COUNTER-NARRATIVES TO DIGITAL COLONIZATION: A DISCOURSE ANALYSIS OF RESISTANCE IN EXIT WEST, ESSAYS BY ARUNDHATI ROY, AND MOXYLAND

Abstract

As digital technologies increasingly infiltrate everyday life, their intersections with postcolonial power structures warrant critical examination. This study investigates how postcolonial literature critiques the rise of digital colonization, manifested through algorithmic surveillance, data extraction, and techno-authoritarianism. Anchored in a triadic theoretical framework—Postcolonial Theory, Critical Surveillance Studies, and Discourse-Power Theory—the research employs qualitative textual analysis and Critical Discourse Analysis to examine Exit West by Mohsin Hamid, essays by Arundhati Roy, and Moxyland by Lauren Beukes. The findings reveal that these texts expose the reconfiguration of colonial logics in digital forms, portraying resistance to algorithmic control and the marginalization of subaltern identities. Moreover, the study highlights literature’s capacity to disrupt dominant digital narratives by foregrounding alternative, decolonial imaginaries. Ultimately, this research contributes to postcolonial digital studies by emphasizing the urgent need to recognize and resist the hidden empires embedded in today’s algorithmic systems.