About the Project
A digital ethnography of an unusual corner of Indian YouTube
This archive documents an 18-month study under the mentorship of Prof Joyojeet Pal along with a team of international researchers of how cow urine consumption is framed, defended, and historicised across 83 YouTube videos. It maps the recurring tropes, the appeals to antiquity, and the surprising appearances of Western science — tracing how a contested practice is rebuilt as tradition in the digital public square.
Explore the Archive
Four ways to enter the corpus
Research
Data & Methodology
83 YouTube videos classified and analysed — the corpus, the methodology, and the key statistical findings.
Read more →Themes
Recurring Themes
Five patterns that surface across the dataset: from Vedic antiquity as the only valid history, to the West as a surprising validator.
Read more →Videos
Video Commentary
Curated clips from the corpus — with close readings of what each reveals about how a singular (flattened) historical narrative is used to influence.
Read more →Mentions
Talks & Mentions
Where this research has been presented and discussed — from Microsoft Research to Heidelberg.
Read more →“The past is never neutral. What gets called tradition is always a choice — and online, those choices are made in public.”
Ananya Sharedalal