WS 3 Sam I Dont Need A Website For An Arranged Marriage

Jillet Sarah Sam Writing Sample 2 I dont need a website for an inter-caste marriage!
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I dont need a website for an inter-caste marriage!:
Using matrimonial websites as extended (social) spaces for caste endogamy

Jillet Sarah Sam


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Abstract
In this paper I examine how, based on their location in particular socio-spatial contexts, individuals
seeking caste-specific marriages use matrimonial websites as extended (social) spaces to maintain
endogamous caste boundaries. For this analysis, I draw upon the theories of extensibility (Janelle,
1973; Adams, 1995) and technology-as-text (Grint and Woolgar, 1997), as well as in-depth
interviews with 17 users (brides, grooms, and their parents) residing in India and USA. I explore
embeddedness of these digital spaces, or how users perceive and construct choice online, in the
context of offline caste identities and networks. Further, I explore emplacement, or how users
establish and navigate endogamous caste boundaries on these matrimonial websites, by utilizing
resources in digital and physical spaces. Finally, I explore the users construction of authenticity
and how they use matrimonial websites to engage in the reterritorialization of caste boundaries in
offline spaces, simultaneously situating themselves within old and new social geographies of caste.

Introduction

In this paper, I examine the manner in which users seeking caste-specific matches perceive and
use matrimonial websites for the maintenance of endogamous caste boundaries. For this analysis,
I draw upon in-depth interviews with 17 users (brides, grooms, and their parents) residing in India
and the USA.

The debate about the spatiality of new media has shifted from an emphasis on aspatiality towards
the interconnections between physical spaces and digital spaces. I argue that based on their
embeddedness in specific socio-spatial contexts, individuals keen on caste-specific marriages use

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matrimonial websites as extended (social) spaces. Within this framework, I explore the cultural
embeddedness of their use of these digital spaces, and how online usage is situated in offline caste
identities and caste networks. I also explore the emplacement of the matrimonial websites, by
examining how users engage in place-making, or establishing, and navigating endogamous caste
boundaries in these digital spaces. Finally, I explore the manner in which they use the matrimonial
websites to engage in the reterritorialization of caste boundaries in offline spaces, simultaneously
situating themselves within multiple social geographies of caste.

Caste and Endogamous Boundaries

Caste is a system of hierarchical stratification most closely associated with India. Although its
defining characteristics and form are debated
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, there is considerable academic consensus regarding
the significance of separation between different hierarchically ranked castes.

The practice of caste endogamy is identified as one of the most significant means to ensure
biological, social and physical separation between castes (Gupta, 2000). Endogamy refers to the
practice of limiting marital relations within a particular social group a sub-caste, caste, or a small
set of castes. Indeed, Gupta (2000) identifies caste endogamy itself as a key defining characteristic
of caste.

Endogamy has emerged as a relatively stable characteristic of caste in the contemporary context.
To state this is not to claim that caste endogamy has not changed over time. Some (Fuller and

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Narasimhan, 2008; Shah, 2007) highlight that while endogamy was previously restricted within
sub-sub-sub castes, this field has now expanded to endogamy within the caste group itself.

Such expansion does not signify the decline of caste endogamy or caste. The selective expansion
of the marital field, from sub-caste endogamy to caste endogamy, is encouraged to facilitate
political consolidation of the caste (Pache, 1998). While an increase in inter-caste marriages has
been observed (Shah, 2007), it is important to note that transgressions of endogamous caste
boundaries still attract considerable social sanctions. Contemporary ethnographic evidence also
indicates that although their intensity might have been reduced in urban areas, in some cases,
transgression is still punishable by social ostracism or even death (Chowdhry, 2009). Finally,
selective expansion is limited within a certain range of castes (Chowdhry, 2009). While, marriage
between certain similarly ranked castes such as within the Dwija castes (the Brahmin, Kshtriya
and Vaishya castes) might have become more acceptable in certain urban segments, inter-caste
marriage with the much lower ranked Scheduled Castes
2
(SC) and Scheduled Tribes
3
(ST) is much
rarer and more stigmatized.

New Media and Spatiality

Initially the new media was primarily conceptualized as a separate realm, and its spatiality was
rejected by highlighting its transcendental characteristics (Rheingold, 1993; Cairncross, 1997).
Over time, the spatiality of the new media (Dodge and Kitchin, 2001) was established by exploring
interconnections between digital spaces and physical spaces, through the digital divide literature
(Ebo, 1998; Zook, 2005), the use of spatial metaphors (ex. cyberspace, chat room) to conceptualize

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and articulate virtual places (Adams, 1997; Adams, 1998; Graham, 1998; Cohen, 2007), and the
transductions of physical space through code (Dodge and Kitchin, 2005).

Some characterize digital spaces as facilitating the extension of physical space, where online
spaces emerge as additional spaces of interaction, and are connected to offline spaces through
overlapping social networks (Adams, 1998; Cohen, 2007). This paper carries forward Cohens
(2007) analysis to explore the use of the new media as creating extended (social) spaces
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which
are informed by the actual and desired offline spatiality of its users, and also serves to shape that
spatiality (Valentine and Skelton, 2008). Here, I refer to this as reterritorialization.

The concept of extensibility (Janelle, 1973; Adams, 1995) is useful in understanding these
extended (social) spaces. Extensibility was initially defined as the ability of individuals and small
groups to transcend physical distance through communication and transportation (Janelle, 1973).
To qualify the assumption of unencumbered transcendence, Adams (1995) grounded extensibility
in the framework of structuration (Giddens, 1984). Thus, the individual is conceptualized through
the metaphor of an amoeba, with an embodied core and fluctuating, dendritic, extensions
(Adams, 1995:269) of self that transcend distance.

These literatures would be well served by revisiting the technology-as-text (Grint and Woolgar,
1997) approach. Rather than assuming that everyone desires the same kind of extensibility, this
approach prioritizes the socio-cultural contexts within which technological usage is situated,
thereby facilitating the understanding of what kind of extensibility is desired and achieved by
differently situated individuals or social groups. In the context of the debate on new media and

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spatiality, rather than assuming that online spaces and offline spaces are universally connected or
disconnected, this approach prompts an examination of why online space(s) are represented in
specific ways by different interest groups. I refer to this as the socio-cultural embeddedness of the
use of specific online spaces. Consequently, we are then able to understand how, in the light of
their socio-cultural placement, users use and navigate these online spaces, or what I refer to as the
emplacement of online spaces.

New Media and Intimate Relationships

The use of new media for intimate relationships such as sex, dating and marriage received
academic attention by the late 1990s. Some of this literature is focused on the academic use of the
new media as a source of data collection (Blossfeld and Schmitz, 2011), rather than a study of the
new media use in the context of intimate relationships per se.

Much of this literature explores the question of who uses the new media for dating (Ward and
Tracy, 2004) or soliciting sex (Carvalheira and Gomes, 2003), specifically to examine
psychological motivations. However, this approach is being increasingly challenged (Davis et al
2006) as obsolete and better suited to the early days of Internet usage in a niche consumer base,
which cannot adequately analyze its broader proliferation today (Valkenberg and Peter, 2007).

During the past decade, studies have progressively noted the linkages between the digital and
physical spaces in such relationships. However, much of the focus is still limited to studying how
off-line relationships are initiated through online relationships. This study moves beyond assuming

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initiation, and follows Tangs (2010) work on friendship, by exploring how interaction in digital
and physical spaces are interwoven in the mediation of marriage through new media.

Studies have explored specific challenges faced by users in such mediated relationships (Hardey,
2004). Initial analyses stressed on the anonymity of interactions in online spaces, highlighting
fantasy (Arvidsson, 2006) and lack of authenticity of identities. However, over time, there has
been a shift towards studying a more complex mix of anonymity and identity online (Ellison et al,
2006), with some even arguing that authenticity is expected and indeed valued in online spaces
(Hardey, 2004). The online presentation of self has been connected to off-line spaces, such as
through the variation in the type of online self-presentation based on expectancy of off-line
interaction (Gibbs et al, 2011). Similarly, others have pointed out to the significance of off-line
interaction among various strategies employed by users to minimize the risk in online interaction
(Couch and Liamputtong, 2007; Padgett, 2007).

Much of this literature originates in Western societies, focusing more on sex and dating, and less
on marriage. Further, analysis has been narrowly centered on individual usage, ignoring the role
of family members in match-seeking. It also unquestioningly prioritizes the idea of unencumbered
choice, as is reflected in the arguments on the rise of pure relationships (Giddens, 1992) through
the new media (Hardey, 2002, 2004). That this is not the universal experience has rightly been
critiqued through research from Jordan (Shunnaq, 2009). Although research has explored how
instrumental rationality and emotion are commingled in match seeking online (Illouz and
Finkelman, 2009), the hegemonic expectation of unencumbered choice results in the construction
of a false opposition between traditional courtship (constrained) and mediated relationships

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(unencumbered). Instead we should recognize that while new media might create novel normative
boundaries, it is also likely to reiterate the practices of traditional courtship (Barraket and Henry-
Waring, 2008; Bergstrom, 2011). Consequently we need to explore how the new media is used for
traditional courtship practices such as caste-based matrimony.

With the exception of the study by Paul et al (2010), which analyses the experience of minority
users who encounter racial discrimination on dating websites, most studies of racial homogamy
have focused on using the new media primarily as a source of data collection (Sweeney and
Borden, 2009; Tsunokai & McGrath, 2011). This indicates that more research is required on how
the new media is perceived and used to achieve homogamy, both raced-based and caste-based.

Data and Methods

The study is based on interviews with Hindu brides/grooms and their parents
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in a
phenomenological enquiry about their experiences of using the matrimonial websites for caste-
specific matches. I conducted 17 semi-structured, in-depth interviews (Berg, 2009) of an hour on
average, either in-person, or telephonically. I interviewed three brides/grooms residing in the US
between October 2010 and October 2011. I was able to interview 14 more respondents (eight
brides/grooms and six parents) during a visit to India between June-August 2011.

Since the study pertained to marriage, the study population was difficult to access. Although I
contacted 15 matrimonial websites directly in my search for respondents, my request was denied
on grounds of potential violation of privacy laws. I solicited respondents through my own personal

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network of acquaintances and then snowballed out to others, an established means of contacting
hard to reach populations (Couch and Liamputtong, 2007). Individuals preferred not to discuss
marriage proceedings, including their use of websites, with strangers, particularly when the search
was ongoing, since they perceived that it may bring bad luck to the process. Consequently, I was
more successful in interviewing already married individuals, as compared to prospective
brides/grooms. Due to such considerations of secrecy, I was unable to interview some parents. The
names of all respondents have been changed here to maintain their privacy.

Unsurprisingly, this sample reflects the demographic characteristics of my own networks it is
predominantly comprised of higher caste individuals, those residing in urban areas, and brides.
In the sections that follow I note how these characteristics have influenced the study.

Using Matrimonial Websites as Extended (Social) Space for Caste Endogamy

I analyze the use of matrimonial websites as extended (social) spaces, by exploring the
embeddedness of these spaces in offline practices, the emplacement of these spaces through the
establishment of endogamous caste boundaries and the reterritorialization of geographies of caste
through new media usage.

Embeddedness

Rather than pursuing the determinist enquiry of how technologies (such as the new media) cause
cultural change, I followed the technology-as-text approach to ask what users located in certain

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spatial and social contexts expect from them. In this study, rather than assuming that the use of
matrimonial websites leads to cultural change through transcendence of barriers to meeting people
from other castes, I focus on how the respondents embeddedness in offline social and spatial
contexts prompts their caste-specific use of matrimonial websites.

The use of matrimonial websites for caste-specific
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marriages is embedded in the offline practice
of the arrangement
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of a suitable matrimonial alliance by the family of prospective
brides/grooms. During initial interviews, I was quickly unburdened of my assumption that
prospective bride/groom conducted the search themselves. Rather, I realized that their parents
played a significant, if not a driving role
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, in the search
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, and were instrumental in caste-specific
navigation of and interaction on these websites. Consequently, I spoke to all parents who would
grant an interview.

Matrimonial websites were not viewed in isolation - they were perceived as complementary to
caste-based newspaper matrimonials and community resources. Some community resources were
not caste specific such as soliciting marriage proposals through a general network of
acquaintances. Others were more caste-specific such as soliciting proposals through relatives
from the same caste. In addition to the caste-specific network of relatives, which some perceived
as too narrow in geographical scope, respondents also used broader caste-based networks, such as
offline caste associations and caste-specific databases maintained by temples.


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These parents and brides/grooms perceived the matrimonial websites as spaces for the digital
extension of the system of arranged marriages
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offline
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, where marriage into the correct caste(s)
is an important consideration.

Aruna: I dont need a website for an inter-caste marriage. You are getting my point right? Like, for example,
if I have to get an arranged marriage done, then I dont want to get married into some other caste. Because if
you are going in for an arranged marriage, then get married within your parents caste.

Aruna, a prospective Nair caste bride, equates the matrimonial website with a match arranged by
her parents, which in turn implies a marriage within her parents caste. She does not perceive the
matrimonial website as the appropriate space to find a partner outside the caste.

Although all respondents saw websites as a source of increased choice for mate-selection, we must
note how caste figures in their complex construction of the notion of choice. For the parents, caste
was an inextricable part of the choice offered by the websites. For some brides/grooms caste was
unwelcome, yet non-negotiable. For instance, Radha, a Kamma bride, narrated that although she
experienced caste as constraining her choice, she perceived that she had no option but to
incorporate it in her search.

Radha: For me it did not matter - I was quite open. Like someone who speaks Telugu and is already here (in
the US) was only my criteria. But my parents, they wanted someone who is from my caste. I couldnt just
go against it.


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However, when I asked respondents to make two separate lists of significant search filters one
from the perspective of the bride/groom and the other from the perspective of the parent(s)
involved in the search some brides/grooms were unwilling to make such a distinction as far as
the caste filter was concerned. As a result, I observed the paradox that although some
brides/grooms (such as Rajshri, an Ezhava caste bride) reported that personally the caste of their
partner was not important, they did not even perceive the caste filter as a restriction of choice.

Rajashri: I never discussed it that much (that) No! I only want someone from outside the caste! He (her
father) was in any way looking in the same caste and we had a lot of choices within the same caste. So the
looking out (outside the caste) option didn't come.
Interviewer: So you did not feel that caste was constraining your search?
Rajashri: No.

Although some of these brides/grooms were unaware of why caste was important, or even which
castes were suitable, they were extremely aware of its significance for parents and peers in offline
spaces. Consequently, even when brides/grooms, rather than parents, conducted the online search,
caste was an important parameter. They did not always explicitly discuss its significance with their
parents. Rather, their perception was based on offline socialization, and observations of others
transgression of caste-based endogamous boundaries. Charu, a bride from the Nair caste, explained
it to me in the context of the impending marriage of a transgressing cousin it will have to be
arranged far away from her state of origin (Kerala) to avoid likely stigma.

Charu: So they chose that marriage should be in Chennai because they can avoid that many people (from
the village of origin in Kerala), and they can avoid that much more gossip. Because at the marriage, at that
place itself, everything goes out of proportion, 'Oh! she's a Tamil? Oh God, she's outcaste!' Again in

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Kerala itself these things, when they happened, it just made me more firm that even if Prince Charles will
ask me to marry, I would still say 'Are you a Nair? You're not, so I am sorry!'

For these respondents, the matrimonial search in online spaces had to be caste-specific due to the
cost of transgression in offline spaces. Though the search is conducted online, the lives are lead
offline, where caste is still relevant. Respondents often referred to the social stigma of a
transgressive inter-caste marriage in their lives offline, especially for the parents. They reiterated
that an online choice out-of-caste might mean that younger siblings or offspring from such a
marriage might not find mates within the caste.

Many respondents, particularly the parents, articulated this choice in terms of the different
lifestyles and rituals of various castes. This might well be a reflection of the shift in the discourse
about caste in urban areas (Jodhka and Newman, 2007). Rather than explicitly portraying different
castes as inferior, the less controversial representation of cultural difference is used. However, we
must note that these lifestyle choices are not caste-neutral - they are evaluated on the basis of
perceived inferiority/superiority associated with caste. For instance, Sarla, a mother from the
Brahmin caste, explained that she was searching for either a Brahmin or a Kayasth bride, since
these castes are particular about consuming only vegetarian food. As the research on caste indicates
(Dumont, 1966), the distinction between vegetarian and non-vegetarian food stems from the
principle of purity and pollution within castes, where vegetarian food is considered to be more
pure and hence a marker of a higher caste status.

Since the sample of respondents had more brides (nine) than grooms (two), the intersection
between caste and gender offline was highlighted when respondents explained their emphasis on

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a caste filter online. Within the literature on caste, women have been identified as the gateways
to caste (Das, 1976)
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. A female is perceived as leaving her natal family to enter the marital family
- the onus of observing all the caste-related practices in the marital family falls on her. For instance,
Naina, a prospective Punjabi Khatri bride, narrates that her father explained that, as a female,
marrying outside chosen castes was not appropriate for her:

Naina: He says that you know when you are taking a bride from somewhere, you know when you are
marrying your son, you are getting a daughter-in-law. She is come and you are going to accustom her to your
family thing. But when you are marrying off your daughter and to somebody else's house - so you know your
daughter has to accustom to that family household. So they don't mind getting somebody else in and
like moulding that person like them, they don't have a problem. I have a few inter-caste marriages in my
family itself -generally guys... the sister-in-law is from Jain family, (marrying) into a Punjabi family So
they (her parents) don't mind something like this combination, but they do have reservations about marrying
their own daughter to other caste families.

Some parents, such as Tilakraj, the father of a Rajput bride, justified their caste-specific choice
online by stating that marrying out-of-caste may deprive daughters of valuable arbitration and/or
support resources from caste members in case of marital discord.

As can be observed, the use of these online spaces is rooted in the immersion of the users in caste
practices and communities in offline space. Extensibility indicates that the new media facilitates
the transcendence of the self over a body limited by physical distance. However, the type of
transcendence sought, or in other words, the desired experiences and interactions with distant
others, are heavily influenced by identities and social locations offline.


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Emplacement

In this section I examine the manner in which users create caste-specific places
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, or navigate the
matrimonial websites through the establishment of endogamous caste boundaries. I also explore
how some respondents attempted to negotiate these boundaries online.

Caste-based place-making on matrimonial sites is often established through what Woolgar (1991)
refer to as instructions for use of technologies, based on how groups such as designers and
marketers configure the users. Here, these are indicative aspects of the design code of the
websites which facilitate caste endogamy
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. Respondents reported using entire matrimonial
websites catering to specific castes, or caste-specific portals on the multi-caste websites such as
Bharatmatrimony.com.

The websites also facilitate establishment of endogamous caste boundaries through the designed
code of the caste filter. The self and/or others can be categorized on the basis of caste through this
filter in an attempt to ensure that matrimonial interactions are limited to chosen castes.
Respondents, such as Radha, often perceived that caste filters afforded complete inaccessibility to
people from outside chosen castes

Radha: Like I said I filtered my search. So people who belonged to other castes couldnt even contact me.
So other caste people couldnt even message me, they couldnt even see picture and anything so I was like
totally unaccessible to those people.


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While the website may or may not actually ensure such a strict exclusion, from the perspective of
these users, the caste filter is expected to limit interactions within chosen castes on the matrimonial
websites.

The question of just who was to be included within the caste-specific digital places is significant.
Some brides/grooms noted that even if people from outside their caste expressed interest, they
would not be considered by their parents:

Aruna: people from other castes, they also approach you, which they (her parents) blindly cut because
they're not interested in them.

Interestingly, my data also reflected a selective expansion of the field of caste endogamy,
consistent with the literature on caste (Chowdhry 2009). For some respondents, the expansion
extended beyond their particular caste - endogamous caste boundaries online reflected an
expansion of offline endogamous boundaries to castes of comparable social status. For these
respondents, rather than implying a restriction to ones own caste, the choice of a caste-specific
match indicated the rejection of alliances from certain castes. Although respondents might explain
their choice by naming a few castes as being explicitly outside the endogamous boundary, castes
categorized as SC and ST, which are ranked as extremely inferior in the textual Hindu valuation,
were so obviously excluded as to not even be explicitly articulated in the category of unsuitable
castes. My interview with Naina was particularly illuminating. At the outset of the interview when
asked if her search was caste-specific, Naina reported that it was not restricted to her own caste.
When I enquired if there were specific castes that would not be considered eligible, she noted that
her parents were opposed to proposals from specific castes such as Kshatriyas or Kayasths.

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However, it was only towards the end of the interview, when asked to reflect on verification of
caste details online, that she shared the discomfort of receiving an online alliance from a scheduled
caste family.

Naina: You know there was a guy, everything was good, family was also okay, we were about to you know,
say yes. And then we got this thing that probably these guys are also you know, scheduled castes! But we
were not very clear are they, or are they not? We were kind of totally in a dilemma, what is the scene? You
know if it had been a scheduled caste then, Boss! No, we do not want to go there!

Since self-categorization is important for maintenance of endogamous caste boundaries online,
profiles violating this expected behavior are interpreted unfavorably as suspect or insincere. For
instance, Sarla indicated that she would read profiles that did not specify caste to imply an inferior
caste status.

Sarla: Yes, caste is always mentioned on the profile. Only those who are SC/ST will not mention their caste
on the profile.

Champak, a Rajput bridegroom, narrated that though he had not indicated his caste online, he was
explicitly asked by his wifes sister to clarify his caste before interactions could proceed further.

Some brides/grooms learned to recognize endogamous caste boundaries during the search on
matrimonial websites. Naina explained that she learnt to identify suitable castes during her
search in digital space through constant checks with her parents in physical space. In addition to
the caste filter, boundary maintenance in online space often took recourse to other means of caste

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identification, such as filtering proposals through their distinctive caste surnames, or practices of
the caste community.

Radha: especially in Andhra (region), if you hear a certain last name, certain last names only belong to
certain castes. So you can definitely tell that this belongs to this caste and then this doesnt belong to this
caste.

Some respondents negotiated these boundaries. They articulated placement within endogamous
caste boundaries as a first preference that could fluctuate over time. For instance, Shilas own caste
identity (Rajput) was provided on the matrimonial website, while the option of meeting people
from other castes was kept open by indicating a caste-no-bar status in the partner preferences
section on her profile. Her father, Tilakraj, explained that while marriage into their own caste was
a strong preference, they started to consider proposals from other comparable castes as Shila
approached 30, which is considered to be an advanced age for brides.

Tilakraj: We kept it like that to ensure that more choice. There comes a particular stage if I were to have
done this 5-7 years earlier then I would have done it differently. When your age is more than 25, 26, 27, 28,
29, 30, what happens then is that you get much more focused that now I have to do this. At the age of 20
you (the children) will be finicky and do nothing (about finding an alliance). And once you reach that age
then the parents become concerned that now my daughter should be settled.

Similarly, Radha, whose online search lasted a lengthy 2.5 years, noted that she negotiated caste
boundaries by periodically removing the caste filter online.


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Radha: At some points like when I totally got frustrated with my search - it wasnt going
any further, back to square one, talks with parents whatever - then like I would open myself
up to other castes like, for few days, like in my frustration that would only be for a few
days. And then I had to get back. I mean when you get out of the frustration you realize
okay, its probably best to keep your parents happy. Then youll again put back your filters
on.

We can observe that users engaged in caste-based place-making through a combination of the
instructions for use of the websites as well as interactional mechanisms. Further, in special
circumstances, they also tried to negotiate endogamous boundaries.

Reterritorialization

In this section, I examine the users complex construction of authenticity of caste details provided
in these online spaces, and the specific offline spatial strategies they adopt to manage it. Further, I
explore the manner in which they use matrimonial websites to re-connect to older geographies and
facilitate the creation of new geographies of endogamous caste boundaries.

As noted earlier, these respondents (whether located in the USA or in India) perceived the websites
as complementary digital spaces which provided an initial introduction to marriage partners from
chosen castes. However, they continuously weave between physical and digital spaces during the
search process, particularly to establish the authenticity of caste details provided in digital spaces.


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Authenticity of caste is constructed in a complex manner. Not all respondents acknowledged the
necessity of verification of caste details. Some argued that since everyone else perceived the
necessity of endogamous caste boundaries, usually caste details provided online would be correct.

Sarla: They will definitely mention the correct caste details (online) Just as we want someone within our
caste, they would also want someone from within their caste. If I am considering a particular bride, that girl
would also finally want that she should find someone in her own caste.

Rather than dismissing the need for verification of caste details as being irrelevant because caste
does not matter online, it was precisely because caste was such an integral feature of life offline
that they felt that prospective brides/grooms would not intentionally provide the incorrect caste
information on the matrimonial websites. For instance, referring to entrenched offline caste
identities, Shila argued that while people might obfuscate details such as salary or occupation, to
provide incorrect caste details, they would have to go to the unlikely extreme of changing their
surname, since these often reflect caste identity.

The caste details of all prospective brides/grooms online were not verified. Rather, only the caste
details of proposals that were being seriously considered for matrimony would be verified.
However ultimately verifying caste details for shortlisted proposals is required, if only to counter
the situation where incorrect caste details might have been involuntarily provided online.

Some respondents argued that such verification need not be conducted explicitly. They would
eventually meet chosen brides/grooms and their families offline where details of family
background, including caste, would be verified. Additionally, the very same networks (relatives,

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acquaintances, caste associations) located in offline space that complement the websites in the
matrimonial search, are also used for verification.

Chaitra: I get to know through relatives and all. Because if you are a Nair in that particular area we will
definitely know that he is a Nair or from a different caste. That is absolutely no problem for us. You cannot
lie on that... supposing I am in Kerala (her state of origin) and I am a Nair , the whole village will know that
I am a Nair.
Interviewer: What about outside Kerala, in major metropolitan cities?
Chaitra: Even then, they will have a tharavadu (ancestral family) in Kerala. We don't see only a family in
Bangalore, no. I asked you where your mother comes from, your father comes from. You have a tharavadu
in Kerala. Even if you don't have, your mother's sister may be living, mother's brother may be living. So from
that we will know whether you are the same caste.

Similarly, Geetanjali, a prospective bride from the Vishwakarma caste, shared that in the case of
a cousin who had been recently married through a website, her family had enquired about the
groom through the local branch of the Vishwakarma caste association in their Mumbai suburb.
Most respondents also pointed out that even in most urban neighborhoods soliciting information
regarding caste for matrimonial purposes would be unquestioningly accommodated by neighbors,
and would be a reliable means for the verification.

Verification of caste details provided online was also conducted through occupational networks
and official documents. For instance, Nainas family utilized government documents to address
their concerns about whether a certain proposal came from a scheduled caste family.


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Naina: the groom's dad was in the Railways. My dad knew some people in the Railways and you know
they tried finding it out - boss, are they or are they not? You know they tried finding out, verifying, because
there are records there if they belong to the scheduled category or not. So you know, he tried his ways of
doing it through the records. And you know in government offices the records are pretty much there.
Meaning, if you know people, you can find out.

The use of matrimonial websites also reflects the link between caste and its geographical contexts.
In practice, caste identities and their valuations are intricately connected to physical space.
Although all the families I interviewed had migrated to metropolises outside of their state of origin,
in addition to filtering by caste, they placed great emphasis on the geographical region through
other search filters such as the area of origin of the prospective partners family, and linguistic
group. This insistence on indicators of geographical region may partly stem from the differential
valuation of castes in different geographical regions.

Sarla raised the confluence between caste and geography to explain her choice of filters online.
On the website, she searched for a fair-skinned bride for her son because of its interpretation with
respect to her area of origin:

Sarla: The thing about fair skin is that where we come from, like we come from Uttar Pradesh those who
are lower than Brahmin or Kshatriya castes will be dark skinned. So we consider it as yes, they are from a
lower caste, so they are dark.

Some respondents, such as Mr Krishnadas (father of an Ezhava bride), referred to the significance
of caste in their state of origin, as structuring their caste-specific search online.


23

Mr Krishnadas: So preference was given for the same caste. As long as the system of caste is existing in
Kerala, and the feeling of caste is increasing, not decreasing, so why to invite further problem?

This emphasis on the state of origin (Kerala) is significant - Mr Krishnadas has lived and worked
outside it since his early youth and raised his children in the metropolises of New Delhi and
Bangalore. Yet, he refers to Kerala to explain a caste-specific search online.

The matrimonial sites are used to continue, or even re-kindle, older caste-based geographical
connections. For instance, Charu and Chaitras nuclear family, which has resided outside Kerala
for decades, uses the websites to simultaneously embed itself in multiple socio-spatial contexts of
caste. Charu explains that since family still has strong connections in Kerala, she was expected to
marry a person who could match up to the caste status of her family in Kerala.

Charu: So we come from this tharavadu (ancestral family). And we want a boy from the right tharavadu
because all my uncles, aunts and everyone is based in kerala. My dad was raised up in Kerala so we go there
every year. So we have lot of connections there.... And Kerala you know
Interviewer: People are particular about it?
Charu: Oh, oh! Someone marries one caste below - its huge issue! I mean they will not be let into the house
and all of that stuff. My dad was, though he was in Delhi ... he is okay with it, but deep down I know he
wants, he would prefer a Nair.

Further, through a caste-specific match online Charu was performing the expectations of the region
of origin (Kerala), even though she herself had grown up outside it.


24

Charu: Because I was raised up in New Delhi, so there are many people down south who have this
presumption that 'yeah, she will just get married to someone else (outside the caste).

The websites are expected to provide options that help the family to continue to be a part of the
Nair caste community (which originates in Kerala state) and to maintain regional caste status by
marrying someone whose family also originated in the same state. Simultaneously, they are also
able to expand their geographical horizons beyond the state of origin by searching for grooms who
do not currently reside in Kerala, but in other metropolises such as Bangalore.

Other families used the website to expand their geographical horizons beyond India. For instance,
as the father of a Nair bride explains,

Ramchandra Nair: The difference between website is that vast publicity is there. The relatives, if you know
somebody, you will go and tell them, and if they know somebody, they will tell us this boy is there, this girl
is there. .. On website... you can go all over the world, no? Those who are working in US, those who are
working in Gulf countries, those who are working in middle east, everything.

For Ramchandra, the major advantage of all of these sites was that they could search for
prospective grooms located all over the world, while ensuring the maintenance of older
geographical links of caste.

Conclusion


25

I have examined how matrimonial websites are used as extended (social) spaces to search for
caste-specific matches. This transcendence can be understood through extensibility (Janelle,
1973), or the use of communication technologies to extend the self beyond the physical location
of the body (Adams, 1995). Yet, the technology-as-text approach (Grint and Woolgar, 1997)
indicates that although new media enables such extension, the manner in which individuals utilize
this transcendence is grounded in their socio-spatial location. To modify the argument put forward
by Davis et al (2006: 473-4), rather than assuming that new media happened to caste-specific
marriage or modified it to facilitate pure relationships (Hardey, 2002, 2004), here I analyzed how
caste-specific marriage happens through the new media.

The use of matrimonial websites is embedded in the users offline caste identities and location
within offline caste communities. Consequently, in contrast to previous studies on mediated
intimacy, which prioritize individual use, I also explored the involvement of the parents, as well
as other familial and social networks, in mediated caste-specific marriages.

The technology-as-text approach prompts an exploration of the representations of technology by
different groups. For these users, matrimonial websites represent spaces appropriate for arranged
marriages, in which caste endogamy is an important criterion. Within their socio-spatial contexts,
rather than representing disconnection from physical space, the websites represent spaces
connected to interactions in offline spaces. Though the search was partly online, their lives would
be conducted in offline spaces, where transgression of endogamous caste boundaries had
significant costs. They use the matrimonial websites to situate themselves in multiple social

26

geographies of caste endogamy offline - they reconnect with older geographies of caste while
simultaneously expanding the endogamous boundaries to newer geographical areas.

While these users shared the prevalent hegemonic discourse of the new media as a source of
heightened choice, in practice, their construction of choice in digital spaces is complicated due to
the demands of caste endogamy. Here caste identity, rather than fantasy (Arvidsson, 2006) or
anonymity (Turkle, 2002), was primary. Users identify self and others according to caste, and
expect authenticity (Hardey, 2004) of caste details provided online based on anticipated offline
interactions (Gibbs et al, 2011). However, they also simultaneously employ strategies in digital
and physical spaces for the reduction of risk based on anticipated anonymity in online spaces.

Consistent with the literature, the users perceive these digital spaces as points of initiation of
relationships in offline spaces. However, in forming relationships in, and navigating endogamous
boundaries in, digital spaces, they continuously move in and out of physical space. They navigated
endogamous caste boundaries through design features of the websites, such as caste filters, and
interactional mechanisms rooted in offline caste practices.

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Endnotes
1
For instance, although the Hindu religious texts mentioned a broad fourfold division the varna hierarchy
scholars (Srinivas, 1970) found that castes on the ground or jatis - were multitudinous and territorial, generating
debate regarding the existence of a pan-Indian hierarchy. The fourfold varna categorization is based on the Purusa
Sukta legend, from the Hindu religious text of the Rg Veda, which states that the four varnas emerged from different
parts the primeval beings body the Brahman from the head, the Kshatriya from the arms, the Vaishya from the
thighs and the Shudra from the feet - and are hence ranked accordingly. This classification excludes the large
number of castes categorized as untouchable, as well as the tribal populations.
2
Categorization utilized by the Indian government to recognize all Shudra and untouchable castes for affirmative
action.
3
Categorization utilized by the Indian government to recognize tribes for affirmative action.
4
Following Cohen (2007), I use Lefebvres metaphor of (social) space (1974:26-27), which requires sociologists
to consider physical manifestation of space in social relations and the meaning-making activity undertaken by social
actors in, and through, space.
5
As explained in the section on embeddedness, I found it necessary to interview the parents as well.
6
The users construction of caste-specific is discussed in the section on emplacement.
7
Colloquially referred to as an arranged marriage in India.
8
Among those interviewed, the role of the parents varied. Sometimes they played a relatively hands-off role in the
online search - the bride/groom would search for profiles and the parents shortlisted them, or they searched profiles
online collectively with children. In other cases, parents directed the online search - they created and maintained
profiles with minimal or no inputs from the bride/groom and conducted searches. In at least one case, the
prospective bride did not even have access to the password to her own online profile.
9
Despite affordances such as a chat facility on the websites, online interaction between the prospective bride and
groom could be severely limited. For instance, Rinku stated that whether she chatted online with a prospective
bridegroom depended on whether the grooms family would accept it as appropriate behavior.
10
The system of arranged marriages is instrumental to the maintenance of social distance between castes.


32

11
These mainstream users expressed disapproval towards a different set of subversive users who sought partners to
date, rather than marry, on these websites.
12
Hypergamy, or females of lower sub/castes marrying up to males of higher sub/castes, within a limited
range of castes or sub-castes is accepted, and is considered as part of, rather than exception to, endogamous
boundaries. In contrast, hypogamy, or males of lower castes marrying up to females of higher caste, is
censured.
13
In social geography, the term place (Auge, 1995) is used to refer to a specific section of abstract space and is
associated with specific meanings, cultures and identities. . Accordingly, the literature on new media examines the
multiple forms of place-making, paying attention to how boundaries are constructed and maintained online. The
vocabulary of place is used to describe the structure and experience of new media (Graham 1998). With
improvements in the visual interface of the new media, visual spatial representations have been used to create a
sense of place online (Stromer-Galley and Marty, 2009). In this study, I approach place-making primarily from the
perspective of the establishment, maintenance and negotiation of caste specific boundaries on matrimonial websites
through structuring of code as well as through interactional mechanisms.
14
For a detailed analysis of specific websites, see Sharma (2008).

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