and Christianity is also attack on dalit-adivasis, whom Brahminism has failed and denies education. Savarna brahmin families have always sent their kids to convent and closed opportunities for DBAs behind them
I refuse to spend more than 500 when buying from IKEA, given the absolutely terrible value and quality of products. Over paid techbro got scammed by IKEA and he writing linkedIN ass posts here
Yesterday I went to IKEA Bengaluru and spent over Rs. 80,000!🤯
I just wanted 5 items but came out with 78!🤡
Here are 3 tricks IKEA uses to make you spend more.📈
💡1. The Gruen Effect:
The layout of IKEA's experience stores is no less than a maze.
Even if you want just one
The report of the caste-based census conducted in Bihar has been released. Backward class in Bihar is 27.13%. The extremely backward class is 36.01%, General category is 15.52%. The total population of Bihar is more than 13 crores: Vivek Kumar Singh, Additional Chief Secretary,
Who's gonna tell Zomato that their copywriting isn't funny or charming? I don't care about your stupid math puns in my notifications. Focus on paying your workers better instead
Academic twitter, Need Graduate School suggestions!
I am a newmedia designer/artist with a design bachelors. I am looking to do a master's but not in core design or art. Looking into media theory, science&tech studies; & software studies for now, what are good masters program?
@Sugarrush_13
@nytimes
It's racism, in the white supremacist mind a person from the east can never be creative or talented (atleast more than them).. They all must be robots.... The same way pyramids were built by aliens...and workers dont pee in bottles in US
@surajyengde
Suraj, as a bahujan I look upto your work but you can also use some gender sensitivity, being mysognist and anti brahminical feminism is not the same thing.
@surajyengde
This is coming from a lot of people from your own community and don't agree with your sexist remarks, anti casteness is not free of intersectionality. Anger to someone using the word bhangi is to not call someone a bitch, given loaded history of both.
So last few days a lot of brahmin pride and right wing hindu pages with 0 posts have started following me, I need to block a few dozen of followers now. What kinda surveillance is this, Amit ji, asli ID se aao!
"Instead of hoping a particular network design will be immune from corporate control, we can build a better internet by first building the political power necessary to make it a reality."
@parismarx
Further if you are/know scholars & students working in similar spaces along with critical gender-race-tech, I would like to connect and speak! I have a small list but its little daunting 🙈
Tweeter STS/Creative Tech folks, I am looking to connect to some research-creative-art practitioners based in India exploring broader idea technology-repair-frugality in Indian context for a grant/network we are building.
Sorry but some Spivak tweets are too funny because it's like the people making those tweets never made it to the end of Can the Subaltern Speaks essay or simply did not understand it. That's embarrassing. All the Spivak subaltern jokes are very bad.
Without data on socio-economic condition across castes; how do we build solidarity? how do we demand an increase in the reservation ceiling? how do we build a movement for private sector reservation? How de we redefine which groups need reservations? How do we organise in blind?
I went to Oxford for grad school post Ashoka and chose to come back and revive our heritage tea garden in Darjeeling.
All because the Ashoka Education/Professors instilled a sense of curiosity, responsibility & moral compass. This “western focused” education argument is bogus.
This is what we warned would happen if
@calstate
inserts “caste” into policy
Minority faculty of Indian origin are already being marked as “oppressors” based on their last names alone
This is actually what ethnic name policing looks like
Is that what you’ll do too
@calstate
?
What an important piece by
@thebigfatbao
It's brilliant to see a lot of ideas I have been wondering about become concrete in writing and put out with so much clarity and strength!
Men would literally do everything but learn how to function as human beings. Grocery planning ain't a woman's job, being privileged lazy and without basic skills not feminist.
Please goto therapy everyone, don't be that "men would literally xyz.." meme. Even if you happy, go for vibe check, there's no stigma, its as casual as check-ing your weight or temperature...