Analyzing digital practices in indigenous communities: a Foucauldian sociotechnical demarginalizing method

Abstract

Responsible Human-Computer Interaction for Development (HCI4D) and Information System (IS) researchers have called for demarginalizing methods for decolonizing digital practices in marginalized indigenous communities. This paper offers an adaptation of the Foucauldian Discourse Analysis (FDA) as a demarginalizing method to assess and theorize what discursive resources participants, within a marginalized indigenous community, appropriate to make sense of digital technologies. Our proposed method integrates Foucauldian discourse perspectives with critical sociotechnical discursive constructions.

The augmented Foucauldian Sociotechnical Demarginalizing Method (FSDM), using critical discourse analysis, can initiate dialog among scholars and inform digital appropriateness and digital sustainability in marginalized communities. Practitioners can also use the proposed method to interrogate how digital development discourses can improve their sustainability goals. We invite researchers who examine their empirical material obtained from indigenous communities to use the proposed FSDM.