Post African futures: positioning the globalized digital within contemporary African cultural and decolonizing practices

Abstract

This paper is an exploration of research around and on the presentation of the Post African Futures exhibition. The exhibition, held at the Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg in South Africa in 2015, acted to challenge the understanding of contemporary digital and communications technologies in relation to contemporary African cultures. Through this the paper explores scholarship around African positions and philosophies of technology, both the paucity of theoretical engagement in this area and the development of new approaches. In extension, two primary frameworks are explored. The first addresses the importance of unpacking regional cultures of technology. The second is the conceptual framing and locating of concerns around historical and contemporary cultures of technology in Africa under the notion ‘Post Africa Futures’, which puts particular emphasis on a relationship to the global information economy.

Cet article est un examen de la recherche relative et sur la présentation de l’exposition sur les Futurs post-africains. L’exposition, qui a lieu à la Goodman Gallery, à Johannesburg en Afrique du Sud en 2015, se voulait de défier la compréhension que l’on a du numérique contemporain et des technologies de communication concernant les cultures contemporaines africaines. Cet article explore à travers ceci les connaissances relatives aux positions africaines et aux philosophies de la technologie, aussi bien l’insuffisance de l’engagement théorique dans ce domaine que le développement de nouvelles approches. Par extension, deux cadres principaux sont explorés. Le premier traite de l’importance de l’analyse des cultures technologiques régionales. Le second de l’encadrement conceptuel et du positionnement de préoccupations relatives aux cultures technologiques historiques et contemporaines en Afrique sous la notion d’ ‘Avenirs post-africains’, qui met un accent particulier sur la relation avec l’économie mondiale de l’information.

Keywords:

• African
• philosophies of technology
• culture
• technology
• digital arts
• post African futures

Mots-clefs:

• Africain
• philosophies de la technologie
• culture
• technologie
• arts numériques
• avenirs post-africains

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1 Additionally Nigeria, but this research took a separate path that I do not discuss here.

2 Ushahidi was developed as a reporting and monitoring device that allowed both journalists and civilians on the ground – first during the post-election violence at the end of the Moi regime – to share information on what was happening in real-time and through mobile networks (Okolloh, 2009).

3 The outcomes and contributions of which can be found here: http://conference.fakugesi.wits.ac.za/.

4 The exhibition catalogue is available along will the related podcast interviews at: www.postafricanfutures.net.

5 The hologram stood in place of the actual Geomancer object, which at the time appeared to have been lost at sea.

6 Visual Arts Network of South Africa.