In a spirited exchange, Daria Berman and Rimi Nandy delve into the transformative power of Digital Humanities (DH) tools in reshaping the study of narratives, ranging from analyzing ancient manuscripts to the dynamics of modern social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook. Their dialogue, part of the HASTAC Scholars Dialogues Program, aims to inspire further discourse within the academic community and beyond.
Daria’s project explores the structure of trials during the Spanish Inquisition, focusing on how legal narratives were constructed to condemn conversos—forced converts from Judaism to Catholicism. Using R and Python for textual and sentiment analysis, Daria examines the language used in witness testimonies and legal documents, revealing the underlying biases that influenced accusations.
Rimi discusses the role of DH in her research on narratives created on social media platforms, particularly examining how personal stories on Facebook can be viewed through the lens of autofiction. Her study investigates the interplay between user-generated content and the algorithmic culture that shapes it, highlighting the need for new methodologies to address the challenges of data collection and privacy issues in digital spaces.
Traversing Narratives through Digital Pathways
Daria: “Digital Humanities tools allow us to see patterns and biases on a scale that manual reading can’t achieve, especially in complex documents like those of the Inquisition.”
Rimi: “Analyzing social media through DH tools reveals how digital and print cultures merge, creating new narrative forms that challenge traditional literary analysis.”
Through their insightful dialogue, Daria and Rimi not only shed light on their unique research projects but also illustrate the broader implications of Digital Humanities in understanding and interpreting narratives across different eras and mediums. This conversation is intended to spark further discussion and exploration among scholars and the wider community interested in the intersection of technology and humanities.