Digital Humanities and Colonial Literature: Examining Language Representation in Online Historical Archives of Texts
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.70062/gllr.v1i2.248Keywords:
Colonial Language Dominance, Decolonization, Digital Humanities, Local Languages, Text MiningAbstract
This study investigates the representation of colonial and local languages in digital archives, with a focus on the dominance of colonial languages in historical text collections. Digital archives have become essential for preserving both colonial and indigenous texts, but this preservation often reflects historical imbalances, particularly in language representation. The main objective of this research is to analyze the prevalence of colonial versus local languages in digital historical texts and assess how this affects the representation of history and culture. Using text mining techniques, this study analyzes digital archives, including colonial government documents, local community writings, and online repositories. The analysis reveals that colonial language remains dominant, with a significantly higher frequency of colonial texts compared to local ones. This dominance highlights the enduring legacy of colonial power structures in shaping historical narratives. The findings suggest that digital archives often perpetuate historical biases by underrepresenting indigenous languages and knowledge. The study calls for the adoption of more inclusive, multilingual approaches in digital humanities, emphasizing the need to decolonize archival practices. By integrating indigenous perspectives and ensuring equitable language representation, digital archives can contribute to a more balanced and accurate portrayal of history. The research also underscores the importance of involving indigenous communities in archival processes to protect and promote their cultural heritage.
References
[1] T.R. Genovese, "Decolonizing archival methodology: Combating hegemony and moving towards a collaborative archival environment," AlterNative, vol. 12, no. 1, pp. 32–42, 2016. [Online]. Available: https://doi.org/10.20507/AlterNative.2016.12.1.3.
[2] S. Masenya, "Valorization and digital préservation of indigenous knowledge systems in south african indigenous communities: Best practices in the digital transformation era," in Digital Preservation and Documentation of Global Indigenous Knowledge Systems, T. Maggs, Ed., 2023, pp. 27–42. [Online]. Available: https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-6684-7024-4.ch002.
[3] Z. Akter, "Indigenous languages in the post-colonial era," in Knowing Differently: The Challenge of the Indigenous, 2013, pp. 309–316. [Online]. Available: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315656649-17.
[4] H.M. Hyman and B.E. Mundy, "The colonial archive and its fictions," Colonial Latin American Review, vol. 32, no. 3, pp. 312–344, 2023. [Online]. Available: https://doi.org/10.1080/10609164.2023.2246831.
[5] A.M. Hyman and B.E. Mundy, "The colonial archive and its fictions," Colonial Latin American Review, vol. 32, no. 3, pp. 312–344, 2023. [Online]. Available: https://doi.org/10.1080/10609164.2023.2246831.
[6] T.R. Genovese, "Decolonizing archival methodology: Combating hegemony and moving towards a collaborative archival environment," AlterNative, vol. 12, no. 1, pp. 32–42, 2016. [Online]. Available: https://doi.org/10.20507/AlterNative.2016.12.1.3.
[7] S. Araújo, M. Aguiar, and L. Ermakova, "Digital Humanities Looking at the World: Exploring Innovative Approaches and Contributions to Society," Springer Nature, 2024, pp. 1–382. [Online]. Available: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-48941-9.
[8] K.L. Sacco, S.S. Richmond, S. Parme, and K.F. Wilkes, Supporting Digital Humanities for Knowledge Acquisition in Modern Libraries, 2015. [Online]. Available: https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-4666-8444-7.
[9] T.L. Janke and L. Iacovino, "Keeping cultures alive: Archives and indigenous cultural and intellectual property rights," Archival Science, vol. 12, no. 2, pp. 151–171, 2012. [Online]. Available: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10502-011-9163-0.
[10] O. Grau, W. Coones, and V. Rühse, Museum and Archive on the Move: Changing Cultural Institutions in the Digital Era, 2017.
[11] M.T. Jayaraj and K.C. Navas, "Semantics of Power: Written Communication, Formal Documentation and Codified Law in British Malabar," International Journal for the Semiotics of Law, vol. 37, no. 7, pp. 2151–2174, 2024. [Online]. Available: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11196-024-10142-2.
[12] A.M. Hyman and B.E. Mundy, "The colonial archive and its fictions," Colonial Latin American Review, vol. 32, no. 3, pp. 312–344, 2023. [Online]. Available: https://doi.org/10.1080/10609164.2023.2246831.
[13] M.G. Kirschenbaum, "Ancient Evenings: Retrocomputing in the Digital Humanities," in A New Companion to Digital Humanities, 2015, pp. 185–198. [Online]. Available: https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118680605.ch13.
[14] R. Earnshaw, Digital Humanities, SpringerBriefs in Computer Science, 2018, pp. 79–86. [Online]. Available: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-73080-6_6.
[15] G. Moretti, R. Sprugnoli, S. Menini, and S. Tonelli, "ALCIDE: Extracting and visualising content from large document collections to support humanities studies," Knowledge-Based Systems, vol. 111, pp. 100–112, 2016. [Online]. Available: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.knosys.2016.08.003.
[16] M.G. Kirschenbaum, "Ancient Evenings: Retrocomputing in the Digital Humanities," in A New Companion to Digital Humanities, 2015, pp. 185–198. [Online]. Available: https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118680605.ch13.
[17] K. Thorpe, K. Christen, L. Booker, and M. Galassi, "Designing archival information systems through partnerships with Indigenous communities: Developing the Mukurtu Hubs and Spokes Model in Australia," Australasian Journal of Information Systems, vol. 25, pp. 1–22, 2021. [Online]. Available: https://doi.org/10.3127/AJIS.V25I0.2917.
[18] W. Wisecup, Assembled for Use: Indigenous Compilation and the Archives of Early Native American Literatures, 2021, pp. 1–309. [Online]. Available: https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85130649735&partnerID=40&md5=f4a18cc026703e9ca8c133715d71aa82.
[19] D. Cullen and H. Castleden, "Two-eyed-seeing/Etuaptmumk in the colonial archive: Reflections on participatory archival research," Area, vol. 55, no. 3, pp. 340–347, 2023. [Online]. Available: https://doi.org/10.1111/area.12786.
[20] S. McKemmish, S. Faulkhead, and L. Russell, "Distrust in the archive: Reconciling records," Archival Science, vol. 11, no. 3-4, pp. 211–239, 2011. [Online]. Available: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10502-011-9153-2.
[21] M. Burke and O.L. Zavalina, "Identifying challenges for information organization in language archives: Preliminary findings," in Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 12051 LNCS, pp. 622–629, 2020. [Online]. Available: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-43687-2_52.
[22] M. Burke, O.L. Zavalina, S.L. Chelliah, and M.E. Phillips, "User needs in language archives: Findings from interviews with language archive managers, depositors, and end-users," Language Documentation and Conservation, vol. 16, pp. 1–24, 2022. [Online]. Available: https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85129000605&partnerID=40&md5=fa936a64d4d09b0f4315074216aca44d.
[23] M. Burke and O.L. Zavalina, "Descriptive richness of free-text metadata: A comparative analysis of three language archives," Proceedings of the Association for Information Science and Technology, vol. 57, no. 1, art. no. e429, 2020. [Online]. Available: https://doi.org/10.1002/pra2.429.
[24] J. Vernaudon, N. Thieberger, T. Bambridge, and T. Parent, "Breathing digital life into Oceanic language corpora," Journal de la Societe des Oceanistes, vol. 153, no. 2, pp. 323–336, 2021. [Online]. Available: https://doi.org/10.4000/jso.13165.
[12] M. Burke and O.L. Zavalina, "Identifying challenges for information organization in language archives: Preliminary findings," Lecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics), vol. 12051 LNCS, pp. 622-629, 2020. [Online]. Available: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-43687-2_52
[13] M. Burke, O.L. Zavalina, S.L. Chelliah, and M.E. Phillips, "User needs in language archives: Findings from interviews with language archive managers, depositors, and end-users," Language Documentation and Conservation, vol. 16, pp. 1-24, 2022. [Online]
[14] J. Egbert and E. Schnur, "The role of the text in corpus and discourse analysis: Missing the trees for the forest," in Corpus Approaches to Discourse: A Critical Review, J.L. Lemke, Ed. London, U.K.: Routledge, 2018, pp. 159-173. [Online]. Available: https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203809068-13
[15] M. Burke, O.L. Zavalina, M.E. Phillips, and S. Chelliah, "Organization of Knowledge and Information in Digital Archives of Language Materials," Journal of Library Metadata, vol. 20, no. 4, pp. 185-217, 2020. [Online]. Available: https://doi.org/10.1080/19386389.2020.1908651
[16] T.A. Upton and M.A. Cohen, "An approach to corpus-based discourse analysis: The move analysis as example," Discourse Studies, vol. 11, no. 5, pp. 585-605, 2009. [Online]. Available: https://doi.org/10.1177/1461445609341006
[17] T. Jacobs and R. Tschötschel, "Topic models meet discourse analysis: a quantitative tool for a qualitative approach," International Journal of Social Research Methodology, vol. 22, no. 5, pp. 469-485, 2019. [Online]. Available: https://doi.org/10.1080/13645579.2019.1576317
[18] G. Koch et al., "D-WISE Tool Suite for the Sociology of Knowledge Approach to Discourse," in Lecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics), vol. 13324 LNCS, pp. 68-83, 2022. [Online]. Available: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-05434-1_5
[19] K. Wright, "Archival interventions and the language we use," Archival Science, vol. 19, no. 4, pp. 331-348, 2019. [Online]. Available: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10502-019-09306-y
[20] N. Thieberger et al., "The New Protectionism: Risk Aversion and Access to Indigenous Heritage Records," Archives and Manuscripts, vol. 51, no. 2, pp. 23-42, 2024. [Online]. Available: https://doi.org/10.37683/asa.v51.10971
[21] J.L. Lemke, "Multimedia and discourse analysis," in The Routledge Handbook of Discourse Analysis, 2nd ed., T. van Dijk, Ed. New York, NY: Routledge, 2013, pp. 79-89. [Online]. Available: https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203809068-13
[22] A. Bennett, "Found in translation: Combining discourse analysis with computer assisted content analysis," Millennium: Journal of International Studies, vol. 43, no. 3, pp. 984-997, 2015. [Online]. Available: https://doi.org/10.1177/0305829815581535
[23] S. Schwandt, Digital Methods in the Humanities: Challenges, Ideas, Perspectives, pp. 1-312, 2020. [Online]. Available: https://doi.org/10.14361/9783839454190.
[24] K. Fenlon, E. Frazier, and T. Muñoz, "Digital Humanities," in Encyclopedia of Libraries, Librarianship, and Information Science, First Edition, Four Volume Set, vol. 3, pp. V3:501-V3:510, 2024. [Online]. Available: https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-323-95689-5.00140-1.
[25] M.F. Borch, The Power of the Past: British North America in the Second Half of the 18th Century, in Projections of Power in the Americas, pp. 113-153, 2012. [Online]. Available: https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203123607-12.
[26] A.A. Khrisat, "The tension of the social relations between the colonizer and the colonized in Forster's a Passage to India," Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences, vol. 4, no. 10, pp. 27-33, 2013. [Online]. Available: https://doi.org/10.5901/mjss.2013.v4n10p27.
[27] P. Moopi and R. Makombe, "Coloniality and Identity in Kopano Matlwa’s Coconut (2007)," Critique - Studies in Contemporary Fiction, vol. 63, no. 1, pp. 2-13, 2022. [Online]. Available: https://doi.org/10.1080/00111619.2020.1798335.
[28] P. Viires, "New creative practices on internet. Some remarks on social media literature," Methis, vol. 21, no. 26, pp. 217-236, 2020. [Online]. Available: https://doi.org/10.7592/methis.v21i26.16917.
[29] A. Tomicic and F. Berardi, "Between Past and Present: The Sociopsychological Constructs of Colonialism, Coloniality and Postcolonialism," Integrative Psychological and Behavioral Science, vol. 52, no. 1, pp. 152-175, 2018. [Online]. Available: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12124-017-9407-5.
[30] M. Terras, "Understanding Jane," ITNOW, vol. 54, no. 1, pp. 50-51, 2012. [Online]. Available: https://doi.org/10.1093/itnow/bws019.
[31] M. Fitzgerald, "Violence and Care: Fanon and the Ethics of Care on Harm, Trauma, and Repair," Philosophies, vol. 7, no. 3, art. no. 64, 2022. [Online]. Available: https://doi.org/10.3390/philosophies7030064.
[32] A. Reed, "Digital humanities and the study and teaching of North American religions," Religion Compass, vol. 10, no. 12, pp. 307-316, 2016. [Online]. Available: https://doi.org/10.1111/rec3.12226.
[33] G.H. Dohal, "Power relationships in William Shakespeare's The Tempest, Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe, and Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness," IUP Journal of English Studies, vol. 11, no. 4, pp. 25-29, 2016. [Online]. Available: https://doi.org/10.1016/85013277221.
[34] S. Sasani, "George Bernard Shaw's John Bull's other island and Homi K. Bhabha: The colonizer and the other in the third space," Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences, vol. 6, no. 4S2, pp. 324-332, 2015. [Online]. Available: https://doi.org/10.5901/mjss.2015.v6n4s2p324.
[35] L. Meneses and R. Furuta, "An Introduction to Digital Humanities," in Proceedings of the ACM/IEEE Joint Conference on Digital Libraries, pp. 417-418, 2018. [Online]. Available: https://doi.org/10.1145/3197026.3201781.
[36] D.K. Nayel and Z.D. Mohammed, "The Colonizer and the Colonized: The Creation of New Social Structure in A Passage to India," Theory and Practice in Language Studies, vol. 14, no. 1, pp. 241-247, 2024. [Online]. Available: https://doi.org/10.17507/tpls.1401.28.
[37] N.-C. Ploscaru, "Nobility, power, and national identity in the Romanian principalities at the beginning of the 19th century," International Journal of the Humanities, vol. 9, no. 7, pp. 125-133, 2011. [Online]. Available: https://doi.org/10.18848/1447-9508/cgp/v09i07/43288.
[38] Đ. Borovnjak, "how to digitize and permanently preserve the planning documentation: the collection of plans and the architectural department of the ministry of construction of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia," Moderna Arhivistika, vol. 5, no. 2, pp. 299-314, 2022. [Online]. Available: https://doi.org/10.54356/MA/2022/VLEE5908.
[39] D. Evans, Language and Identity: Discourse in the World, pp. 1-238, 2014. [Online]. Available: https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85189226457&partnerID=40&md5=ba086d616dfdcbe670600cf96d964f52.
[40] C. Breathnach and R. Murphy, "Death and Burial Data: Ireland 1864–1922 – an Interdisciplinary Collaboration," in Lecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics), vol. 15240 LNCS, pp. 365-376, 2025. [Online]. Available: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-73887-6_23.
[41] M. Friedewald, I. Székely, and M. Karaboga, "Preserving the Past, Enabling the Future: Assessing the European Policy on Access to Archives in the Digital Age," Preservation, Digital Technology and Culture, vol. 53, no. 2, pp. 61-71, 2024. [Online]. Available: https://doi.org/10.1515/pdtc-2024-0003.
[42] K. Ho'omanawanui, "'This land is your land, This land was my land': Kanaka Maoli versus settler representations of 'Aina in contemporary literature of Hawai'i," in Asian Settler Colonialism: From Local Governance to the Habits of Everyday Life in Hawai'i, pp. 116-154, 2008. [Online].
[43] F. Yücel and M.T. Öncü, Translation and Gender: Beyond Power and Boundaries, pp. 1-192, 2023. [Online].
[44] N. Girdhar, M. Coustaty, and A. Doucet, "Digitizing History: Transitioning Historical Paper Documents to Digital Content for Information Retrieval and Mining - A Comprehensive Survey," IEEE Transactions on Computational Social Systems, vol. 11, no. 5, pp. 6151-6180, 2024. [Online]. Available: https://doi.org/10.1109/TCSS.2024.3378419.
[45] A. Hu, Languages and Identities, pp. 87-102, 2014. [Online]. Available: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110302257.87.
[46] B. Ogilvie, "Scientific archives in the age of digitization," ISIS, vol. 107, no. 1, pp. 77-85, 2016. [Online]. Available: https://doi.org/10.1086/686075.
[47] H. Bennoudi, "Translating Mohamed Choukri: Between Manipulation and Rewriting," in Reading Mohamed Choukri’s Narratives: Hunger in Eden, pp. 49-63, 2024. [Online]. Available: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003470724-5.
[48] D.L. Andersen, "Benchmarks: Controlling digital data," Journal of the Association for History and Computing, vol. 6, no. 1, 2003. [Online].
[49] E. Keating, "Power and pragmatics," Linguistics and Language Compass, vol. 3, no. 4, pp. 996-1009, 2009. [Online]. Available: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1749-818X.2009.00148.x.
[50] D. Banyasz, S. Hofstätter, and A. Hanbury, "Search in Archival Facsimile Documents for Digital History," in Proceedings 2023 IEEE 19th International Conference on e-Science, e-Science 2023, 2023. [Online]. Available: https://doi.org/10.1109/e-Science58273.2023.10254826.
[51] Y. Hibi, "A Note on Digital Humanities Research on the Reception of Matsuo Bashō in Modern Japan: Crossing Borders between Human Reading and Machine Reading," Border Crossings, vol. 15, no. 1, pp. 12-19, 2022. [Online]. Available: https://doi.org/10.22628/bcjjl.2022.15.1.12.
[52] H. Hui, "What can digital humanities do for literary adaptation studies: distant reading of children's editions of Robinson Crusoe," Digital Scholarship in the Humanities, vol. 38, no. 4, pp. 1564-1576, 2023. [Online]. Available: https://doi.org/10.1093/llc/fqad059
[53] K. Bode, Reading by Numbers: Recalibrating the Literary Field, pp. 1-245, 2009. [Online]. Available: https://doi.org/10.7135/UPO9780857284563 .
[54] S. Ross and J. O’Sullivan, Reading Modernism with Machines: Digital Humanities and Modernist Literature, pp. 1-301, 2016. [Online]. Available: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-59569-0.
[55] H. Li and Y. Lou, "Towards intermediality: A review of Digital Humanities and the Study of Intermediality in Comparative Cultural Studies," Foreign Literature Studies, vol. 38, no. 1, pp. 167-170, 2016. [Online].
