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Technocolonialism: when technology for good can be harmful

Hosted by the Department of Media and Communications

In-person and online public event (Old Theatre, Old Building)

Speaker

Professor Mirca Madianou

Professor Mirca Madianou

Chair

Dr Alison Powell

Dr Alison Powell

In this talk, Mirca Madianou will put forward the notion of technocolonialism which she has been developing to explain the ways that digital innovation, automation and data practices in the humanitarian sector revitalize colonial legacies.

Technocolonialism refers to the convergence of digital developments with humanitarian structures, state power and market forces and the extent to which they reinvigorate and rework colonial genealogies. Technocolonialism shifts the attention to the constitutive role that data and digital innovation play in entrenching power asymmetries in the global context. Drawing on eight years of research in the aid sector, Professor Madianou observes that colonial genealogies are reworked by extracting value from the data of affected communities; by experimenting with untested technologies in humanitarian settings; and by materializing racial discrimination and dehumanizing suffering. As always, colonial structures are met with resistance. Even if contestation is asymmetrically structured, it contains the seeds of future decolonial struggles.

Meet our speakers and chair

Mirca Madianou (@madianou) is Professor in the Department of Media, Communications and Cultural Studies at Goldsmiths, University of London. Her research focuses on the social consequences of communication technologies, data and automation in the global south especially in relation to migration and humanitarian emergencies. Her new book is Technocolonialism: When Technology for Good is Harmful.

Dr Alison Powell (@a_b_powell) is an Associate Professor in the Department of Media and Communications at LSE and serves as Programme Director for the MSc Media and Communications (Data and Society). Alison's research addresses the discourse, design and context for technologies in the public interest. From 2019 to 2023, Alison was the Director of the JUST AI network and is the author of Undoing Optimization: Civic Action in Smart Cities (Yale University Press 2021).

More about this event

This event will be available to watch on LSE Live. LSE Live is the new home for our live streams, allowing you to tune in and join the global debate at LSE, wherever you are in the world. If you can't attend live, a video will be made available shortly afterwards on LSE's YouTube channel.

The Department of Media and Communications (@MediaLSE) is a world-leading centre for education and research in communication and media studies at the heart of LSE’s academic community in central London. The Department is ranked #1 in the UK and #3 globally in the field of media and communications (2024 QS World University Rankings).

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This public event is free and open to all. This event will be a hybrid event, with an in-person audience and an online audience. 

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For any queries see LSE Events FAQ.

For the online event: Registration for this event will open after 10am on Thursday 14 November.

For any queries email events@lse.ac.uk.

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