Contesting Algorithmic Racism Through Digital Cultures In Brazil

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

This project explores cultural responses to 'algorithmic racism,' the embedding of racial biases within software systems, in Brazil. It interrogates how cultural products, from literature to digital art, and practices, from video game design to digital archiving, can be used to challenge the ways in which, despite their sheen of neutrality, new technologies often reproduce existing racist assumptions. Examining the intersection between the creative industries and activism, it is the first to ask: what does an analysis of cultures of resistance to algorithmic racism in Brazil reveal about our understanding of the relationships between race and digital technologies, art and digital activism; as well as about our public understanding of the forms of bias specific to the digital age?Although algorithmic racism is a global concern, it has become the subject of particularly urgent debate in Brazil. A combination of high rates of smartphone ownership and low levels of digital literacy, coupled with the use of social media by far-right President Bolsonaro's supporters to both legitimise racist discourse and manipulate public opinion, has made it especially visible in the country. At the same time, cultures of opposition to algorithmic racism have been particularly quick to mobilise in Brazil due to two main factors: 1) the prominence of media activism that is the legacy of government-supported digital inclusion initiatives of the 2000s; and 2) the explosive confluence of both national anti-racism movements (including the Movimento Negro Unificado) and transnational campaigns such as BlackLivesMatter. My research will map creative responses to algorithmic racism in Brazil across different media and aesthetic practices, including Afrofuturism, collaborative videogame production, digital archive design, and visual art. I counter a tendency in existing criticism to focus narrowly on the online visibility of either Afro-descendent or indigenous communities. I focus instead on the interconnections between racialisation practices in digital cultures in a national context that has been so dominated by ideologies of 'mestiçagem' (racial mixing). The monograph will discuss these issues from 5 perspectives: 1) interrelations between discourses of digital and racial inclusion; 2) the role of futuristic aesthetics in imagining alternative technologies; 3) alternative digital archiving practices; 4) the use of videogames to develop alternatives to algorithmic racism; 5) the influence of struggles for land rights on discourses and practices of digital inclusion.The project is underpinned by a multidisciplinary cultural studies approach and has coproduction and impact at its heart. It combines close analysis of works of digital culture (videogames, multi-media art and literature) with archival research and structured interviews as well as participatory design. Working closely with external partners in the creative industries and third sector, I will produce an educational videogame, digital inclusion toolkit and policy advisory document that will support non-profit organisations and community groups running digital literacy initiatives with marginalised communities in Brazil.The fellowship will enhance my standing as a leader in Brazilian, Latin American and Digital Culture Studies. It will allow me to lead an interdisciplinary team of researchers and non-academic partners on the role of the creative industries in exposing and contesting bias embedded within computer systems, which is one of the most urgent of contemporary challenges. It will enable me, through the dissemination of research findings in international workshops and conferences, to reframe a debate that has thus far been focused on North America and provide a model of creative technology research in modern languages.