"Hei baby, I Have a Start-up!": An ethnographic account of media start-ups in Delhi, India, their fight for societal change and the start-up network they are a part of.

Abstract

Start-up networks are flourishing around the world, and today the third largest amounts of start-ups are based in India. During my fieldwork in Delhi, I looked further into the start-up network and found a lot of start-ups within the media industry. These are started by young media entrepreneurs who publish stories about issues, I was told, that were tabooed in society, such as female sexuality, caste discrimination and religious divide. This thesis gives an ethnographic account of media start-ups, how they want change in the society and the start-up network they are a part of. My aim is to investigate how these media start-ups and the start-up network reflect a larger youth rebellion in Indian society, a rebellion where young urban middle class Indians challenge established hierarchies, taboos and stereotypes. During my fieldwork, I focused on one of these taboos: the taboo surrounding female sexuality and patriarchal gender roles. My female informants were all challenging expectations from their parents and society who wanted them to act as good girls, a term used to describe a woman who succumbs to these expectations, such as one who does not drink alcohol, smoke, date or stay out late. My informants, on the other hand, were bad girls, a label usually given to women who act improperly, meaning that they opposed the good girl stereotype with their behaviour. I will also investigate how this and other issues expressed as taboos, are handled by the media entrepreneurs who want to use their digital platforms to make a change in India. Another important topic for investigation will be the start-up network that these media entrepreneurs are part of and what it means to become an entrepreneur in an Indian context.