Software colonialism: Adobe as the new English in Global South art education

Abstract

Drawing on over three decades of experience as a Pakistani artist – from learning how to use Adobe at the National College of Arts in Lahore in 1993, to teaching it in the United States today – the author introduces the term ‘software colonialism’ to analyse how Adobe Creative Suite functions as a mechanism of digital colonialism in Global South art education. She argues that Adobe operates through three mechanisms paralleling historical colonial structures: epistemological imposition (embedding western workflows, colour systems and assumptions about individual authorship as universal standards), economic extraction (subscription models costing nearly two months of the median Pakistani household income annually) and gatekeeping access (replacing colonial English-language requirements with software requirements that function identically). Just as the British Raj required English proficiency for advancement, contemporary creative industries require Adobe proficiency. And Pakistani educators enforce this monopoly because they have internalised the logic that what the West requires is what students need. The framework extends to artificial intelligence, where AI tools integrated into Adobe products intensify these colonial dynamics. The author concludes by proposing decolonial digital pedagogy strategies.