Imagining modernist cities in Africa through technology

Speakers : 
Junnan Mu (Harvard University): When the Savannah Speaks Back: Techno-locales and the Remaking of "Silicon Savannah"
Fatoumata Diallo (CERI - CNRS/Sciences Po) : Imagineering the local BRT: Cape Town and Lagos’ experiences in crafting their Bus Rapid Transit systems for desirable urban futures

Discussant : Alexandrine Royer (University of Cambridge)

Abstract: In current scholarly and media discourses on digital technologies in Africa, there seems to be what Kanyinsola Obayan, researcher of Nigerian computer history, calls a “hypervisibility of innovation from Africa and the Global South”. This hypervisibility is on the one hand, a chance for new approaches like the indigenisation of digital innovations and the decolonisation of tech tools, on the other hand, it seems to reproduce old promises of technology as a one-size-fits-all solution to development issues, inequalities and environment. This form of technosolutionism is heavily invested in by African public and private actors, technologies being deemed as solutions to the continent’s challenges : tackling social inequalities, climate change, youth unemployment, state-building or the advent of the old “Africa Rising” narrative. Taking a critical perspective, this seminar will ask about desirable futures for digital technologies as imagined and practised by and for Africans. By bringing together scholars in a monthly series of paper presentations and discussions on the current landscape of digital technologies and their impact in and on Africa, the seminar aims to lead to a critical reflection on current tech developments and possible futures on the continent.
The seminar will bring together scholars working on topics ranging from African entrepreneurship and tech innovations, to technologies in state-building, digital modernity and new forms of subjectivisation, technologies and education and AI from African perspectives. It intends to provide a space of exchange especially for young and emerging scholars to collectively reflect on a critical approach towards digital technologies in Africa, possible digital futures, and a decolonisation of digital technologies.