Contingent connectivity: Internet shutdowns and the infrastructural precarity of digital citizenship

Abstract

The Indian state has invested simultaneously in connectivity by pursuing universal Internet access and in disconnectivity by leading the world in state-ordered Internet shutdowns. How can we make sense of these contradictory approaches to technology policy? This article argues that this paradox illustrates a bifurcated experience of digital citizenship moderated infrastructurally through differential access to mobile connectivity. While previous research has largely interpreted Internet shutdowns as curtailments of freedom of expression, this article evaluates the implications for citizenship itself by bringing together scholarship on digital governance, science and technology studies (STS) approaches to Internet governance, and postcolonial and decolonial theory. More broadly, this article raises the stakes for critical analysis of how authoritarian states approach Internet policy to bridge digital divides—and for evaluating quality and contingency of connectivity experienced by marginalized and peripheral communities.