Studying Multi-dimensional Marginalization of Identity from Decolonial and Postcolonial Perspectives

My research contributes to understanding how colonialism marginalized people in the Global South across various dimensions of identity (e.g., race, gender, sexuality, religion, caste, nationality), how sociotechnical systems reinstate colonial structures and values, and how computing platforms both support and impede colonially marginalized communities’ identity expression and performances. Building on decolonial and postcolonial perspectives with a historicist sensibility, my mixed-method empirical studies on various sites (e.g., Quora, YouTube) highlight users’ agency, the role of content moderation, algorithms, and online communities in the inclusion of culturally diverse native Bengali identities. In doing so, my work informs the broader social computing literature on identity, content moderation, fairness and bias, social justice, and ICTD.