Decolonizing the digital page: Algorithmic hegemony and the erasure of local perspectives in postcolonial literature

This article explores the tension between decolonial literary aesthetics and the rapid integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in English literature education. While postcolonial writers such as Chinua Achebe, Arundhati Roy, Laksmi Pamuntjak, and Intan Paramaditha have successfully reclaimed English to voice non-Western ontologies, the emergence of Large Language Models (LLMs) and Natural Language Processing (NLP) tools poses a new threat of "Digital Epistemicide." Using Walter Mignolo’s decoloniality framework, this study analyzes how AI algorithms function as modern "linguistic police," standardizing local metaphors and circular syntaxes into linear Western norms. The results indicate that AI interventions often erase a text's "cultural soul" in the name of grammatical efficiency. The implications for English Language Teaching (ELT) are profound; the reliance on AI-driven classroom feedback risks reinforcing Linguistic Imperialism 2.0. This research argues for a transformative decolonial pedagogy in ELT that shifts the focus from mere grammatical correctness to algorithmic critical literacy. By encouraging students to negotiate AI suggestions critically, educators can empower them to make meaningful errors as a vital act of resistance.