This article examines how Science and Technology Studies (STS) can be applied to understand digitalization in non-Western contexts. It highlights the unique challenges, adaptations, and innovations that emerge when digital technologies are implemented outside the Western framework, offering a critical perspective on global digital transformation and its socio-cultural implications in peripheral regions.
Authors
Vidya Subramanian, Associate Professor, Jindal School of Government and Public Policy, O.P. Jindal Global University, Sonipat, Haryana, India.
Yousif Hassan, University of Michigan, United States.
Summary
The study of Science, Technology and Society (STS) from the perspective of the Global South or peripheries is critical for several reasons. This endeavour is not merely academic; it is a necessary exploration that unveils alternative paradigms of knowledge production, addresses global challenges and highlights the ethical implications of digital technologies. In this Special Issue, we have tried to focus on several areas within what is variously known as the non-West, the Global South, the third world, the developing world, the postcolonial and so on. Calling a large majority of the world ‘the periphery’ is as much an ironic formulation as it is a reflection of how small and unipolar the so-called ‘centre’ is.
The authors in this issue are from Africa, South America and Asia (unfortunately, and we acknowledge this is a weakness, only India is represented); and they reflect on a range of issues dealing with digitalisation in many forms across these continents. There is, of course, no way to cover all countries or problems in one journal issue, but we have attempted to put together many ways of thinking through the rapid digitalisation being seen across all these geographical spaces. We would also like to acknowledge that the ‘peripheries’ can be of various kinds—not just geographical. But in this issue, we focus on those spaces that are, broadly, the ‘non-West’.
Scholars from the Global South bring invaluable perspectives that are shaped by the specific historical, cultural and political contexts of their regions. They offer critical insights into how global technologies are localised, how they intersect with indigenous knowledge systems, and how they impact governance and democracy in ways that differ significantly from the experiences of the Global North (Harding, 2008).
This is particularly important as we grapple with the ethical implications of technologies that are increasingly pervasive yet unevenly distributed. The hope that scholars from these spaces offer to the world lies in their ability to articulate alternative futures and to propose models of technology and society that are more inclusive, equitable and responsive.
Published in: Science, Technology and Society
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