FAUSTINO, Deivison; LIPPOLD, Walter. Colonialismo digital: por uma crítica hacker-fanoniana. São Paulo: Boitempo, 2023

Abstract

This review presents a critical analysis of the book Digital Colonialism: Toward a Hacker-Fanonian Critique by Deivison Faustino and Walter Lippold, which examines how artificial intelligence and data extraction reproduce colonial dynamics, reinforcing structural inequalities. Grounded in the thought of Frantz Fanon, the authors discuss algorithmic racism, digital necropolitics, and the transformation of individuals into mere objects of value extraction within surveillance capitalism. The book is structured into three parts: (i) a critique of the myth of algorithmic neutrality and the role of big tech companies in digital colonialism; (ii) the relationship between primitive data accumulation, psychopolitics, and the algorithmic control of racialized populations; and (iii) possibilities for resistance and the decolonization of technological infrastructures, with a focus on hacktivism as an insurgent strategy. The review highlights the book’s relevance to critical technology studies and Southern applied linguistics, underscoring its contribution to debates on digital sovereignty and anti-colonial epistemologies within the field of digital humanities.