The Gender and Citizenship in the Information Society (CITIGEN) research programme, launched in 2010, aimed to explore the notion of marginalised women's citizenship as a normative project or an aspiration for equitable social membership contained in the promise of an emerging techno-social order. Six research partners from Sri Lanka, Philippines, China, Hong Kong / Taiwan, India and Bangladesh studied various aspects of the terrain. Also eminent scholars of the field from Costa Rica, Pakistan, Thailand, Germany and South Africa, wrote think pieces delving into the research subject from their perspectives to further enrich the research process. The research was further enriched by the two large meetings held at the various phases of the programme, which brought in feminist scholars and practitioners from across fields, to share and discuss the tentative outcomes of the programme.

At the end of the appointed two years of the research programme, a research validation meeting of the network was held in National Institute of Advocacy Studies, Bengaluru from the 15^th to the 17^th of February 2012. It was to be an occasion where the network, now a loose group of researcher-activists and activist-researchers interested in examining the relationship between gender and the information society from the vantage point of women's participation and citizenship, would take stock of the work done and reflect upon the questions and concerns framing the research endeavour that they have been a part of. The researches undertaken by network members have been accomplished in a very short and tight time span, allowing for certain questions to be problematised sharply, although explored only in somewhat reasonable, but not entirely satisfactory, depth. There was felt, a need to look back at the research findings and re-map the analytical field along with those who may be new to the network, and re-frame the field of feminist knowledge and praxis in this emerging domain.

For the detailed meeting report, interviews and pictures, visit:
http://www.gender-is-citizenship.net/citigen/Meeting_February_2012

by:-

Arpita Joshi