ABSTRACT
The past several decades of American education have been characterised by the increased influence of philanthropic organisations connected to wealthy elites and corporations. Mark Zuckerberg, in particular, has attempted to impact education through different digital technology applications associated with his Chan-Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI) and Meta, the parent company of Facebook. In this chapter, we will investigate a recent, local case involving the building of a Meta data centre in DeKalb, Illinois, as an example of how the current rise of digital education governance is dependent upon a physical infrastructure that is negotiated in economically vulnerable communities. After summarising the dynamics of the DeKalb case, we will draw several important implications. First, at a structural level, this case is illustrative of how democratic educational possibilities are subverted by philanthrocapitalism. Second, this case exhibits the tendency of powerful technology corporations to use schools as sites for community support for their infrastructure as well as markets for their products. Finally, this case shows how the physical infrastructure of the data centre makes possible a digital and virtual world constitutive of new educational subjectivities that can be technologically governed.
