Abstract
The preponderance of Western methods, practices, standards, and classifications in the manner in which new technology-related knowledge is created and globalised has led to calls for more inclusive approaches to design. A decolonisation project is concerned with how researchers might contribute to dismantling and re-envisioning existing power relations, resisting past biases, and balancing Western heavy influences in technology design by foregrounding the authentic voices of the indigenous people in the entire design process. We examine how the establishment of local Global South HCI communities (AfriCHI and ArabHCI) has led to the enactment of decolonisation practices. Specifically, we seek to uncover how decolonisation is perceived in the AfriCHI and ArabHCI communities as well as the extent to which both communities are engaged with the idea of decolonisation without necessarily using the term. We drew from the relevant literature, our own outsider/insider lived experiences, and the communities’ responses to an online anonymised survey to highlight three problematic but interrelated practical paradoxes: a terminology, an ethical, and a micro-colonisation paradox. We argue that these paradoxes expose the dilemmas faced by local non-Western researchers as they pursue decolonisation thinking. This article offers a blended perspective on the decolonisation debate in HCI, CSCW, and the practice-based CSCW scholarly communities and invites researchers to examine their research work using a decolonisation lens.
Highlights
IntroductionIn the past few years, there has been a growing number of research efforts from Western researchers that are critical of the Western domination of the global HCI discourse, advocating the need for more inclusive approaches to design (Bardzell 2010; Bardzell and Bardzell 2016; Dell and Kumar 2016; Dourish and Mainwaring2012; Keyes et al 2019; Irani and Dourish 2009; Ogbonnaya-Ogburu et al 2020; Philip et al 2012; Schlesinger et al 2017).Central to this article is the work of postcolonial computing scholars. Dourish and Mainwaring (2012) offer a post-colonial criticism for ubiquitous computing based on the argument that new technology-related knowledge is being produced in and centered around Western research hubs
We have discussed three interrelated paradoxes associated with decolonisation – defined as terminology, ethical, and micro-colonisation paradoxes – that were generated from our lived experiences, the literature, and the survey responses
We argued that ArabHCI and AfriCHI communities have created intellectual spaces and mediums that could foster a decolonisation wave in HCI/CSCW research and fulfill the need for local researchers to represent themselves without corroborating their credibility through Western eyes
Summary
In the past few years, there has been a growing number of research efforts from Western researchers that are critical of the Western domination of the global HCI discourse, advocating the need for more inclusive approaches to design (Bardzell 2010; Bardzell and Bardzell 2016; Dell and Kumar 2016; Dourish and Mainwaring2012; Keyes et al 2019; Irani and Dourish 2009; Ogbonnaya-Ogburu et al 2020; Philip et al 2012; Schlesinger et al 2017).Central to this article is the work of postcolonial computing scholars. Dourish and Mainwaring (2012) offer a post-colonial criticism for ubiquitous computing based on the argument that new technology-related knowledge is being produced in and centered around Western research hubs. Dourish and Mainwaring (2012) offer a post-colonial criticism for ubiquitous computing based on the argument that new technology-related knowledge is being produced in and centered around Western research hubs. The fact that most bases for innovation are located in Western contexts is aggravated by how technological systems, including practices, standards, and classifications, tend to aspire to universality. This means that very often, technological standards are defined in one part of the world and globalised. One way to tackle this skewed cross-cultural representation would be to recognise the historical specificities of local contexts and adopt cultural sensitivities rather than presuming a global authority in terms of technological systems (Dourish and Mainwaring 2012; Irani et al 2010)
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