Big Data from the South(s): Beyond Data Universalism

Abstract

This article introduces the tenets of a theory of datafication of and in the Souths. It calls for a de-Westernization of critical data studies, in view of promoting a reparation to the cognitive injustice that fails to recognize non-mainstream ways of knowing the world through data. It situates the "Big Data from the South" research agenda as an epistemological, ontological, and ethical program and outlines five conceptual operations to shape this agenda. First, it suggests moving past the "universalism" associated with our interpretations of datafication. Second, it advocates understanding the South as a composite and plural entity, beyond the geographical connotation (i.e., "global South"). Third, it postulates a critical engagement with the decolonial approach. Fourth, it argues for the need to bring agency to the core of our analyses. Finally, it suggests embracing the imaginaries of datafication emerging from the Souths, foregrounding empowering ways of thinking data from the margins.

Follow the Thing: Data

“…If Harvey (:418) intended to rethink the “geographical imagination” through his enquiry of social relations of production, following data takes one step further in proposing new “data imaginaries” (Milan and Treré :328). Following data is not just a scrutiny of how an object moves between places but also how this movement evokes different spatialities.…”

“…It is also a “desire to not only trace and critique but to also imagine or develop alternative data assemblages” (Carter :2). From “geographical detective work” (Hartwick :1178) in following a thing through a commodity chain, to an activist character of such investigations (Marcus :113), this case study takes a step towards “epistemic justice” (Milan and Treré :325) to demonstrate how data from the South does something and how our reading of this act is political. As data gains profundity, calls also emerge for a “digital decolonial turn” (Casilli :3947).…”

“…As data gains profundity, calls also emerge for a “digital decolonial turn” (Casilli :3947). This is an effort that entails real work outside the comfort zone of Western democracies, a combination of new imaginaries that necessitate alternative epistemologies (Milan and Treré ) by turning “universality inside out” so that “the global is already included in the local” (Law and Mol :619). It also reflects on our role as researchers, who actively shape the reality by portraying data as a singular universal object.…”

‘For good measure’: data gaps in a big data world

“…The big data movement combined with more sophisticated methods in recent years has opened up new opportunities for governments to use existing data in different ways as well as fill data gaps through techniques that make predictions based on lookalike data. However, focusing specifically on the representativeness of such data-existing and newly created datasets-shows that these 'innovative and advanced methodological toolboxes' have trouble accounting for existing biases in the data as well as marginalized developments and cultural factors (Milan and Trere 2019). This applies to the input as well as the output side of such data analyses.…”

“…The literature on this topic focuses largely on the Global South in the context of data agency and bottom-up data generation as well as defiance (e.g. Milan and Trere 2019). Another stream of the literature highlights potential biases in big data, zooming in on social media data (e.g., Hargittai 2018;Olteanu et al 2019).…”