In July 2023, the Journal of MultiDisciplinary Evaluation (JMDE) released a special issue called: Decolonizing Evaluation: Towards a Fifth Paradigm. Released in collaboration with the International Evaluation Academy, this special issue includes 17 articles covering a wide range of issues relevant to evaluators. One article in particular – Decolonizing Data Visualization: A History and Future of Indigenous Data Visualization – caught our eye.
The article, co-authored by three indigenous evaluators and a non-indigenous “co-conspirator”, debunks the notion that data visualization was invented by white, European men and evolved solely in the western world. The authors illustrate examples of indigenous data visualization, both historical and contemporary, including the Incas’ knotted cords, called khipus, shown above.
“The color of the cord, the location and size of the knot, and the way the cords were tied to the primary cord all encoded data,” the authors explain. Khipus were sometimes used to record quantitative data, like census data, or to record stories/family histories. Learn more in the full article.
Decolonizing Data Visualization and all the other articles in this JMDE special issue form a great resource for evaluators seeking to look beyond conventional notions of what evaluation is. All of the articles are available to download for free.