Postcolonial Digital Humanities: Representation and Decolonization in the Digital Age

Abstract

Postcolonial Digital Humanities focuses on how digital technology can either reinforce or undermine colonial legacies in scholarly study, archiving, and cultural production. This study shall discuss how DH tools, platforms, and methodologies are used to address representation, power relations, and knowledge formation in postcolonial contexts. The other main focus of this study is the idea of digital-age decolonization, which comprises critiquing the biases found in digital infrastructures and proposing alternative frameworks that give priority to under-represented voices and non-Western epistemologies. This study shall illustrate how DH can either support Eurocentric narratives or serve as a platform for decolonial praxis by taking into account a number of important PDH initiatives, including digital indigenous archives and postcolonial literary databases. At the core of this inquiry is the question of who has the power to preserve, interpret, and disseminate information. The report shall conclude by outlining PDH's potential as platforms for activism, resistance, and rethinking global knowledge systems. Reorienting the DH profession towards an ethics of justice, equity, and inclusivity in the development and dissemination of information is one of the ways they advocate for a certain amount of engagement with digital tools and platforms.