![Technocolonialism : When Technology for Good is Harmful - Mirca Madianou](https://www.booktopia.com.au/covers/big/9781509559022/4919/technocolonialism.jpg)
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This book argues, on the contrary, that digital innovation, data and AI practices entrench power asymmetries and engender new inequities between the global south and north. Madianou develops a new concept, technocolonialism, to capture how the convergence of digital developments with humanitarian structures, state power and market forces reinvigorates and reshapes colonial legacies. The concept of technocolonialism shifts the attention to the constitutive role that digital infrastructures, data and AI play in accentuating inequities between aid providers and people in need and, ultimately, rich and poor countries.
Drawing on eight years of research on the uses of digital technologies and computation in humanitarian operations, the book examines a range of data and AI practices: from the normalisation of biometric technologies and the datafication of humanitarian operations to experimentation in refugee camps which are treated as laboratories for technological pilots. In so doing, the book opens new ground not only in the fields of humanitarianism and critical AI studies, but also in the debates in decolonial and postcolonial studies by highlighting the fundamental role of digital technologies in reworking and materialising colonial genealogies.
Industry Reviews
"Technocolonialism offers a rich and radical rethinking of digital humanitarianism from the perspective of postcolonial theory. Drawing on decade-long research, it compellingly demonstrates how the promise of freedom inherent in AI applications and big data turns into a practice of control, surveillance and extraction that reveals the colonial power relations at the heart of 'technologies for good'. Superbly evidenced and argued, this is a must-read that will define critical scholarship on humanitarianism as well as media and communications for years to come."
Lilie Chouliaraki, London School of Economics and Political Science, and author of The Ironic Spectator
"Technocolonialism gets at the very core of how humanitarianism is being redefined in the global context when AI technologies and datafication prevail. With analytical mastery, Madianou reveals the multiple hierarchies embedded in this subject. The book is a must-read, a timely intervention with interdisciplinary appeal."
Radha Sarma Hegde, New York University
"Technocolonialism dives into the heart of the increasing digitisation and datafication of humanitarian aid. Drawing from years of ethnographic research on humanitarian infrastructures, Madianou’s groundbreaking work not only attends to humanitarian and critical AI studies but also illuminates the profound impact of digital technologies on modern colonial legacies. This accessible yet theoretical work sheds light on the tangible repercussions of technocolonialism on the most vulnerable of populations, making it indispensable reading for understanding the contemporary landscape of global aid."
Cheryll Soriano, De La Salle University, Manila
ISBN: 9781509559022
ISBN-10: 1509559027
Published: 22nd January 2025
Format: Hardcover
Language: English
Number of Pages: 256
Audience: Professional and Scholarly
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons (UK)
Country of Publication: GB
Dimensions (cm): 23.08 x 15.91 x 2.65
Weight (kg): 0.5
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