Technocolonialism: When Technology for Good Is Harmful

With over 300 million people in need of humanitarian assistance, and with emergencies and climate disasters becoming more common, AI and big data are being championed as forces for good and as solutions to the complex challenges of the aid sector. This book argues, however, that digital innovation engenders new forms of violence and entrenches power asymmetries between the global South and North. Madianou develops a new concept, technocolonialism, to capture how the convergence of digital developments with humanitarian structures, state power and market forces reinvigorates and reshapes colonial legacies. The concept of technocolonialism shifts the attention to the constitutive role that digital infrastructures, data and AI play in accentuating inequities between aid providers and people in need. Drawing on ten years of research on the uses of digital technologies in humanitarian operations, the book examines a range of practices: from the normalization of biometric technologies and the datafication of humanitarian operations to experimentation in refugee camps, which are treated as laboratories for technological pilots. In so doing, the book opens new ground in the fields of humanitarianism and critical AI studies, and in the debates in postcolonial studies, by highlighting the fundamental role of digital technologies in reworking colonial genealogies.

About the Author :
Mirca Madianou is Professor of Media, Communications and Cultural Studies at Goldsmiths, University of London.

Review :
"Technocolonialism offers a rich and radical rethinking of digital humanitarianism from the perspective of postcolonial theory. Drawing on decade-long research, it compellingly demonstrates how the promise of freedom inherent in AI applications and big data turns into a practice of control, surveillance and extraction that reveals the colonial power relations at the heart of 'technologies for good'. Superbly evidenced and argued, this is a must-read that will define critical scholarship on humanitarianism as well as media and communications for years to come." Lilie Chouliaraki, London School of Economics and Political Science, and author of The Ironic Spectator "Technocolonialism gets at the very core of how humanitarianism is being redefined in the global context when AI technologies and datafication prevail. With analytical mastery, Madianou reveals the multiple hierarchies embedded in this subject. The book is a must-read, a timely intervention with interdisciplinary appeal." Radha Sarma Hegde, New York University "Technocolonialism dives into the heart of the increasing digitisation and datafication of humanitarian aid. Drawing from years of ethnographic research on humanitarian infrastructures, Madianou's groundbreaking work not only attends to humanitarian and critical AI studies but also illuminates the profound impact of digital technologies on modern colonial legacies. This accessible yet theoretical work sheds light on the tangible repercussions of technocolonialism on the most vulnerable of populations, making it indispensable reading for understanding the contemporary landscape of global aid." Cheryll Soriano, De La Salle University, Manila "Madianou's book is an impressive feat, capturing the ever-evolving face of technology in the sector, while identifying the core evergreen undercurrents that push it forward... It is a critical read and a resonant capstone on her pioneering work over the last decade. We would do well to heed her message." Quito Tsui, The MERL Tech Initiative "Madianou has closely followed the technologization of humanitarian operations over the past decade in a way that very few scholars have, and her familiarity with the field leads to the thinking in this book. Technocolonialism offers us a framework to interpret this field." Susan Sreemala, Bot populi "A powerful and well-documented examination of how digital technologies are transforming humanitarianism in ways that reinforce colonial structures." Josué García Veiga, LSE Review of Books "In the humanitarian sector, Madianou has found an urgent analogue for the social, political, and cultural institutions that structure everyday life, and how those institutions engage digital technology to 'make life better' without contemplating the power dynamics that undergird the application of technology". Robert Lundberg, Anthropological Forum