Technocolonialism: Digital humanitarianism as extraction and experimentality

Watch the recording of the seminar here

Fingerprints and iris scans. Digital innovation and artificial intelligence are increasingly used in humanitarian operations in order to help with the challenges the sector is facing. Such practices are often understood as part of the wider ‘technology for good’ phenomenon but what are their implications and risks?

At this seminar, Professor Mirca Madianou introduces the concept of technocolonialism to explain how data practices revitalise colonial legacies which underpin both humanitarianism and the development of technology itself.  Exploring technocolonialism thereby shifts the attention to the constitutive role that data and digital innovation play in entrenching power asymmetries between refugees or other vulnerable communities and aid agencies, ultimately contributing to inequalities in the global context. Katja Lindskov Jacobsen kicks off the discussion.

The seminar is part of the Infrastructure as analytical approach series where we explore the potential and implications of infrastructure analysis through state-of-the art talks by leading scholars.

Speakers
Mirca Madianou, Professor, Media, Communications and Cultural Studies, Goldsmiths, University of London. Her current research focuses on the social consequences of communication technologies, data and automation in the global south especially in relation to migration and humanitarian emergencies. She is the author of Mediating the Nation: news, audiences and the politics of identity and Migration and New Media: transnational families and polymedia (with Daniel Miller).

Katja Lindskov Jacobsen, Senior Researcher, Centre for Military Studies, University of Copenhagen

Nauja Kleist, Senior Researcher, DIIS

Programme
14.15-14.30     Coffee
14.30-14.35     Welcome, Nauja Kleist
14.35-15.20     Technocolonialism: Digital humanitarianism as extraction and experimentality, Mirca Madianou
15.20-15.30    Comment: After extraction, Katja Lindskov Jacobsen
15.30-16.00    Q&A, Chair Nauja Kleist

Practical information

The seminar will be in English. Physical participation is free of charge, but registration is required. Please use our online registration form.

Livestream does not require registration. The video livestream will appear on this page just before the seminar starts.

Livestreamed on Tuesday 25 October, 2022, 14.30-16.00 at DIIS.