The Sonic Architecture of Nationalism: H-Pop, Algorithmic Radicalization and the Normalization of Islamophobia in Digital India

This article examines the emergence of Hindutva Pop (H-Pop) as a “sonic architecture of nationalism” in contemporary India. Moving beyond conventional analyses of political discourse and representation, the study foregrounds the role of sound as a material and affective medium through which exclusionary ideologies are produced, circulated, and normalized. Drawing on a multi-layered methodological framework that combines sonic textual analysis, narrative analysis, and platform studies, the paper analyzes songs by artists such as Prem Krishnavanshi, Laxmi Dubey, Kavi Singh, and Sandeep Chaturvedi as primary data.
The study demonstrates, first, that H-Pop’s sonic structures—characterized by lexical minimalism, repetition, rhythmic intensification, and vocal layering—function as affective technologies that embed ideological content within embodied experience. Second, it shows how these affective forms are stabilized through recurring narratives of historical antagonism, demographic anxiety, and the construction of an internal “enemy,” thereby producing a coherent ideological framework of majoritarian nationalism. Third, the article situates these sonic and narrative dynamics within the algorithmic infrastructures of platforms such as YouTube and Instagram, arguing that engagement-driven recommendation systems amplify and normalize H-Pop through recursive feedback loops. Finally, the paper traces the extension of H-Pop into physical space, demonstrating how amplified sound reconfigures the public sphere by transforming shared environments into sites of auditory dominance and social hierarchy, thereby contributing to the normalization of Islamophobia.
By conceptualizing H-Pop as a multi-scalar system that operates across sound, narrative, platform, and space, this article contributes to broader debates on digital nationalism, culturalized extremism, and the politics of affect. It argues that contemporary forms of exclusion cannot be fully understood without attending to the sonic and infrastructural conditions that shape how ideology is felt, repeated, and embedded in everyday life.