Culturally centring digital inclusion and marginality: A case study in Aotearoa New Zealand
Phoebe Elers, Mohan J. Dutta, Steve Elers
Abstract
The dominant approach to digital inclusion positions technology as a ‘fix’ to the challenges experienced by marginalized communities. Largely erased are the broader structures of marginalization, the role of technology in relationship to structures and the cultural contexts within which technologies are negotiated. In this essay, we culturally centre digital inclusion to offer insights into the ways in which technologies play out within the margins, drawing from ethnographic fieldwork, including 60 initial interviews, group meetings and 25 interviews carried out amidst the lockdown in response to COVID-19 in Aotearoa New Zealand. We argue that the pandemic offers a window into the relationship between inequalities and technologies, rendering structural contexts of these inequalities visible. We highlight how technology adoption produces marginality in service delivery, situating technology amidst the ecologies of everyday life and the interplays of culture, structure and agency.