Digital Unsettling: Decoloniality and Dispossession in the Age of Social Media

Digital Unsettling explores how digital networks are positioned within the enduring structures of coloniality and how they shape revolutionary aspirations and political dissidence. It examines how events such as the toppling of statues, the proliferation of #BLM activism, and the rise of Hindu nationalists circulated online and across national boundaries, demonstrating how the internet has become a key site for an invigorated anticolonial internationalism but has also augmented conditions of racial hierarchy.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 256 pages
Publication date: 11 April 2023
Publisher: New York University Press

The enduring structures of coloniality have been profoundly shaped by the rise of digital networks, which have revolutionized the way revolutions, protests, and political dissidence are organized and mobilized. This shift is evident in movements such as the Arab Spring and Black Lives Matter, where information circulating through digital networks has played a crucial role in shaping public opinion and driving social change.

In their book "Digital Unsettling," Sahana Udupa and Ethiraj Gabriel Dattatreyan delve into the complex relationship between digitalization and decolonization. They argue that while digital networks have provided new avenues for resistance and empowerment, they have also reinforced neocolonial relations and intensified racial hierarchies. The book examines a range of events, including the toppling of statues in the UK, the proliferation of #BLM activism globally, the rise of Hindu nationalists in North America, and the trolling of academics, and how these events circulated online and across national boundaries.

Udupa and Dattatreyan demonstrate how the internet has become the key site for an invigorated anticolonial internationalism, providing a platform for marginalized voices and fostering global solidarity. However, they also highlight the ways in which the internet has augmented conditions of racial hierarchy within nations, in the international order, and in the liminal spaces that shape human migration and the lives of those that are on the move.

Digital Unsettling establishes a critical framework for placing digitalization within the longue durée of coloniality, while also revealing the complex ways in which the internet is entwined with persistent global calls for decolonization. The book offers a nuanced understanding of the ways in which digital technologies are shaping our world, and challenges us to think critically about the implications of our digital practices for social justice and equality.

Dimension: 229 x 152 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781479819157