Algorithmic Borders, Internal Imperialism: The Crisis of Gender Theory in Digital India

This paper examines the phenomenon of internal imperialism in contemporary India, with particular attention to how state-led technological infrastructures systematically reproduce and intensify gendered inequalities. India constitutes a critical site for investigating the convergence of digital authoritarianism, algorithmic governance, and patriarchal nationalism—a nexus through which state power is consolidated while simultaneously deepening the marginalization of vulnerable populations. Through critical analysis of coercive and pervasive technological mechanisms—including mass surveillance, algorithmic bias, and digital propaganda—this study demonstrates how these apparatuses function as instruments of gendered exclusion. The central argument advanced here is that marginalized communities, particularly women and gender minorities, are ensnared within a "double bind": they face entrenched cultural patriarchy operating from grassroots levels while simultaneously confronting state-led surveillance, algorithmic discrimination, and digital propaganda emanating from institutional structures above. These mechanisms collectively constitute tools of internal imperialism operating within the formal architecture of democratic governance. Methodologically, this study adopts a critical feminist framework that integrates postcolonial and decolonial epistemologies to interrogate the intersections of technology, power, and gender. Empirical evidence is drawn from three illustrative case studies: India's digital surveillance apparatus deployed during the COVID-19 pandemic; patterns of internet shutdowns and algorithmic policing in Kashmir; and algorithmic discrimination embedded within AI systems along axes of caste, religion, class, and gender. These cases illuminate how digital infrastructures construct what may be termed "algorithmic borders"—mechanisms that regulate visibility, mobility, and access, thereby reproducing and reinforcing internal hierarchies. The paper theorizes India's digital ecosystem as embodying a form of algorithmic imperialism—a governance modality characterized by systematic data extraction, control over visibility and representation, and the deployment of techno-nationalist narratives to sustain an internal empire. While acknowledging these oppressive structures, the analysis also identifies sites of resistance: digital feminist interventions, including counter-mapping projects and transnational online solidarities, offer forms of epistemic resistance by centering peripheral voices and reclaiming technological spaces for emancipatory purposes. Critically, this study contends that mainstream gender theory, predominantly shaped by Eurocentric epistemological assumptions, proves inadequate for addressing the layered and contextually specific forms of what we term "hyper-imperialism" manifest in the Indian context. Consequently, the paper calls for a reimagined digital gender theory—one grounded in peripheral experiences, committed to intersectionality, informed by decolonial thought, and sensitive to local sociopolitical contexts. Such a framework is essential for effectively confronting technological domination and envisioning genuinely inclusive digital futures.