Data Feminism

Growing out of the work of the Critical DH working group (formerly AG Empowerment), I have reflected on how the principles of Data Feminism can best be integrated into everyday DH practice.

At DHd 2023, the working group organised a workshop on data feminism (missing reference), the results of which were subsequently reported in blog posts published in both English (Borek et al., 2023) and German (Borek et al., 2023). At the same conference, we co-organised a panel (Gengnagel et al., 2023) and also co-organised a panel at the international DH2023 conference in Graz that same year (Borek et al., 2023). I further represented the working group in a panel on failure in DH (Wuttke et al., 2023) that was reported on here (Lang, 2024). Our longer-term engagement with data feminism and (the gender) data gap(s) culminated in the publication of a *ZfdG* working paper on data feminism in 2026 (Lang & Suárez Cronauer, 2026). Complementing this work, we published a more focused study on the gender data gap in the *Computational Humanities Research* journal: In the article, “Dataset Audits for Mitigating Data Gaps,” we propose the dataset audit as a practical strategy for identifying and addressing data gaps while discussing the gender data gap more broadly (missing reference). Preliminary research into the topic had examined dataset documentation practices (Lang, 2025). Following this extended focus on data feminism, the current projects of the working group are increasingly turning towards the study of data work and its influence on processes of knowledge production (Gengnagel & Lang, 2026).

References

2026

  1. Beyond Data Feminism: Towards Ethical Data Work in the (Digital) Humanities
    Sarah Lang and Elena Suárez Cronauer
    Zeitschrift für digitale Geisteswissenschaften, 2026
    Zeitschrift für digitale Geisteswissenschaften / Working Papers, 4
    DOI
  2. A Discipline, Divided: On the Digital Humanities and Ideologies of Knowledge Work
    Tessa Gengnagel and Sarah Lang
    In DH2026 Book of Abstracts, 2026

2025

  1. Documenting Datasets as a Tool for Change
    Sarah Lang
    In Digital Humanities 2025: Book of Abstracts, 2025

2024

  1. DH, wir müssen reden! Eine Konversation über das Scheitern in den Digital Humanities
    Sarah Lang
    Bibliothek Forschung und Praxis, 2024
    DOI

2023

  1. Data Feminism as a Challenge for Digital Humanities?
    Luise Borek, Elena Suárez Cronauer, Pauline Junginger, and 3 more authors
    Jul 2023
    English version
  2. Data Feminism als Herausforderung für die Digital Humanities?
    Luise Borek, Elena Suárez Cronauer, Pauline Junginger, and 3 more authors
    Jul 2023
  3. Open DH? Mapping Blind Spots
    Tessa Gengnagel, Sarah Lang, Nora Probst, and 6 more authors
    In DHd 2023 Open Humanities Open Culture. 9. Tagung des Verbands “Digital Humanities im deutschsprachigen Raum” (DHd 2023), Mar 2023
    DOI
  4. Exploring the borderlands. A revolutionary potential for DH
    Luise Borek, Sarah Lang, Quinn Dombrowski, and 5 more authors
    In DH 2023: Collaboration as Opportunity, 2023
  5. Herausforderung, Lesson Learned oder Chance? Der Zusammenhang zwischen Kulturen des Scheiterns und Open-Bewegungen in den Digital Humanities
    Ulrike Wuttke, Dario Kampkaspar, Jonas Müller-Laackman, and 4 more authors
    In DHd2023: Open Humanities, Open Culture, 2023