Decolonial Approaches to Researching Children and Youth's Digital Cultures: Epistemologies of the South Lenses

Abstract

In this special issue colloquium contribution, I make the case for decolonial, exploratory frameworks and approaches to studying children and young people's digital lifeworlds in a changing digital world, that at the same time acknowledges Africa's epistemic diversity and counters the enduring impacts of coloniality on contemporary identities. The discussion is foregrounded within the Epistemologies of the South framework. The colloquium piece argues that the framework is particularly important for examining how children and young people engage with digital culture, as their experiences are often overlooked in mainstream discourse. Research into young people's digital cultures and lifeworlds particularly in the global South is crucial for understanding the implications of digital culture on young lives and their future. To this end, I propose utilising decolonial approaches such as mobile diaries and mobile diary interviews, decolonial listening, and photovoice (and spatial mapping). The point of these participatory methods is to find out more about the rich and varied digital social lives of young adult Africans, with agentic power, who are not following Western norms, who are involved in a process of hybridising local and global digital cultures and accepting decolonial ways of being, power, and knowledge. The piece explores questions such as: What opportunities do the above methods offer for researching children and young people's digital cultures or lifeworlds, especially in marginalized contexts? What ethical considerations and conundrums are to be expected? How do we navigate such constraints? The colloquium concludes that one of the significances of utilising these decolonial methods in researching children and young people is that they ensure the direct hearing of children and young people's voices, highlighting their agency as experts in their own digital lives.

Setting the scene

This contribution, aligning with this Special Issue, argues for the importance of decolonizing research methodologies by highlighting the perspectives of historically marginalized groups such as children and young people, as well as positioning African digital experiences as legitimate sites of knowledge production. It underscores the need for participatory action research methods that move beyond imperialist lenses and ways of doing, to reflect the lived experiences of children and youth in the global South. I explore these methods as a pathway to involving children and youth in the research process, ensuring that their voices are heard and valued. The contribution also encourages critical reflexivity, urging researchers to be aware of their own positionality, biases and the power dynamics at play in their work.

In my recently published monograph, Children and Young People's Digital Lifeworlds: Domestication, Mediation, and Agency (Uzuegbunam, 2024), I argue that children and young people in Majority World contexts like Africa do not have as much access to digital technologies as their counterparts in Minority World contexts; however, there is a lot we do not know about their digital access, opportunity, and digital footprint, even though digital technologies like mobile phones, social media, and the Internet are becoming quite commonly used. Research evidence has shown that teenagers and young adults in Minority World such as in the USA, North America, and Western Europe, etc., have a lot of access to digital media, such as smartphones, computers, gaming devices, high-speed Internet, and major social media sites. But not much is known about how digital technology affects the daily lives of important social groups, like kids, adolescents, and young adults in African countries.

I use Majority World and Minority World here, deliberately. The terms Majority World and Minority World are used to refer to what has previously been known as ‘the Third World’ and ‘the First World’ or more recently as ‘the Global South’ and ‘the Global North’. The former acknowledges that the ‘majority’ of population, inequality, land mass, and cultures are in Africa, Asia, and Latin America, while also encouraging us to question unequal global power relations in which ‘western’ and ‘northern’ populations and issues are typically privileged despite being the minority, i.e., Minority World (see Punch, 2016).

In every population, the youth and children make up an essential social grouping. In today's digital age, this social group has become an even more critical digital audience. Therefore, it is crucial that researchers, academics, policymakers, and families pay close attention to issues concerning youth and children's physical, psychological, and social development (Uzuegbunam, 2024). In many African countries, there is the lack of interest in the history of children and childhoods and in how young people can become a pivotal aspect of development discourses. Childhood is one of the most formative and imaginative times of a person's life. Hence, it is imperative for researchers to persistently prioritize the study of children and youth's socialization through the media and the extent and nature of technology adoption, adaption, and assimilation. Despite the fact that young people constitute the majority of Africa's population, adults and official institutions rarely listen to or take seriously their voices, perspectives, or ambitions (Nkula-Weinz et al., 2022). They are still viewed with distrust, as fragile and disruptive; and there is often cynicism regarding their ability to self-regulate and reflect, which is rooted in sociopolitical frameworks that ignore and deprioritize youth and children's issues and perspectives.

These issues are what inspire my interest and scholarship in this area. My work in Nigeria and South Africa tries to fill this gap by prioritizing child and youth centered exploration of the digital lifeworlds of children and young people in the African context. My recent book (Uzuegbunam, 2024) tries to foreground children's agency and autonomy as full human beings with opinions about their own digital lives being acknowledged and given priority.

Furthermore, I am deeply interested in how, despite the never-ending issue of digital divides and disconnections, young people in low-income contexts are redefining what it means to be digitally activated, what networked autonomies and socialities are possible even in resource-constrained spaces, and what new imaginaries are activated when their youthful creativities are unleashed. I am currently a co-principal investigator and team leader for a youth research project funded by the Andrew W Mellon Foundation that investigates digitality, sociality, and inequality among South African youth. In this project, my team and I explore a range of decolonial and participatory methods which are foregrounded in the Epistemologies of the South (Southern digitalities, Southern theory) framework. Our focus is to examine in-depth the meanings that young people make of the digital resources and infrastructures available in their locality, and what these meanings tell us about young people's digital and social lives in unequal contexts. We are interested in both disrupting the notion of ‘the digital age’ as a marker of uniform globalisation and techno-modernity, as well as highlighting how young digital users in African countries demonstrate digital resourcefulness in dealing with the divides and disconnections and inequalities they face in everyday life.

In this contribution, I make the case for decolonial, participatory, exploratory frameworks and approaches to studying children and young people's digital lifeworlds in a changing digital world, that at the same time acknowledges Africa's epistemic diversity and counters the enduring impacts of coloniality on contemporary identities (Santos, 2014; Nyamnjoh & Brudvig, 2017). I perceive the concept of participatory and decolonial methodologies as congruent with the idea of ‘postdigital research.’ According to Veletsianos et al. (2024), such research can utilize any methodology, possesses a distinct sensibility and agency, scrutinizes the researcher's positionality alongside various interrelated dynamics such as inclusion-exclusion and method-emancipation, and is not static but evolves from the community's engagement and interpretation of the concept.

Theoretical clarity

The Epistemologies of the South framework–offshoots of this include the Southern Theory and Southern digitalities–represent a significant shift in the understanding of knowledge production and its implications for social science research. The framework challenges the dominance of Eurocentric epistemologies and advocates for the recognition of diverse knowledge systems originating from the global South or Majority World. It is crucial for addressing the historical and ongoing epistemic injustices faced by marginalized communities and promoting a more inclusive reception and positioning of knowledge. Proposed by Boaventura de Sousa Santos, Epistemologies of the South emphasizes the need to recognize and validate local knowledges that have been marginalized by dominant Western paradigms (Gonzales & González, 2015; Pino-Morán et al., 2023). Santos argues that these epistemologies are not merely alternative viewpoints but are essential for understanding the complexities of social realities in the global South (Gonzales & González, 2015).

Southern Theory, as articulated by scholars such as Raewyn Connell, emphasizes the importance of knowledge produced in the global South, arguing that traditional social science theories often overlook or misrepresent these perspectives (Rosa, 2014). Connell's work highlights the need for a theoretical framework that is sensitive to the socio-political contexts of the South, thereby contesting the legitimacy of Northern-centric theories that have historically dominated academic discourse (Rosa, 2014; Puwar, 2019). This perspective is echoed by other scholars who assert that the term ‘South’ serves as a circumstantial project that encapsulates various struggles for legitimacy in knowledge production (Rosa, 2014). The implications of the Southern Theory extend beyond mere academic discourse; they challenge the structural inequalities inherent in global knowledge production and advocate for a more equitable epistemological landscape (Abebe et al., 2022). Furthermore, the term ‘southern digitalities’ is an emerging concept used to highlight the importance of exploring the digital tools, experiences, and infrastructures in the Majority World and how they are shaping knowledge production, social belonging, and other aspects in ways that challenge Western-centric narratives.

The Epistemologies of the South framework is particularly important for examining how children and young people engage with digital culture, as their experiences are often overlooked in mainstream discourse. Research into young people's digital cultures and lifeworlds particularly in the global South is crucial for understanding the implications of digital culture on young lives and their future. This also reveals the level of digital literacy they are lacking, which Lund et al. (2019) note is transformative and agentic, and has the potential to allow young people to navigate and shape their digital environments effectively. It is also important to take into account the contextual differences in what digital literacy entails here; Pangrazio et al. (2020), argue, for instance, for a rethinking of the universalisation of digital literacy, and instead, consider how the different educational, technological and political histories influence the uptake and use of digital technologies, as well as how digital literacy is conceptualized (p. 443). In place of digital literacy, research literature has argued for the concept of digital literacy in the plural (‘literacies’) as a starting point to departing from an autonomous model of digital literacy and begin to frame multiple kinds of literacies that cater to marginalized contexts (Majority Worlds) (see Knobel & Lankshear, 2006). The need for a holistic understanding of digital culture that incorporates research into the voices and experiences of children and young people is paramount, as evidenced by the calls for decolonizing knowledge production and recognizing the agency of youth in shaping their realities (Nkula-Wenz et al., 2022; Uzuegbunam, 2024).

Decolonial methods

Challenging Western notions of knowledge production, Smith (1999) cautions against centering research only from the viewpoint of imperialist sources, practices and methods. Smith advocates for respectful and ethical research practices that empower historically marginalized people and communities as researchers, through the instrumentality of decolonial research methodologies, and ‘having a more critical understanding of the underlying assumptions, motivations and values which inform research practices.’ (p. 20). Decolonial methods are participatory in nature, allowing room for these communities to define their own research goals, methodologies, and outcomes, rather than being subjects of research conducted by outsiders. Smith's (1999) ideas about decolonial methods corroborate Kessi's (2017) recommendation towards a research paradigm that is activist in nature and that is therefore geared towards a social justice agenda.

Young people in Majority World, or global South, have something to give in as much as they have had a lot taken away from them and are essentially conceived as existing on the ‘other’ side (the receiving end) of the abyssal line that separates the North from the South. Methodologically, this necessitates exploring innovative research techniques that go beyond conventional quantitative analysis and qualitative interviews. To this end, I propose utilising decolonial and participatory action approaches such as mobile diaries and mobile diary interviews, decolonial listening, photovoice (and spatial mapping). These methods are considered decolonial since they enrich what is known about the rich and varied digital social lives of young adult Africans, with agentic power, who are not following Western norms, who are involved in a process of hybridising local and global digital cultures, and accepting decolonial ways of being, power, and knowledge (Uzuegbunam et al., 2024). They are considered participatory action research methods since they emphasise the importance of agency on the part of the young people who are involved in shaping the research process and outcomes. The emphasis on agency is echoed in the work of Wilkinson and Wilkinson (2017), who advocate for participatory research methodologies that empower young people to contribute meaningfully to research about their lived experiences.

What opportunities do the above methods offer for researching children and young people's digital cultures or lifeworlds, especially in marginalized contexts? What ethical considerations and conundrums are to be expected? How do we navigate such constraints?

The mobile diary is a method where young people are encouraged to document how they used their mobile phones the day before, or a few days before. The objective is to construct a comprehensive depiction of the routine actions that comprised the specific aspects of the days before, along with the mobile (and other digital) actions that were integrated into these ordinary tasks. Consequently, the media practice framework proposed by Couldry (2004) is utilized, which views media consumption as an integral component of specific daily activities and derives significance from the meanings connected with these routine practices. The mobile diary interview, follows right afterwards, and involves sitting down with the participants to unpack the diary which can reveal nuances and details not captured in the diary.

The mobile diary method has emerged as a significant tool in digital media research, particularly in capturing real-time data and enhancing participant engagement. This method allows researchers to gather rich, contextualized information about participants’ experiences and behaviours, which is often difficult to obtain through traditional data collection methods such as interviews or surveys. The integration of mobile technology into diary methods has proven to be particularly effective in various fields, including health research, qualitative studies, and media consumption analysis. One of its key advantages is the ability to facilitate real-time data collection, to capture detailed and timely data, and reduced recall bias (Wagner et al., 2022).

Decolonial listening is a method that emphasizes the importance of listening beyond dominant and universal values to uncover new alternatives and futures. It is particularly relevant in research contexts where there is a need to challenge the dominance of Western perspectives and to value the experiences, knowledges, and creativity of local communities, especially those in low-income contexts such as African countries.

The intersection of decolonial listening methods and digital media research presents an opportunity to address the implications of digital colonialism while fostering inclusive and equitable practices in digital environments. Digital colonialism refers to the ways in which digital technologies perpetuate colonial relationships through data extraction and exploitation (Veracini & Weaver-Hightower, 2023). The method emphasizes the importance of understanding and valuing diverse voices, particularly those from marginalized communities, in the context of digital media. This approach is essential for recognizing the power dynamics inherent in digital spaces and for challenging the colonial legacies that persist in contemporary media practices through government digital policies, Big Tech, and platform owners (see Veracini & Weaver-Hightower, 2023). Winter and Lavis (2019) argue that listening, as a mode of ethnographic participation, allows researchers to capture the emotional nuances of online interactions, which often extend beyond mere text to include images, GIFs, and other forms of digital expression. One approach that captures this quite well is digital storytelling which has emerged as a powerful tool for enhancing listening skills while simultaneously serving as a decolonial method for researching digitality.

In the context of studying how young people are redefining digital activation, networked autonomies, and socialities in resource-constrained spaces, decolonial listening can be an innovative method that allows researchers to truly hear and understand the voices and views of these individuals. It helps in recognizing the unique ways in which they navigate their digital worlds and create new imaginaries, despite the constraints they face. This method has proven particularly significant in our research on South African youth in the resource-limited Makana municipality, where, despite persistent divides and disconnections, the young individuals exhibit some agency by assembling their own devices, tools, knowledge, and social structures to assert their presence in the digital realm, while cultivating networked autonomies and social connections (Uzuegbunam et al., 2024).

Photovoice is a qualitative, participatory action, visual method that combines photography with grassroots social action. Participants are provided with cameras or use their mobile cameras, to capture images that represent their perspectives and life experiences, usually in their local contexts. These photographs are then used as a basis for a focus group discussion and as a powerful tool to communicate insights to researchers, policymakers, and stakeholders. This interaction facilitates the research process, with the researcher acting as a facilitator who encourages participants to delve deeper into their stories (Kessi, 2017). The role of the researcher is to interrogate and ask questions like: ‘Can you say more about your story?’ or ‘Can you locate this idea within your context?’ This process fosters critical consciousness and encourages mobilization and social action within a social justice agenda (Kessi, 2017). With photovoice participants are encouraged to capture their experiences through photography, thereby facilitating a visual narrative that can influence social change and policy advocacy (see Tippin & Maranzan, 2022; Glaw et al., 2017). The application of photovoice in digital media research extends across various fields, including health promotion, education, and social justice. For example, studies have demonstrated the effectiveness of these methods in addressing mental health stigma and promoting maternal and child health (Limaye et al., 2018; Vecchi et al., 2016).

In our project around young people's navigation of digitality in unequal contexts in South Africa, photovoice has been particularly impactful as it allows the young participants control over how they represent their lives and communities. This method has helped us uncover unique insights into the ways young people navigate digital spaces, form connections, and create new cultural expressions despite social, economic, and political constraints they live with. It highlights their resilience and ingenuity, offering a rich, visual narrative that challenges our preconceived notions and sparks dialogue about their lived realities. Photovoice ties in well with spatial mapping – which is a method that involves identifying various aspects of the geographical environment and how they are incorporated into practices of everyday life. In using this method to explore everyday digital life, the mapping exercises typically involve enlisting young people in identifying various digital landmarks in their communities; firstly digital infrastructure such as Wi-Fi hotspots, mobile network connection and disconnection, mobile phone towers, and electricity substations; and secondly, local spaces of popular digital life (such as street corners) where youth gather to exchange music and movies, mobile internet, or produce digital media (such as in schools or youth computer centres) (Uzuegbunam et al., 2024).

Ethical considerations

Using decolonial, participatory action approaches like mobile diaries, decolonial listening, and photovoice in research can present a range of ethical constraints and complexities, especially in contexts with existing digital divides and low or precarious digital literacy. However, these challenges can be overcome with careful planning and ethical mindfulness and considerations. The mobile diary method, where participants share detailed information about their daily lives, raises several ethical issues. Privacy concerns are paramount, as participants may disclose sensitive data. Ensuring the confidentiality of this information is therefore crucial. Assent and consent are another significant issues, particularly when participants are minors. Obtaining informed assent and consent can be complex, as minors may not fully understand the implications of their participation. Additionally, the accuracy of self-reported data can be questionable, as participants might forget details or alter their behaviour because they know they are being observed.

Since decolonial listening involves engaging with local communities to understand their perspectives about their lived experience, researchers must be vigilant against misinterpretation due to their own cultural biases and ensure they have a deep understanding of the local context. Navigating power dynamics is crucial to avoid reinforcing colonial power structures. Researchers should strive for a collaborative approach that empowers indigenous voices. Ensuring equitable representation can be challenging, but it is essential to create avenues where all community members, including marginalized voices, can share their experiences and knowledge. Sustainability of engagements is also important, focusing on long-term relationships rather than short-term research goals to ensure the benefits of research are sustained within the community; this can also include follow-up visits even after the research has been completed, possibly to share research findings or similar goals.

Photovoice also involves significant ethical considerations. Informed consent is crucial, with participants needing to understand how their images and stories will be used. Privacy is another key issue, as photographs may inadvertently reveal sensitive information or identifiable features of individuals who have not consented to be part of the study. There is also the risk of harm or stigma if images portray individuals or communities stereotypically or negatively. Researchers must ensure participants are aware of these risks and take steps to mitigate them, such as anonymizing photographs or obtaining consent from all identifiable subjects. Additionally, it is important to consider the power dynamics between researchers and participants, and thereby ensure the project does not exploit or misrepresent the voices it aims to amplify. Training participants in ethical photography practices and obtaining informed consent could be essential for mitigating potential risks associated with visual research methods (Strack et al., 2004).

Final words

Decolonial methodologies are increasingly recognized as essential in studying young people, particularly in contexts where colonial, imperialist legacies continue to shape social dynamics and youth experiences. This approach emphasizes the importance of centering the voices and perspectives of marginalized youth, particularly indigenous and racialized communities, in research processes. The key for me is recognising the views and voices of the researched, as opposed to merely approaching them with a deficit mindset, as people needing to be saved, or worse, objectifying them – ‘objectification is a process of dehumanisation’ (Smith, 1999, p. 39). By employing decolonial frameworks, researchers can challenge Eurocentric narratives and methodologies that have historically dominated youth studies. In her talk around how to decolonise knowledge and knowledge production, Kessi (2017) invites us to rethink the nature of our insertion into the research process by asking questions such as: ‘How can you conduct this research in a way that doesn't center solely on you?’; ‘What makes you the right person to do this research, and what is your role in the research process?’; ‘How do participants relate to you?’; ‘Am I reproducing the same agelong images and stereotypes of the ‘other’?’; ‘How do your research aims and practices reproduce or disrupt existing ways of knowing and doing?’, etc. These questions are grounded in decolonial epistemologies, valuing and foregrounding critical reflection around the politics of location, practice and representation in research.

What excites me the most about utilising decolonial methods in researching children and young people is that they ensure the direct hearing of children and young people's voices, and this highlights their agency as experts in their own digital lives (Uzuegbunam, 2024, p.5). They empower young people as active agents in the research process. For instance, in our research with young adults in South Africa's poorest province, we explore the opportunity of recruiting them as both research participants and research apprentices. As research participants, the young people contribute their lived experiences, perspectives, and insights, which are crucial for generating authentic and contextually relevant data. This challenges traditional power dynamics in research, where young people are often seen merely as subjects of study rather than active contributors. As research apprentices, they are not only involved in providing data but also in the research process itself. This role includes training in research methodologies, data collection and interpretation, and possibly dissemination of findings. It will serve researchers and research communities in African countries, other parts of the Majority World, and ‘outsiders’ wanting to study these contexts well to increasingly explore and approach the digital cultures and lifeworlds of children and young people using participatory and decolonial methods. This will potentially be the beginning of developing well-suited theories and ethical guidelines specific to studying young people in these contexts within the postdigital research paradigm.