ITeG-Lecture: "Creating an (Afro)Feminist Internet"
In the ITeG lecture series "Digital Society - a Design Challenge", Neema Iyer will provide insights on “Creating an (Afro)Feminist Internet” on December 2, 2020. She is the founder and executive director of POLLICY, a civic technology company based in Kampala, Uganda. POLLICY uses data, design and technology to improve how citizens and government engage around public service delivery.
Summary of her presentation:
For the past decade, internet connectivity has been praised for its potential to close the gender gap in Africa. Among the many benefits of digitalization, digital tools enable groups that are marginalized across the intersections of gender, race, sex, class, religion, ability and nationality to produce and access new forms of knowledge and conceive counter-discourses. However, the internet, once viewed as a utopia for equality, is proving to be the embodiment of old systems of oppression and violence. Discriminatory gendered practices are shaped by social, economic, cultural and political structures in the physical world and are similarly reproduced online across digital platforms. In this series, I will talk about findings from research on the online lived experiences of women living in five African countries, about how gendered disinformation impacts women’s participation and why we need to collaboratively create inclusive and ethical digital futures.
The lectures take place online (via Zoom). To join the Zoom Meeting, please find the Zoom Link and Meeting ID on the following website: www.uni-kassel.de/go/iteg-lectures