What Digital Humanities Ought to Be

The field of Digital Humanities (DH) stands at the intersection of technological innovation and the study of human culture, offering a dynamic platform for critical inquiry, creative expression, and ethical engagement. At its best, DH is not merely a set of tools for the digital age but an opportunity to reimagine how we preserve, interpret, and disseminate cultural memory. In this essay, I reflect on the potential of DH to advance the democratization of knowledge, foster inclusivity, and address historical injustices—themes that resonate deeply with my own scholarly commitments, including my work on DH and Derrida's Archive Fever: A Freudian Impression, and my approach to Justice, Equity, Antiracism, and LGBTQ+ inclusion.

The Vision of Digital Humanities

Digital Humanities ought to be a transformative force for good, but its potential has not always been fully appreciated. Too often, the field has been reduced to an emphasis on flashy visualizations, quantitative analysis, or the digitization of archives. While these tools have their place, they must serve broader and more urgent goals: the democratization of access to cultural knowledge, the ethical stewardship of cultural memory, and the disruption of exclusionary structures that have historically shaped academia and cultural institutions.

As I argued in my earlier work, DH should embrace its potential to cultivate a more ethical and inclusive cultural memory base. This involves recognizing the “Archive Fever”—a term borrowed from Derrida—that haunts both traditional and digital archives. In my exploration of this concept, I have examined how digital archives bear the traces of "Freudian impressions," encoding desires, fears, and repressions that shape collective memory. The digital sphere, with its unprecedented capacity for storage and access, risks perpetuating the biases and exclusions embedded in the analog past unless we approach it with intentionality and care. This is where my ethics of “cyborgian care” comes into play, and why I argue that it should be DH's ethics of care: an ethos that blends technological innovation with humanistic responsibility, ensuring that the digital archive becomes a space for inclusion, reflection, and justice.

Teaching Histories and Literature of Excluded Populations

Teaching the histories and literatures of excluded populations is a profound act of justice. For too long, academic curricula have centered voices and perspectives that reinforce dominant narratives, marginalizing the contributions and experiences of those who have been systematically excluded. Incorporating these histories and literatures into the classroom is not just a corrective measure but a transformative one. By bringing these voices to the forefront, educators can challenge entrenched power structures, foster empathy, and create a more equitable intellectual environment.

Digital Humanities provides powerful tools to support this mission. Projects that digitize and annotate the works of historically excluded populations, visualize patterns of systemic inequality, or map the geographies of marginalized communities offer students a tangible way to engage with these histories. By integrating these methods, educators can connect students to the lived experiences of excluded populations in ways that are immediate, impactful, and enduring.

My teaching philosophy is deeply informed by the hermeneutics of suspicion, a critical stance that seeks to uncover the underlying power dynamics and ideological constructs embedded in texts and cultural artifacts. Teaching in this style—what Lacan called “the discourse of the analyst”—invites students to interrogate dominant narratives and uncover the hidden stories and voices that have been suppressed (or unconscious repressed as in Derrida's "Freudian Impression"). When combined with the tools and insights of DH, this approach becomes even more powerful. Students can use digital tools to analyze patterns of exclusion in literary canons, trace the erasure of marginalized voices in historical archives, and visualize the interconnectedness of oppressive systems. By doing so, they not only develop critical thinking skills but also participate in the creation of a more just and inclusive cultural memory.

Digital Humanities and the Goals of JEA

Digital Humanities is uniquely positioned to advance the goals of JEA by democratizing access to knowledge and fostering a more equitable cultural landscape. Historically, access to archives and cultural memory has been restricted by gatekeeping practices rooted in classism, racism, and sexism. Digital platforms have the potential to break down these barriers, providing wider audiences with the tools to engage with and reinterpret history. By making cultural artifacts more accessible, DH empowers marginalized communities to reclaim their histories and assert their voices in shaping collective memory.

For example, my teaching philosophy and approach to JEA and LGBTQ+ inclusion emphasize the need to create learning environments that are inclusive and liberatory. DH offers "concrete" opportunities to achieve these aims by integrating diverse perspectives into the digital record and enabling students to participate actively in the creation of knowledge. Through projects that involve digitizing and annotating historical texts, visualizing patterns of exclusion, or creating accessible resources for underserved communities, students can engage with the material in ways that are both intellectually rigorous and socially impactful. By foregrounding the ethics of access and inclusivity, DH aligns with the broader goals of antiracism and LGBTQ+ inclusion that underpin my pedagogy.

Archive Fever, Freudian Impressions, and Cyborgian Care

In my work on Archive Fever, I explore the ways in which archives—both analog and digital—are not neutral repositories but dynamic sites of power, memory, and desire. Derrida’s notion of “archive fever” points to the compulsive drive to collect, organize, and control knowledge through a largely unconscious process of repression, as well as the anxiety and loss inherent in archival formation via unconscious repression. Freudian theory further illuminates this dynamic by revealing how unconscious forces shape our engagement with memory and history. Digital archives, with their seemingly infinite capacity, amplify these dynamics, raising critical questions about what is preserved, what is excluded, and who has the power to decide. With AI, these critical "digital" questions expand exponentially.

The concept of “cyborgian care” emerges as a response to these challenges. Drawing on Donna Haraway’s cyborg metaphor from the 1990s--and my own 1995 extension of Haraway, "Enabling Cyborg Repair"--this ethos emphasizes the interconnectedness of humans and technology while foregrounding the ethical responsibilities of archivists, scholars, and technologists. Cyborgian care involves attending to the vulnerabilities of digital systems—their susceptibility to bias, erasure, and manipulation, conscious and unconscious—while also leveraging their potential for inclusivity and justice. By approaching digital archives with individual and social care and justice in mind, we can create spaces that honor the complexity of cultural memory and resist the forces of violence, exclusion, and erasure.

Digital Humanities as a Tool for Justice

The democratization of knowledge is not merely a technical problem but an ethical imperative. DH projects that prioritize open access, multilingual resources, and community engagement can help dismantle the elitism that has long plagued academia and cultural institutions. By expanding access to cultural memory and meaning, DH makes it possible to engage with history in ways that are more inclusive and transformative.

For instance, initiatives that digitize the records of enslaved people, queer communities, or other historically marginalized groups not only preserve these histories but also make them accessible to a global audience. Such projects align with the goals of antiracism and LGBTQ+ inclusion by ensuring that these stories are not lost but are instead centered in our collective understanding of the past. Furthermore, the use of digital tools to analyze and visualize patterns of inequality can illuminate systemic injustices and provide a foundation for advocacy and change.

Digital Humanities in the Classroom

In the classroom, DH offers a powerful means of fostering critical engagement and creative exploration. By incorporating digital tools into pedagogy, educators can empower students to become active participants in the creation and interpretation of knowledge. Projects that involve building digital archives, creating interactive exhibits, or analyzing cultural data not only teach technical skills but also encourage students to grapple with ethical questions about representation, access, and power.

My teaching philosophy emphasizes the importance of connecting theory to practice, and DH provides an ideal framework for this integration. For example, students might work on a project to digitize and annotate historical documents related to social justice movements, exploring how these texts speak to contemporary struggles. Such projects not only deepen students’ understanding of the material but also connect them to broader efforts to create a more just and equitable world.

Conclusion

Digital Humanities has the potential to be a transformative force in academia and beyond, but only if it is guided by a commitment to ethics, inclusivity, and justice. By addressing the challenges of “archive fever” and embracing the principles of cyborgian care, we can ensure that DH fulfills its promise to democratize knowledge and empower marginalized voices.

Through my work on DH, “Archive Fever,” and JEA, I am committed to leveraging the tools of the digital age to create a more equitable cultural memory base and foster a more inclusive understanding of the human experience. By integrating these principles into both scholarship and pedagogy, we can build a Digital Humanities that truly serves the public good.