Contesting Algorithmic Racism Through Digital Cultures In Brazil

该项目探讨了巴西对“算法种族主义”的文化反应，即在软件系统中嵌入种族偏见。它质疑文化产品，从文学到数字艺术，从视频游戏设计到数字存档，如何被用来挑战新技术的方式，尽管它们具有中立的光泽，但往往会复制现有的种族主义假设。在研究创意产业与行动主义之间的交集时，它首先提出了这样一个问题：对巴西抵制算法种族主义的文化的分析，揭示了我们对种族与数字技术、艺术与数字行动主义之间关系的理解；以及我们公众对数字时代特有的偏见形式的理解？尽管算法种族主义是一个全球关注的问题，但在巴西，它已成为一个特别紧迫的辩论主题。智能手机的高拥有率和数字素养的低水平，再加上极右翼总统博尔索纳罗的支持者利用社交媒体使种族主义言论合法化和操纵公众舆论，使其在该国尤为明显。与此同时，由于两个主要因素，反对算法种族主义的文化在巴西特别迅速地动员起来：1)媒体行动主义的突出地位，这是2000年代政府支持的数字包容倡议的遗产；2)全国性的反种族主义运动（包括“黑人团结运动”）和跨国运动（如“黑人的生命也很重要”）的爆炸性融合。我的研究将在不同的媒体和美学实践中绘制对巴西算法种族主义的创造性反应，包括非洲未来主义、协作电子游戏制作、数字档案设计和视觉艺术。我反对现有批评中的一种倾向，即狭隘地关注非洲裔或土著社区的在线知名度。相反，我关注的是在国家背景下，数字文化中种族化实践之间的相互联系，这种联系一直被“混血”（种族混合）的意识形态所主导。本专著将从五个角度讨论这些问题：1)数字话语与种族包容之间的相互关系；2)未来主义美学在想象替代技术中的作用；3)替代数字存档实践；4)利用电子游戏开发算法种族主义的替代方案；5)土地权利斗争对数字包容话语和实践的影响。该项目以多学科文化研究方法为基础，并以合作生产和影响为核心。它结合了对数字文化（电子游戏，多媒体艺术和文学）作品的密切分析，档案研究和结构化访谈以及参与式设计。我将与创意产业和第三部门的外部合作伙伴密切合作，制作一款教育视频游戏、数字包容工具包和政策咨询文件，以支持非营利组织和社区团体在巴西边缘化社区开展数字扫盲计划。这项奖学金将提高我在巴西、拉丁美洲和数字文化研究领域的领导地位。这将使我能够领导一个由研究人员和非学术合作伙伴组成的跨学科团队，研究创意产业在揭露和挑战计算机系统中嵌入的偏见方面的作用，这是当代最紧迫的挑战之一。通过在国际研讨会和会议上传播研究成果，它将使我能够重新组织迄今为止集中在北美的辩论，并提供现代语言创造性技术研究的模型。

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.