Meena, Azhagu and Bhatia, Varuni and Pal, Joyojeet
(2020)
Digital divine : technology use by Indian spiritual sects.
In: ICTD2020: Information and Communication Technologies and Development, June, 2020, Guayaquil.
Abstract
Spirituality-based organizations in India, centered around a set of
beliefs and practices, with a charismatic guru figure at their head,
have embraced the information age enthusiastically, and have come
to the fore as key players in the national narrative around social welfare and development in recent years. We conducted a qualitative
study of four Hinduism-oriented Spirituality-based Organizations
(SBOs) in India using interviews, on-site observations, and in-depth
examination of their online outreach material to understand the
ways in which technology impacts and advances their core functions. We examine five core ways which technology plays a critical
role in these SBO - community-building, dissemination of core practices, self-fashioning, philanthropic outreach, and organizational
growth – all of which inform these organizations’ influence in society beyond the confines of their adherents. We find that all these
functions are enabled in different ways by digital technologies,
which have organizational value in and of themselves, but also play
an equally important role in helping extend these organizations’
public image as modern, innovative organizations aligned with
broader aspirations of national development and social welfare.
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