#NiUnaMenos: Data Activism From the Global South

Abstract

This article explores the creation of a national index of sexist violence in Argentina in 2016 as an example of data activism in the Global South. Drawing upon a qualitative content analysis of press coverage and activist posts on social media, as well as interviews with activists, it describes the context of the #NiUnaMenos feminist mobilization and the collection “from below” of data on gender violence. This study illustrates how activists in the Global South can appropriate technology and promote new uses that not only respond to their local and immediate needs but also contribute to the production of alternative imaginaries on big data in the longer term. Moreover, the article positions women’s movements as an essential component of current social movements in Latin America.

Big Data from the South(s): Beyond Data Universalism

“…Arora (2019) criticizes the neoliberal ideology and the development paradigm inspiring privacy policies in the Global South, calling for decolonizing the approach to privacy by practicing epistemic disobedience and reimagining people and place. Chenou and Cepeda-Másmela (2019) zoom in on the case of the #NiUnaMenos mobilization in Argentina, discussing the alternative imaginaries associated with a bottom-up database of gender violence to reflect on how data activism translates into specific local contexts. The final commentary by Segura and Waisbord (2019) reflects on the key issues explored by this set of contributions, cautioning about two potential pitfalls: assuming that data citizenship in the South is necessarily different than in the North and falling into essentialist positions about “the South.”…”

Data-bodies and data activism: Presencing women in digital heritage research

“…Such re-shaping includes examining and interrupting prevailing data narratives. For example, data activism can provoke a response to serious gender violence issues, exacerbated in part by lack of official data and statistics, such as the creation of a National Index of Male Violence in Argentina (Chenou and Cepeda-Ma´smela, 2019) and a femicide project in Mexico (Ricaurte, 2019). Drawing on different approaches, both offer rich illustrations of how deliberate use of data tactics generated new narratives constructed of highly embodied and detailed data stories.…”

Chile 2018: desafíos al poder de género desde la calle hasta La Moneda

“…Entre 2012 y 2017 la cantidad de protesta feminista en promedio alcanzaba 19 eventos anuales en Chile. No obstante, en 2016 se puede observar el aumento de las movilizaciones feministas relacionadas con el movimiento transnacional #NiUnaMenos (Chenou and Cepeda-Másmela 2019). Mientras que en el "año del feminismo" se contabilizaron 151 protestas feministas a lo largo de todo el país.…”