46. Decolonizing the Data Journey: a conversation with Dr. Drew Hart

The Accord Research Alliance Podcast

Dr. Drew Hart, author, activist and professor of theology and the Bible at Messiah University and Rodney Green, Senior Manager of Monitoring and Evaluation at Compassion International, have a conversation about the theological foundation to resist perpetuating colonial legacies in the data journey. One framework introduced is “decolonization”, a term that refers to approaches and methodologies of acquiring and leveraging data in a way that better honors and shares power with communities on whom these limits have been placed and/or that have been historically oppressed, enables them to control their information and use data to tell their own story, and that helps dismantle mutually dehumanizing colonial paradigms and practices that have affected their history and current realities. As the conversation is only an introduction, alternative frameworks working towards a similar aim of greater love and justice for those marginalized are not discussed, though we hope the conversation can spark helpful steps to engage in deeper learning and strengthening humanizing and liberating practices around data. To learn more about Dr. Drew Hart, his books, and his podcast “Inverse”, visit: https://drewgihart.com/ and https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/inverse-podcast/id1358332600