Do we need the BRICS of Knowledge? On the Digital Humanities and the Struggle for Diversity [Почему важно изменить культурное сознание следуя принципам БРИКС?]

In this article I briefly discuss the connections between the geopolitical scenario emerging from the creation of the BRICS New Development Bank, and the digitization of languages and cultures carried out in a substantially Anglophone-driven technological context. The appearance of the new BRICS bank, and especially the plan for an “independent Internet” are not only challenging the financial system, but in the long-run could also affect the current digital knowledge monopolies, activating new ways to encode and decode cultural objects, and challenge present digital standards. Digital Humanists, on all levels, are called upon to react to this developing geopolitical scenario, finally asking themselves questions about political representation and cultural diversity, encoding standards and linguistic hegemonies. An old equilibrium based on unequal power relationships is close to an end, and this is a unique time and opportunity to create a genuinely democratic and international scholarly community.