Virtually positioned: investigating identity and positionality in a case study of South Asian literature in cyberspace

Abstract

This paper presents a case study of interdisciplinary research carried out in the arena of cyberspace. It considers the difficulty of establishing identity in such a forum, taking into careful account the positionalities of those involved in the creation and discussion of a group identity. The overall aim of the research was to analyse reader responses to contemporary literature in English by South Asian women. This case study investigates the functioning of sociocultural and ethnic based cyberspace groups, methods of inclusion and exclusion, coded language, 'netiquette', the positionalities of the respondents (and of the researcher) and the natural limitations on maintaining a virtual and ephemeral community in a real world. The cyberforum selected for detailed investigation is then discussed in terms of its advantages and disadvantages, its sense of collective ownership and levels of acceptance. Problems of degrees of validity, credibility and interaction as an outsider within the supposedly 'public' arena of cyberspace are also examined, as is the development and spread of the image of South Asia and South Asians in the real and virtual worlds.