What Data Do and Do Not Represent: Visualizing the Archive of Slavery.

Area of Science:

• Digital Humanities
• Data Visualization
• History

Background:

• The trans-Atlantic slave trade generated vast datasets, often abstracting the human experience.
• Historical scholarship and humanistic theory offer frameworks for interpreting and visualizing such sensitive data.
• Existing data visualizations may fail to represent the full humanity and agency of enslaved individuals.

Purpose of the Study:

• To design a humanistically-informed data visualization of the trans-Atlantic slave trade.
• To use quantitative data (1565-1858) alongside historical scholarship to represent the enslaved people.
• To explore what data can and cannot represent regarding historical violence and resistance.

Main Methods:

• Reviewing the histories of slavery and data collection.
• Applying theories on the archive of slavery, historical violence, and representation.
• Developing a design approach for data visualization informed by humanistic principles.

Main Results:

• A design report for a data visualization focusing on the human element of the slave trade.
• Identification of theoretical frameworks for ethical and meaningful data representation.
• Emphasis on visualizing acts of resistance, both recorded and unrecorded, by the enslaved.

Conclusions:

• Data visualization can be a powerful tool for humanistic inquiry when guided by ethical considerations.
• Visualizing the trans-Atlantic slave trade requires attention to historical context, theoretical underpinnings, and the limitations of data.
• The design aims to honor the enslaved by highlighting their agency and resistance, moving beyond mere data points.