Feminist Digitalities. Reading African Perspectives as Theory

From the ancient abacus to speculative visions of artificial general intelligence, dominant European narratives of digitality and computation have long been populated by the names of (more or less important) European men. And while women from both the past and present are now claiming their place within the canon of digital theory, it remains essential to shift the perspective away from Europe, towards Africa and its diasporas. Across the African continent and beyond, women produce major thought on digitality, media, and technology. Yet, this knowledge often appears under the headings of policy, journalism, activism, law, ethics, labor, language, governance or artistic practice, rather than being recognized as part of an established canon of »digital theory «. Why is that? And who are these women? This lecture asks whose knowledge counts, and what future imaginaries become possible when digitality is theorized from African feminist positions by offering an introduction to key African and Africacentered feminist perspectives on digitality, foregrounding thinkers and practitioners such as Nanjala Nyabola, Nanjira Sambuli, Abeba Birhane and Fatimah Tuggar.