Metadata and Linked Open Data in Digital Heritage for Decolonization

Attempts to utilize digital heritage for decolonization can be grouped into two main tendencies: (i) giving visibility to the colonial practices deeply embedded in heritage practices and (ii) framing new, more democratic heritage understandings that challenge racism, sexism, and other forms of bias and oppression, including Eurocentric understandings and narrations of history and heritage. While decolonization is a complex line of thought and a process with political, cultural, and psychological implications, digital heritage is also an ambiguous term. This ambiguity is due to the lack of clear definitions, policies, and standards. Yet, this situation at the same time offers the possibility to use digital heritage as a resource for decolonization. Metadata and Linked Open Data (LOD) are pivotal tools in digital heritage, yet they also present challenges due to their intrinsic complexities. These technologies, on the one hand, hold the potential to give voices to the communities marginalized by colonial practices, thereby to challenge and potentially transform prevailing global narratives. However, there is also a risk that they might reinforce and reproduce existing power disparities, not only between the Global North and South but also within communities. The entry investigates these dynamics with the goal of providing a state-of-the-art understanding of the relationship between digital heritage and decolonization, as well as conflicts arising from within this relationship.