Resisting Techno-Orientalism and Mimicry Stereotypes in and Through Data Science Education

The perceived importance of data in society has led to a surge in interest towards data science education. This article seeks to build on existing literature concerned with the sociopolitical, cultural, and ethical dimensions of data science education by considering the salience of two interrelated concepts discussed in Asian and Asian American studies and postcolonial studies: techno-Orientalism and the Filipino mimicry stereotype. These concepts describe the positioning of Asians and Asian Americans, and Filipinos in particular, as performance machines who are adept at copying the ideas of dominant groups but incapable of innovation themselves. This article situates techno-Orientalism and the Filipino mimicry stereotype within broader conversations around postcolonial data politics and then argues for the possibility of including these concepts in data science education curricula. Finally, this article discusses Gaskins’s techno-vernacular creativity as one path for resisting techno-Orientalist and mimicry discourses.