How Informatics Propagates the Informatics of Domination

• In Event: Queer Elements

Abstract

There is software in our cars, ATMs, and our pockets. Code is not just an accessory for everyday life, it’s become a necessity. Through examining the literature on queer theory and code, I present a theoretically-grounded synthesis of how code can behave as conduits which propagate domination. I ground my synthesis in Haraway’s notion of the “informatics of domination”.

I argue that code can embed or amplify the informatics of domination. “Informatics of domination” acts as a representation of the “white capitalist imperialist patriarchy in its contemporary late versions” (Haraway, 2006). I argue that Haraway’s informatics of domination gives us a lens to queer how code propagates power structures in society.

In my synthesis of the literature, I incorporate how social media will reify gender through data inference (Bivens, 2017); how code can be performative and resistant toward commodity yet fail to equalize gender, breeding masculinity contest cultures (Rawski & Stark, 2018) within its communities (Nafus, 2012); and by looking at the history of code through a queer lens, we can see how queer identities could have influenced new ideas (King, 2015). I identify and discuss technologically-mediated forms of violence as a theme throughout this literature.

In its most reductive definition, code is a series of instructions which performs a task. However, I argue that code is a living object embodying different ideologies that, by its nature, circulate our world.

Author

• Jess Tran, McGill University