Reading Circle: Big Data from the South(s): Beyond Data Universalism
Wednesday October 28th | 3PM GMT
We’re kicking off this season’s reading group series on AI & Equality Circle Community with Big Data from the South(s): Beyond Data Universalism by Stefania Milan and Emiliano Treré, published in Television & New Media in 2019. In this short, accessible article, the authors challenge what they call “data universalism”: the assumption that theories and debates about datafication developed in the Global North apply everywhere, in the same way, to everyone.
Milan and Treré propose thinking about the “South(s)” in the plural, as a place, and also as a position. The South(s) include the Global South and marginalised and silenced communities wherever they are, along with their forms of resistance, creativity, and alternative imaginaries of data. Drawing on decolonial thought, they invite us to ask whose experiences shape our understanding of data and AI, whose knowledge gets recognised, and what we can learn when we start from the margins.
This reading opens our monthly journey around AI & technology and it offers a perfect entry point for anyone curious about how colonial histories continue to shape technology today. We welcome all backgrounds, disciplines, and individuals to this reading group.
Come one, come all! We hope to see members from previous spaces and also lots of new faces!
We also welcome suggestions on readings anyone may want to dive into for the next months.
How to prepare:
- Read the paper
- Come with reflections and questions!