Influencers and Gender Politics in Southeast Asia - Crystal Abidin

This book investigates the intersections between influencer cultures and gender politics in contemporary Southeast Asia, a region experiencing rapid digital transformation and high social media engagement. It examines how influencers act as cultural intermediaries who negotiate, reinforce, or disrupt gender norms within predominantly collectivist and conservative societies.

Drawing from interdisciplinary perspectives, the chapters explore how influencer practices intersect with activism, morality, religion, and state narratives, positioning Southeast Asia as a critical site for rethinking digital power, identity, and resistance. By centring case studies from across the region, the book offers a timely intervention into global digital and gender studies. It foregrounds influencers as both everyday cultural figures and political actors whose engagements - ranging from modest fashion and queer visibility to strategic silences reshape public discourse. The volume brings together a diverse range of qualitative methodologies and field expertise, allowing readers to examine how notions of aspiration, authenticity, and advocacy are locally negotiated and globally resonant. In doing so, it equips scholars and students with rich empirical material and conceptual tools to interrogate the socio-political impact of influencer cultures.

The book will be of particular interest to academics and advanced students in media and communication, gender studies, digital anthropology, and Southeast Asian studies. As such, it offers grounded insights into underexplored contexts while contributing to broader conversations about platform governance, identity politics, and digital labor. It is especially suited for use in teaching on digital culture and gender, offering comparative regional perspectives and methodological diversity.