Digital Decoloniality: Perspectives for De-Universalising, Decentralising and Re-Territorialising Today’s Digital Ecosystem

Abstract

The purpose of this chapter is to address the concept of “coloniality” and how it is implicated in current research on the role of contemporary technology in (1) the exacerbation of existing structural inequalities, (2) the escalation of strategies of human and (3) environmental exploitation, and the magnification of long-standing conflict dynamics. To this end, the chapter will trace the steps that led to the formulation of a critical approach to digital and data-driven technology from a postcolonial and decolonial perspective. This approach is crucial in the current era for two main reasons. Firstly, it provides a more nuanced understanding of the impact of technology on our daily lives. Secondly, it facilitates ethical inquiry, particularly in addressing the global North-South divide.