Translations:Course-v1:edz+11+22/en/block-v1:edz+11+22+type@html+block@4c368b93d85a4ebf8145285b8869d177/content/en
<img height="66" width="54" src="/asset-v1:Wikimedia-Foundation+WMF_OL101+2022+type@asset+block@Wikimedia_Brand_Guidelines_Update_2022_-_PuzzleGlobe.svg" alt="" style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.6667px; font-weight: bold; white-space-collapse: preserve;" /> Decolonial knowledge production initiaves on Wikimedia
Decolonial approaches have been very powerful in supporting inclusion of different kinds of communities around the world. In October 2019, participants from across the world were brought together by the Wikimedia affiliate <a href="https://whoseknowledge.org/" target="[object Object]">Whose Knowledge?</a> to reflect on <a href="https://whoseknowledge.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/DTIL-Report.pdf" target="[object Object]">Decolonizing the Internet’s Languages</a>. A diverse group of people gathered around the premise that language is a proxy for knowledge, and to reclaim their many languages beyond English on the internet. Whose Knowledge? centers the knowledge of marginalized communities, predominantly in the Global South/Majority (the majority of the world) on the Internet. Similarly, in October 2021, the organization held a <a href="https://whoseknowledge.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/DTI-SD-SummaryReport-ENGLISH.pdf" target="[object Object]">conversation about decolonizing the internet’s structured data</a>, leading up to WikidataCon.
Surfacing critical voices in existing articles is the foundational premise of the Portuguese Language <a href="https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikip%C3%A9dia:Projeto_Mais_Teoria_da_Hist%C3%B3ria_na_Wiki/FAQ" target="[object Object]">Projeto Mais Teoria da História na Wiki</a>. By focusing on inclusive history, language and perspectives on knowledge, the project creates space and teaches users to approach the whole project of representation as transformative of the knowledge ecosystem rather than focused solely on representation from measurable statistics about biographies. The project seeks to promote the engagement of minority groups contributing content related to gender, sexuality, race studies and epistemologies of the Global South.
In their minicourse “Wikipedia with Gender Perspective” (Original: <a href="https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikip%C3%A9dia:Projeto_Mais_Teoria_da_Hist%C3%B3ria_na_Wiki/Mais_Pretas/Minicurso_virtual_%22Wikip%C3%A9dia_em_chave_de_g%C3%AAneros%22" target="[object Object]">Wikipédia em Chave de Gêneros</a>), the group explains how they adopted non-sexist, non-androcentric use of language, or inclusive language, when doing their work. “There is [a] legal and normative framework in human rights that addresses the need to use language in a way that: on the one hand, recognizes the multiplicity of human experience; and, on the other hand, does not reproduce hierarchies or power relations over women, LGBT identities and other minoritized identities, such as racialized people or people with disabilities.”
<img src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/ec/Folheto_do_curso_virtual_Wikip%C3%A9dia_em_chave_de_g%C3%AAneros.png/800px-Folheto_do_curso_virtual_Wikip%C3%A9dia_em_chave_de_g%C3%AAneros.png" alt="Ficheiro:Folheto do curso virtual Wikipédia em chave de gêneros.png" />
The advertisement for the course organized by Mais Teoria da História na Wiki in 2023. Including intersectional perspectives that connect gender with LGBTQ+ representation and decolonial approaches allows the group to think about complex intersectional knowledge gaps. (<a href="https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ficheiro:Folheto_do_curso_virtual_Wikip%C3%A9dia_em_chave_de_g%C3%AAneros.png" target="[object Object]">Commons</a>)
