Decolonial Data Law and Governance

Abstract

In the introduction to this special issue, we propose a decolonial take on data law and governance across three aspects through the dismantling of hegemonic structures, the embracing of pluriversality and finally the decentering of data and technology. The special issue covers papers that discuss a) what decolonisation means in relation to data law and governance for the digital economy, b) what kinds of methods should be employed to develop data governance frameworks that account for different infrastructural, social, and political contexts, and c) vocabularies and imaginations for how to regulate data, from the majority world. The papers are written from different disciplinary backgrounds of law, science, and technology studies, governance and policy, as well as media studies and present different points of view, and different entry points into the debate. In this piece, we explore ways to place them in dialogue as a plural whole.