Dang Nguyen inaugural scholar of Yale Law School’s Majority World Initiative
Author Natalie Campbell
Date 13 August 2024
Dr Dang Nguyen from RMIT University is one of only eight scholars in the inaugural cohort of Yale Law School’s Majority World Initiative (MWI), supporting social media scholars from the Global South by amplifying their work and thinking, and drawing them into the global scholars’ community.
The MWI was launched in November 2022 by the Information Society Project (ISP), an intellectual centre at Yale Law School supporting a community of interdisciplinary scholars who explore issues at the intersection of law, technology, and society.
“Being part of the inaugural cohort has allowed me to connect with, and learn from, so many scholars doing really important work in this area. This initiative is a vital step toward ensuring that Majority World perspectives are not just included but are central to global discussions on social media and its impacts,” said Dr Nguyen.
‘Majority World’ (coined by Bangladeshi photographer Chahidul Alam) refers to the region traditionally knows as the Global South or developing world, which encompasses the majority of humankind.
“To understand or discuss the global networked public sphere, we need global thought leadership that is focused, context-driven and detail-oriented,” said Chinmayi Arun, Executive Director of the ISP.
“This is only possible if Majority World scholars join minority world scholars and work with them on an equal footing on thinking through the networked public sphere.”
The inaugural cohort includes lawyers, academics and policymakers collaborating to understand what resources will enable scholars in the region to focus on key issues.
The group recently published a series of essays around propaganda and social media governance in their respective Majority World area of expertise.
Dr Nguyen’s essay, Automated Propaganda as Platform Imperative? The Case of Instant Articles, examines propaganda as a persisting media-dependent phenomenon and argues that it is time we moved beyond examining isolated instances of automated propaganda.
“Instead, we should orient our collective efforts around understanding how automated communication is being shaped by the broader political economy, technological development, and regulatory environment in which media industries and systems operate,” Dr Nguyen explains.
“As we build on the work we’ve started, I’m eager to see how our collective insights will push the boundaries of current scholarship. The opportunity to collaborate with such a diverse group of thinkers has the potential to drive meaningful change in how social media governance is understood and implemented globally.”
Dr Nguyen’s research investigates the social implications of technology by bringing together methods from a range of disciplines and by looking beyond Western contexts.
Her current research examines the digitality of knowledge-making and its implications on the information environment, the conditions of possibility of contemporary technological cultures, and automated informality and its moral economies.
