Data Empire

A groundbreaking new lens on human history arguing that data has always been the seed of power—those who hold it have drawn and enforced borders, exploited nature, and governed lives—and that reckoning with this legacy must galvanize us to resist it. Historians have pointed to guns, germs, steel, religion, agriculture, and the female body as the engines of human history. But what do they all have in common? Every human approach to power and domination has involved collecting data—from tracking where and how long animals live to sharpen the hunt, to classifying our fellow humans by sex, race and religion to stratify, isolate, and subjugate them. Recording and mastering data has always been the foundation of rule—and we are living through it now, too. In Data Empire, Roopika Risam uncovers the hidden history of data as a force that has shaped civilizations, upheld empires, and controlled lives. From ancient cave markings and knotted strings to colonial censuses and modern digital surveillance, Risam shows how data has always been a technology of control. In this paradigm-shifting study, Risam confronts how data has deepened inequality, justified conquest, and fueled racial hierarchies over 11,000 years. Empire was never just about weapons or ships, she argues. It was built on information that now rules us. Both a sweeping history and a sharp critique, Data Empire is a call to recognize the power data holds—and to imagine what resistance looks like in an age defined by it. The story of humanity is the story of data—and knowing its past is the first step to breaking its grip on our lives and futures.