Visualizing Colonial Regimes: A Multi-View Approach to (Historical) Political Transformation

Abstract

This paper takes a critical approach to visualization of colonial regimes. Drawing on critical hermeneutics and postcolonial theory, we created interactive visu- alizations revealing the constructed nature of colonial categories and exposing the hierarchies between empires and territories. Using the Varieties of Political Regimes dataset, our approach combines temporal flow visualization and geo- graphic distribution mapping. This allows us to contextualize colonial rule within broader patterns of political change. Our visualization challenges conventional, static, and isolated representations of colonial data by making the interpre- tive frameworks underlying colonial categorization visible through coordinated temporal, spatial, and relational views.

19 pages, 6 figures (figure 2 consists of two elements). Accepted for presentation at the Digital Heritage of European Conflicts Conference (DHECC 2026). Submitted to a special issue of the International Journal of Digital Humanities