Favel IA: AI Governance and Literacy from the Margins in the Global South

We are experiencing new forms of digital colonialism that deepen global inequalities. In this context, much has been said about the need to foster South-to-South dialogues and widen 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 romanticise precarity and acknowledge the complexities of the Global South? And how can we take participation seriously in ways that not do not feed into participation-washing but instead contribute to reducing the profound power asymmetries between marginalised communities in the Global South, and tech giants in the Global North.

In this talk, I tackle these questions by analysing 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, I propose the rethinking of 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.

About the speaker

Andrea Medrado is an Associate Professor in Global Communications and a Co-Director of Research for the Department of Communications, Drama and Film of the University of Exeter in the UK. She is the Co-Vice President of the International Association for Media and Communication Research (IAMCR).

Currently, Andrea is a Co-Investigator for the Project “The Social Foundations of Cryptography”, funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) in the UK, and a Principal Investigator the Project “Favel IA”, funded by the INCT DSI Consortium (The National Institute of Science and Technology in Informational Disputes and Sovereignties) in Brazil. Her book “Media Activism, Artivism and the Fight Against Marginalisation in the Global South” (2023), co-authored with Isabella Rega, has received the “Outstanding Book Award 2024” from the International Communication Association’s – ICA – Activism, Communication and Social Justice Division.

Her research interests include South-to-South communication, media activism and artivism in the Global South, critical AI and data studies, ethnographic, participatory and creative methods.

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