Critical data studies in the Anthropocene

Book section : Chapter

This chapter introduces the concept of the Anthropocene into critical data studies, a field that has, for the past decade, explored the entanglements between datafication and politics. With the scaling up of contemporary datafication alongside generative computing, it is essential to expand these debates, both theoretically and methodologically, to consider the logics of extraction and exploitation inherent in the politics of artificial intelligence. Critical data scholars are called to interrogate how dominant narratives around the materiality of contemporary datafication either obscure or reveal its environmental impacts, alongside other key questions such as who benefits from these logics. To illustrate this, this chapter brings together two case studies from Spain and Chile and explores how the infrastructure of contemporary datafication intersects with existing power structures, influencing which social and environmental consequences are recognized, addressed, and neglected. Finally, it invites critical data scholars to appeal to their own responsibility in using artificial intelligence technologies that blatantly contribute to the Anthropocene; not as an exercise of cultural purity, but of political responsibility.

Authors: Valdivia, A

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: De Gruyter Bill
• Host title: De Gruyter Handbook of Critical Data Studies
• Pages: 131-148
• Chapter number: 6
• Place of publication: Berlin, Germany
• Publication date: 2026-09-03
• Edition: 1
• DOI: 10.1515/9783111373096-007
• ISBN: 9783111372884
• Language: English
• Keywords: Anthropocene; datafication; environment; political ecology; critical data studies; materiality
• Subtype: Chapter