Cosmoplatformization: Digital Platforms from the Global South

Abstract

This article aims to challenge the concept of platformization based on dynamics specific to the Global South, considering the different ways of understanding technics in various cultural contexts, cosmotechnics, or ancestral technologies. Those aspects result from territorialized knowledge forming networks of networks when interacting with digital platforms. This process (a byproduct of digital platforms) involves many dynamics, such as data infrastructure, markets, and governance. To problematize and expand on the concept, we present examples of traditional peoples and their practices, supported by a narrative literature review, to contemplate a sympoietic practice and thus inspire other ways of thinking about platformization. This procedure led us to a proposal we call cosmoplatformization, which we hope can be included in future research. Keeping the theme of the digital and the South in mind, this text addresses particular technological appropriations that lead to technopolitical actions and an exercise in thinking about the digital experience and its theorization.