Talking 'gender superiority' in virtual spaces: web-based discourses of Hindu student groups in the US and UK.

This study focuses on the public assertion of gendered ethno-religious identities on the websites of Hindu student groups (HSGs) in the South Asian Diaspora in the USA and UK. HSGs are a part of a larger phenomenon of individuals and organizations engaged in creating and promoting ethnicities in virtual spaces. In this paper we focus particularly on the HSGs deployment of 'strong woman' imagery to assert their 'superior cultures'. We find that while the HSGs appear to challenge the gendered/racialized construction of minorities in Western societies as traditional, and non-modern, their construction of 'strong Hindu women' is replete with gendered inequalities. In addition, such constructions also implicate 'their women' into the process of drawing racialized boundaries against other groups. This paper explores how the processes involving the construction, representation and reproduction of Hinduism and Hindu identity on the web, from locations in the USA and the UK create contemporary gender hierarchies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]