Quilombola women confronting digital discrimination in Brazil

Abstract

This work discusses the relationship between digital disconnection and the violation of rights in Quilombola territories. Quilombolas are an ethnic-racial group with Black origins associated with oppression and resistance over the centuries in Brazil. The research was conducted with 41 women aged between 18 and 73 who are leaders in 35 remaining Quilombola communities in Minas Gerais, Brazil. The impacts of limited access to information and communications technology (ICT) were assessed using an intersectional perspective, considering social markers of difference such as gender, social class, ethnic-racial belonging, and territory. The results show that 11 territories lack internet service, significantly restricting access to information, health, education, and social participation. The research points to the need for considering digital inequity as another matrix of intersectional oppression, as being disconnected or having restrictions on access and use of ICT increases the vulnerability of these territories, especially for the Quilombola women.