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Scandinavian Journal of Information Systems

Abstract

One of the dark sides of information technology artefacts is the phenomenon that Western value systems are often built deeply into software programs without any realisation that these applications do not necessarily reflect indigenous value systems. When these systems are rolled out without adaptation to African and other indigenous environments, it may have unintended consequences by enforcing cultural constructs that are typical of the Global North onto communities in the Global South. Consequently, these information systems constitute a new form of coloniality, namely digital coloniality. The main research question that this article addresses is: How does the sub-Saharan African philosophy of Ubuntu bring the concept of digital coloniality to light? The main aim of the article is to define the concepts of digital colonialism and digital coloniality, to provide clear examples thereof and to provide some guidelines for corrective interventions and future theorisation on the phenomenon. The research is a conceptual study and concludes that the intended enforcement of Eurocentric software to maintain a postcolonial state can be regarded as digital colonialism. While unintended, the use of global software in indigenous communities can also often have negative effects

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