Digital humanities and the African diaspora: ethical and methodological challenges in designing a database on Mariana’s enslaved population (Eighteenth century)

ABSTRACT This article addresses ethical and methodological challenges underlying the digital approaches to the African diaspora. It takes the process of building a database about the enslaved population that lived in the region of Mariana (Minas Gerais) during the Eighteenth century as a case study. It analyzes the consequences of the insertion of historical information produced in a context marked by the asymmetrical power relations legitimized by slave ideology into digital systems. What are the potentialities and risks of this task in a socially and racially unequal country like Brazil?

摘要 本文探讨了面向非洲散居群体的数字化研究方法所面临的伦理与方法论挑战。本文以构建18世纪居住于巴西米纳斯吉拉斯州马里亚纳地区被奴役人口数据库的过程为案例研究对象，分析了在以奴隶制意识形态合法化的不对称权力关系为特征的语境中生成的历史信息被纳入数字系统所产生的后果。在巴西这样一个社会与种族均存在不平等现象的国家中，此项研究工作具备哪些潜在价值与风险？