Decolonial thinking in practice

This lecture points out how decolonial thinking can be implemented in practice. Decolonial philosophy acknowledges that the vestiges of colonial structures have persisted after the colonial era has ended. These remnants are manifested in presenting knowledge, which is frequently produced in the “modern” West, as universal and giving it precedence over other types of local knowledge generated anywhere else (e.g., non-Western contexts). The universality of knowledge ignores the fact that knowledge is embedded with worldviews and assumptions. The mission of decolonial computing necessitates a critical examination of “body-politics” and “geo-politics” in order to reflect on who is performing computing initiatives, where they are done, and who is affected by them. The decolonial thinking lens forces us to pay attention to power structures and nuances, as well as critically examine whose values and interests are foregrounded and/or marginalized.

 

Shaimaa Lazem is an associate professor at City for Scientific Research and Technological applications, Alexandria, Egypt. Her research interests include participatory design, co-design, post-colonial computing, decolonizing HCI, and HCI education. Her research projects include designing educational and heritage documentation technologies for the rural populations in Egypt. She is a Leaders-in-Innovation Fellow with the Royal Academy of Engineering in London since 2018, and the co-founder of the ArabHCI community.  She is the recipient of Google 2020 Award for Inclusion Research and Google AI 2021 award in partnership with Prof. Anicia Peters from Namibia.

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Link: https://sh-se.zoom.us/j/61083698457?pwd=eTJYWkpJYnBlbkowbmphWmJNS1lkQT09