Favel IA: South-to-South Dialogues on Digital Colonialism, Participation and Justice

We are experiencing new forms of digital colonialism that deepen global inequalities. In this context, considerable attention has been devoted to the need to foster South–to–South dialogues and broaden participation. But in a world in disarray, how can we understand the unique possibilities of South–to–South dialogues around technology and social justice in ways that do not romanticize precarity while acknowledging the complexities of the Global South? And how can participation be taken seriously in ways that do not feed into participation-washing but instead contribute to reducing the profound power asymmetries between marginalized communities in the Global South and tech giants in the Global North?

The talk is organized in two halves. First, drawing from the feminist scholar Djamila Ribeiro’s discussions about “where we stand” (2024), the lecture critically reflects on plural understandings of “the Global South” (Moyo, 2020) and “participation” (Freire, 1972). These concepts have long been taken for granted. Yet they have also been co-opted, dismissed as outdated, and simultaneously revitalized. Amid disputes over digital sovereignty, with digital technologies playing a key role in shaping a world marked by war and crisis, the lecture argues that these contradictions should not be ignored. It also emphasizes the need to intensify these debates in a South–to–South spirit (Medrado and Rega, 2023), immersed in pluriversal “Southern” epistemologies. Situating the analysis within the perspective of a Latina migrant in the UK who grew up in an Afro-Brazilian capital, the talk highlights linkages and complementarities between Latin American and African thinking.

Second, the lecture examines these debates by analyzing preliminary findings from the Favel IA Project. Favela is the Brazilian word for a shantytown, and IA is the Portuguese acronym for “inteligência artificial.” Co-designed with Instituto Papo Reto (Rio de Janeiro), the research asks: how does the favela use AI and how can its AI practices inform more equitable AI governance from the margins? The study engages grassroots communities in Participatory Action Research (PAR) workshops. It demonstrates how the favela itself embodies a form of intelligence, driven by creativity and resistance. Just as AI processes large datasets, the favela offers a model of intelligence grounded in lived experience and agency. At the same time, to study the everyday uses of AI in the favelas is also to examine the risks posed by AI-driven technologies, such as facial recognition systems, which discriminate against Black residents in disenfranchised communities. In this vein, the talk proposes rethinking AI as rooted in the lived experiences (vivências) of those most affected by systemic inequalities and whose voices, paradoxically, are often missing from AI governance and literacy debates.