Embedded data activism: the institutionalization of a grassroots environmental data initiative in China

Opening up mediation opportunities by engaging grassroots data: Adaptive and resilient feminist data activism in China

“…Thus far, some studies have explored the dynamics of data activism embedded within the political opportunity structure in China. For instance, Sun and Yan (2020) work on an environmental NGO's data practices reveals that activists must find space for participation within the existing environmental governance system. Despite the fact that activists' data initiatives are likely to succeed when they gain support from the government, the potential radical action repertoires are mitigated and moderated so as not to threaten the government's legitimacy (Sun and Huang, 2022).…”

“…Furthermore, most of the current literature on data activism has been contextualized in Western countries, while there remains a lack of discussion of the dynamics of bottom-up data practices in the context of the Global South (Milan and Treré, 2019). Paying attention to the context-specific factors, previous research on environmental data activism (Sun and Yan, 2020; Sun and Huang, 2022) demonstrate that data activism in China is prominently embedded within its political opportunity structure, which is shaped by the interaction between state and society in an authoritarian context. Thus, we argue that it is important to study data as mediators of social movements and activism in relation to their embedded political opportunity structure, especially in non-Western contexts.…”

“…For instance, Sun and Yan (2020) work on an environmental NGO’s data practices reveals that activists must find space for participation within the existing environmental governance system. Despite the fact that activists’ data initiatives are likely to succeed when they gain support from the government, the potential radical action repertoires are mitigated and moderated so as not to threaten the government’s legitimacy (Sun and Huang, 2022). Previous studies demonstrate that the development of data activism in China is largely influenced by structural conditions, which define the institutional possibilities for participation.…”

“…Bottom-up data practices with specific historical, socio-political, and economic configurations in non-Western contexts have still not received enough scholarly attention. Therefore, critical data studies must pay more attention to data activism practices in non-Western countries, opening up the field of data activism beyond Western perspectives (Milan and Treré, 2019; Sun and Yan, 2020; Sun and Huang, 2022).…”

Big Data from the South(s)

“…They have brought under the spotlight a variety of bottom-up data justice projects which emerged in the Global South as well as in the plurality of "Souths"-in other words, pockets of marginality-that survive in the fringes of Western democracies. These grassroots projects expand the space of possibilities of citizen action (Sun and Yan 2020), promote social justice through data (Heeks and Renken 2018), reclaim citizenship through transparency activism (Torres 2019), and seek ways of decolonizing data and technology (Awori et al 2016). Instead of replicating the mainstream, they generate novel data epistemologies and alternative ways of participating in the datafied society (Milan and van der Velden 2016).…”