Colonialism granted subjecthood to dominated people without granting equality.

Evidence

In order to articulate these positions, what are needed are methods for denaturalizing the logic of data and critiquing data colonialism. We must then use the results of those methods to reimagine different forms of social and economic relations and connections outside of Western notions of modernity. The project of creating these alternate versions of modernity is what Enrique Dussel calls a “worldwide ethical liberation project” that challenges the universalism of a Western form of reason. In essence, creating counterpresents implies engaging in media practices that question how notions of “progress,” “civilization,” or “innovation” are equated with data relations as conceptualized by corporate interests. Creating counterpresents would also mean reclaiming the agency of the colonized data subject. The colonial project granted subjecthood to dominated individuals, but it did not grant them equality. — Nick Couldry & Ulises A. Mejias, The Costs of Connection, 353

Categorization

• DEFINE: Provides the methodological program and the Dussel concept grounding the rival school’s emancipatory project.
• XREF: The distinction between granted subjecthood and withheld equality echoes postcolonial theory (e.g., Spivak) and frames how data colonialism similarly constructs subjects without equality. — connects to: Colonialism operates through objective role, not personal intention — Aimé Césaire, Discourse on Colonialism, 125; Colonial rulers reject native self-determination as beyond subject capacity; Colonial powers impose a double moral standard demanding restraint only from the colonized (+3 more)

Broader Connections

• Colonial powers justified intervention by portraying colonized subjects as incapable of self-understanding #expands (0.85) — Edward W. Said, Orientalism, 694
• Colonial powers opposed universal human rights extending to their own subjects #exemplifies (0.82) — Jessica Whyte, The Morals of the Market, 268
• Colonial rulers reject native self-determination as beyond subject capacity #expands (0.80)
• Colonialism operates through objective role, not personal intention #qualifies (0.75) — Aimé Césaire, Discourse on Colonialism, 125
• Colonial sovereignty is boundless and its purpose is perpetual re-creation of the colonized #expands (0.72) — Wael Hallaq, Restating Orientalism, 242
• Colonial powers impose a double moral standard demanding restraint only from the colonized #expands (0.70)