Data Colonialism and Critical Data Literacy

This article argues that digital capitalism generates distinctive forms of epistemic violence through data colonialism – the appropriation of human experience as raw material for algorithmic processing and capital accumulation. Drawing on decolonial theory and critical media education, the study demonstrates how contemporary datafication replicates colonial patterns of extraction, exploitation, and epistemological domination. Through three case studies – content moderation labor, biometric surveillance systems, and large language models – the analysis reveals how algorithmic systems encode and perpetuate structural violence while marginalizing alternative ways of knowing. The article proposes critical data literacy as an emancipatory educational practice that expands conventional media competence frameworks through explicit attention to power, coloniality, and structural inequalities. Concrete pedagogical scenarios illustrate how learners can develop capacities for recognizing epistemic violence, understanding data extraction's political economy, and participating in building non-extractive alternatives. The study examines institutional requirements for implementation across teacher education, curriculum development, and informal learning contexts, while presenting alternative models including Indigenous Data Sovereignty and Ubuntu philosophy that challenge surveillance capitalism's extractive logic.