How decolonial can cooperation be?
Critical remarks on ICT interventions in the Global South
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.14512/tatup.28.2.s17Keywords:
cooperation, Morocco, participatory design, ICT, postcolonial/decolonial critiqueAbstract
Information and communications technology (ICT) interventions and development cooperation projects in the Global South operate with implicit and explicit ideas, expectations, and goals about the course of the project and cooperation. Critical reflection on the framework conditions, ethical status, and consequences of such ICT interventions and projects is often neglected. Through an interdisciplinary perspective and recourse to post- and decolonial theory, the conditions and participation possibilities of “North-South cooperation” can be problematized, and the underlying concepts and connotations can be critically examined. Based on our own experiences with design-oriented approaches in a development and education project in the High Atlas in Morocco, we will illustrate and discuss these critiques and problems. The conditions for cooperation can point in a decolonial direction by putting one’s own assumptions, expectations, and demands to the test and by understanding project progress, technology appropriation, or internal communication not as given but as process-oriented and mutually negotiable.
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