Techlienation and Decolonizing Reparations in African Intra-diasporic Contexts

Abstract

ABSTRACT This study conceptualizes techlienation from the historical standpoint of imperialism, which has created a legacy of sociocultural entanglements within asymmetrical relationships in Africa. It argues that the vestiges of imperialism are perpetuated through certain technological affordances that require new approaches to the interpretation of alienation within emergent African intra-diasporic contexts. It therefore explores the theorization on alienation from the Hegelian normative/ontological perspective that holistically interrogates man’s objectification outside of the Absolute Spirit; and the Marxian descriptive historical cum socioeconomic contextualization of the politics of separating man from the products of his labour. The study also establishes the theoretical underpinnings of alienation in Africa within anti-imperial discourses, especially following its application to the experiences of slavery and colonialism in the quest for decolonisation. It subsequently contends that the forces of neo-imperialism have appropriated digital tools, especially those of new information and communication technologies, to transform the operational dynamics of digital labor in reinforcing cultural imperialism while creating African intra-diasporic contexts. The study concludes that the reparations debate should incorporate the reality of digitally afforded cultural estrangement through the quest for digital justice, as it relates to content creation and dissemination, while postulating the need for Afrocentric retooling and remodeling of today’s digital culture.