DARIAH is delighted to announce the first publication in a new series, DARIAH Spotlight, that focuses on digital scholarship within the DARIAH network. The first article introduces a new #dariahTeach course, Social Justice in the Digital Humanities. Written by Susan Schreibman, Professor of Digital Arts and Culture Maastricht University, Co-Director of DARIAH and former Co-Chair of the DARIAH Working Group #dariahTeach, the article sheds light on the initiative behind creating this course, the process of the course design, the methodological and conceptual approaches while providing a sampling of projects included in the course that embed social justice within their digital scholarship.
Social Justice in the Digital Humanities was developed in collaboration between two DARIAH Working Groups, #dariahTeach and Ethics and Legality in Digital Arts & Humanities (ELDAH). Its objective was to address a current lacuna in research where Digital Humanities is often described in terms of technologies and methodologies and far less as instruments for societal change and vehicles for public good.
We set out to create a learning resource which would give voice to a diversity of social justice communities and to researchers working closely with such communities, deploying the digital in service of (often local) social justice causes. Working with both contemporary and historical cases, we encountered a strong history of social justice research and a real-world approach in participatory and situated research, where digital and computational approaches as well as archival practices are themselves challenged by social justice insights and practices.
Marianne Ping Huang, Co-Chair of the DARIAH WG #dariahTeach and Associate Professor at the School for Communication and Culture, Aarhus University
This article launches our new outreach campaign, DARIAH Spotlight, which makes research within the DARIAH network more visible. This monthly series, beginning in March 2025, will showcase digital scholarship in the humanities, from both DARIAH Working Groups and DH projects within the DARIAH network. Follow this campaign for more Spotlight articles.
