Coloniality and frictions: Data-driven humanitarianism in North-Eastern Nigeria and South Sudan

Abstract

It is now over a decade since the proclamation of a humanitarian ‘data revolution’, with the rise of ‘innovation’ and the proliferation of ‘data solutions’ rendering data-based humanitarianism an important area of critical investigation. This article contributes to debates within the field by exploring the role of data in the provision of humanitarian assistance within camps for internally displaced persons (IDPs) across north-eastern Nigeria and South Sudan. It draws on qualitative interviews carried out with humanitarian practitioners specialising in data and information management, as well as with camp residents and stakeholders located in each region. The analysis focuses attention on the ways in which epistemic injustices have been further perpetuated by the ‘data revolution’ due to the intensification of paternalistic dynamics associated with the coloniality of humanitarianism. It shows how a logic of extractivism structures the humanitarian data ecosystem, while also generating a series of tensions and disagreements. Data-driven humanitarianism, the article concludes, is characterised by recurring colonial dynamics as well as intensified frictions that bring epistemic injustices into sharper focus.