Feminist by Design and Designed by Diverse Feminists: Reflections on a Community Network Project in Brazil

Abstract

The field of feminist infrastructures has shown that technologies are not neutral and, in fact, embody patriarchal and colonial assumptions. The emerging literature and practices of this field show that feminist infrastructures are not limited to the status-quo—there will always be escapes and hacks. By carrying out a two-year action-research project on community networks and feminist infrastructure in a traditionally black Brazilian community (the quilombos), we realised that social interactions with autonomous infrastructure and networks are intersected by discussions, conflicts and negotiations. Similarly, so is the process of researching. What are the challenges when translating feminist intentions to building infrastructure and digital networks while doing participatory research? This article explores what feminist by design means in our experience. Our main sources of information are the field notes and partial reports from our action-research project, the literature reviewed in this process, and semi-structured interviews conducted with community members. Rather than arriving at final answers, we intend to reflect on what we learned from our project. We hope to open our own experience to others and promote knowledge exchange around feminist practices, ethics, technologies and research.