Cybaltern is a term coined by sociologist Pinar Tuzcu in 2021.[1] It describes socio-technical actors located at the intersection of digital infrastructures and marginalized identities, whose voices are paradoxically muted despite—and sometimes because of—the very digital tools available to them. The concept is applied in critical technology studies, feminist theory, and postcolonial scholarship to explore how digital infrastructures can reproduce colonial and capitalist hierarchies, as well as their potential to enable grassroots resistance and alternative knowledge production.

Etymology and origin

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The Cybaltern concept was first introduced in Tuzcu’s 2021 article on cybercolonialism and postcolonial intellectuals,[1] and was later elaborated in scholarship on digital access and intersectionality[2] and in work on cybercolonialism and citizenship.[3]

Conceptual background

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The term combines the critical lineage of cyborg theory and subaltern (postcolonialism) studies, focusing on how technological systems and discourses can reproduce historical hierarchies while presenting themselves as tools of liberation. Tuzcu situates the Cybaltern within a cybercolonial context, where epistemic power is concentrated in “Western companies, usually owned by wealthy white men,” who increasingly monopolize control over information systems while silencing the Cybaltern.[4] In this dynamic, “tools that theoretically should make [Cybaltern] voices heard become the very means for suppressing their voices.”[4]

Applications and usage

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The Cybaltern concept has been referenced in independent scholarship across multiple disciplines, including:

  1. Digital access and intersectionality[2]
  2. Cybercolonial power dynamics[1][4][5]
  3. Media and postcolonial readers – described as “a group whose voices are muted paradoxically despite and because of the digital tools available to them,” with applicability to postcolonial reader studies.[6]
  4. Colonial infrastructure and data sovereignty[7]
  5. Interface design and queer digital spaces[8]
  6. Youth media education on TikTok[9]
  7. Feminist AI research[10][11]
  8. Accessibility and the humanities[12]
  9. Algorithmised profiling and othering[13]
  10. Queer digital utopias[8]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c Tuzcu, Pinar (2021). "Decoding the cybaltern: cybercolonialism and postcolonial intellectuals in the digital age". Postcolonial Studies. 24 (4): 514–527. doi:10.1080/13688790.2021.1985264.
  2. ^ a b Tuzcu, Pinar (2022). "Cybaltern: Feminismus, Intersektionalität und die Frage des digitalen Zugangs". Feministische studien. 40 (2): 276–292. doi:10.1515/fs-2022-0039.
  3. ^ Tuzcu, Pinar (2022). "Cybercolonialism and Citizenship". In Linda Supik (ed.). Gender, Race and Inclusive Citizenship. Springer VS. pp. 431–448. doi:10.1007/978-3-658-36391-8_18. ISBN 978-3-658-36390-1.
  4. ^ a b c Cameron, Elizabeth S. (2025). "Imag(in)ing the Invisible". Atlantis: Critical Studies in Gender, Culture & Social Justice. 46 (1): 74–92.
  5. ^ Nothias, Toussaint (2025). "An intellectual history of digital colonialism". Journal of Communication jqaf003. doi:10.1093/joc/jqaf003.
  6. ^ Han, Yuwei (2024). Revisiting the Influence of Online Readers in Postcolonial Literature: A Postcolonial Analysis. p. 248.
  7. ^ Yamin, Johann (2023). "The Decolonial Web? On Colonial Infrastructure and Reclaiming Data".
  8. ^ a b Heinz, Daniel (2023). "Welcome to my fantasy: queer desires and digital utopias". Bulletin/Zentrum für Transdisziplinäre Geschlechterstudien. ISSN 0947-6822.
  9. ^ Dipçin-Sarıoğlu, Deniz; Scholte-Reh, Meike (2025). "#educateyourself! Bildungsimperative junger Menschen auf TikTok. Empirisch-qualitative Analysen und bildungstheoretische Perspektivierungen". In Fischer, F.; Meier-Vieracker, S.; Niendorf, L. (eds.). TikTok – Memefication und Performance. Digitale Linguistik, vol. 2. Vol. 2. J.B. Metzler. pp. 157–178. doi:10.1007/978-3-662-70712-8_8. ISBN 978-3-662-70711-1.
  10. ^ Rosenhammer, Hannah (2025). Eine qualitative Studie der Herausforderungen in der KI-Anwendungsentwicklung und Ansätze zur Bewältigung mithilfe der feministischen Standpunkttheorie (Master's thesis). Universität Innsbruck.
  11. ^ Fleischmann, Charlotte (2022). Modifikationen sozialer Ungleichheit durch KI (Master's thesis). Universität Innsbruck.
  12. ^ Hermann, Adrian (2024). "Ein Accessibility Turn? Überlegungen zu Zugänglichkeit als geisteswissenschaftlichem und transdisziplinärem Grundbegriff".
  13. ^ Fixemer, Tom (2022). "Decoding Interfaces: Algorithmised-Ethnosexualizing Profiling and Othering on Queer/Cis-Gay Dating-Platforms". Behemoth. 15 (2): 57–72.