Data-caring in digital democracies: Brazilian politics and a pedagogical experience with conversations

ABSTRACT

Drawing from feminist contributions in data studies and pedagogy, this article develops the notion of data-caring as an ethico-political intervention. It interrogates the way the ‘digital architecture of neoliberalism’ reduces the complexity of social relations and looks at the absence of conversations and narratives. Against the background of political polarization in Brazil, the article discusses how datafying practices in the digital world enact categories that identify Self and Other without context or complexity. In opposition, data-caring is based on the understanding that the kind of dialogue necessary to live together in polarized times requires conversations that can decompress narrative arcs. As we approach new elections, I detail the experience of teaching an experimental course after the 2018 elections in Brazil and offer insights about what constituted an exploratory study in data-caring, where we explored how we can care about data, care with data and datafy with care.

KEYWORDS:

• Digital data
• digital democracies
• pedagogy
• Brazil
• data-caring

Acknowledgements

The author wishes to thank Tony Porter and Netina Tan for organizing the workshop where the first draft of a related paper was presented and for all the feedback received in that event and after. The author also wants to thank Beatriz Teixeira for her participation in the referred course and for the students’ work and insights.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 ‘Bolsonaro gastou 4 centavos por voto; Haddad, R$0,70’. Retrieved 15 February 2020 from https://oglobo.globo.com/brasil/bolsonaro-gastou-4-centavos-por-voto-haddad-070-23198888.

2 ‘Eleições 2018: Jair Bolsonaro é eleito presidente do Brasil’. Retrieved 15 February 2020 from https://veja.abril.com.br/politica/eleicoes-2018-segundo-turno-apuracao-resultado-presidente-ao-vivo/.

3 Schmitt, G. (24 Jan 2022). Bolsonaro não é o candidato do coração dos evangélicos’, diz antropólogo e pesquisador do segmento religioso no país. Retrieved 27 January 2022 from https://oglobo.globo.com/politica/bolsonaro-nao-o-candidato-do-coracao-dos-evangelicos-diz-antropologo-pesquisador-do-segmento-religioso-no-pais-1-25365045.

4 Syllabus https://www.academia.edu/41984228/IRI_1760_SOLIDARIEDADE_RESPONSABILIDADE_E_CONVIV%C3%8ANCIA_NA_POL%C3%8DTICA_INTERNACIONAL?source=swp_share.

5 ‘Carta branca de Witzel a ação de ‘snipers’ eleva o temor por abusos policias no Rio’. Retrieved 15 February 2020 from https://brasil.elpais.com/brasil/2019/04/03/politica/1554246098_836562.html.

6 Galzo, W. (4 Jan 2022). TSE vai repetir medidas sem eficácia para combater fake news em 2022. Retrieved 27 January 2022 from https://politica.estadao.com.br/noticias/geral,tse-vai-repetir-medidas-sem-eficacia-para-combater-fake-news-em-2022,70003941146.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Isabel Rocha de Siqueira

Isabel Rocha de Siqueira is Assistant Professor (tenured) at the International Relations Institute (IRI), Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro (PUC-Rio). She co-founded and co-coordinates the Security and Development in the Global South (SEED) research programme at the BRICS Policy Center. She also coordinates the Methodology Laboratory at IRI. She has published extensively on development issues, the intersection between development and security and on data politics.