The call to decolonize is a call to reexamine and unsettle unequal power relationships within society and between societies and to consider the possibilities and practices that would transform those power relationships. As such, to decolonize is also a practice of seeking new relationships that favor liberated interdependence, multiplicity, and democratic participation. By examining historic data visualizations and the contexts of their use this course invites students to interrogate the relationship between power and data visualization. This class offers the long arch of Black Atlantic History as a context for interrogating questions of data visualization and power. Black Atlantic History follows the story of Africans from their enslavement in Africa, slavery in the Americas as well as colonial and independent era states on the African continent. In this class we will broaden the Black Atlantic to include Germany’s colonial past and its many manifestations in the present.

Central questions that the course asks include: How have different political and economic actors used data visualization to advance their goals particularly in colonial and post-colonial contexts? Who were the intended observers of these visualizations and what were the politics of different elements of these visualizations in their historical and contemporary contexts? Who and what is included and excluded by these historic visualizations? How can data visualization and digital storytelling be employed to represent history and reflect on its implications for the future?

Lectures will cover mapping, categorization, interaction, knowledge and cultural heritage in light of colonialism as well as critical approaches to data, visualization, and design. Warm-up activities are designed to encourage creative and critical engagements with the course topics. Selected readings will encourage open exchanges about the latest research and design at the intersection of data visualization and decolonization. Students will prepare brief method inputs on tools and theories that are relevant for their projects. Students will form small interdisciplinary teams to pursue projects addressing the questions and themes of the course.

Please note: The class will be taught in English. All communication during the seminars as well as literature and auxiliary materials will be in English.