Performing transnational identity online: Women blogging from domestic spaces

Abstract

This chapter considers some of the ways in which the Internet plays a role in negotiating differences between religious practices and experiences in India and abroad. It also addresses how followers of the Vallabh Sampraday, a Vaishnav sectarian tradition with a majority Gujarati following both in India and in the diaspora, use the Internet as a way to maintain relationships between followers of the sect abroad and their counterparts and gurus in India. Accordingly, this group of diasporic Internet users, actively seeking religious advice from their gurus and fellow members of the Vallabh Sampraday, is quite distinct from the demographic of devotees who regularly discuss religious issues with their gurus and fellow devotees offline in India. The descriptions of two Vallabhite websites will provide the reader with a preliminary guide to understanding the phenomena of the sectarian advice forum.