The main argument of this article is that natural language processing (NLP) projects of Indigenous African languages can be understood as an effort to restore and preserve Africa’s memory in the digital. Language has always occupied a particular place in the African decolonial imaginary. Several African states embarked on processes of Africanisation of postcolonial institutions in their respective national contexts. One of the main features of this project in many African countries was the restoration of African languages in education and public service. Taking a social constructivist approach rooted in science and technology studies and looking through the analytical lens of decoloniality in Africa, I conceptualise NLP models of Indigenous African languages as liberating artifacts. I mobilise decolonial theory to look at language as a technology that can be used to dis-member and re-member the African subjects of their memory of being as people. The coloniser erased the memory of the African subjugated by cutting off their linguistic connections and instead planted the European memory. From this perspective, decolonisation can be understood as a process of re-memberment that can be achieved through the return of the languages of those whose humanity has been denied or questioned. In this sense, NLP projects offer instances of the digital that represent spaces of restoration and negotiated digital futurities. I contend that these digital spaces in Africa are social spaces of contestation about what common investments should be made, what collective futures are desirable and what are the perceived material consequences of such shared imaginations.
AdebaraI., & Abdul-MageedM. (2022). Towards afrocentric NLP for African languages: Where we are and where we can go. Proceedings of the 60th Annual Meeting of the Association for Computational Linguistics (Volume 1: Long Papers), 3814–3841. https://doi.org/10.18653/v1/2022.acl-long.265
2.
AdiH. (2018). Pan-Africanism: A history. Bloomsbury Academic.
3.
AduA. L. (2023). The civil service in Commonwealth Africa: Development and transition. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003407881
4.
AlalouA. (2024). Language policy during both colonial and post-colonial eras in Morocco: Aspects of a double marginalization of Imazighen. In LisanzaE. M. & MuakaL. (Eds.), The Palgrave handbook of language policies in Africa (pp. 527–551). Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-57308-8_25
5.
AlzoumaG. (2005). Myths of digital technology in Africa: Leapfrogging development?Global Media and Communication, 1(3), 339–356. https://doi.org/10.1177/1742766505058128
6.
AniK. J., & OjakorotuV. (2017). Pan-Africanism, African union and the challenge of transformative development in Africa. Journal of African Union Studies, 6(1), 5–23.
7.
AppaduraiA. (Ed.) (1988). Introduction: Commodities and the politics of value. InThe social life of things: Commodities in cultural perspective (pp. 3–63). Cambridge University Press.
8.
BenjaminR. (2019). Race after technology: Abolitionist tools for the New Jim code (1st ed.). Polity Press.
9.
BilaniukL. (2007). Anthropology, linguistic. In DarityW. A.Jr (Ed.), International encyclopedia of the social sciences (2nd ed., pp. 129–130). Cengage Gale.
BruwerB. J. (2024). Language policy in Namibia: An outlook from a pre-colonial to post-independence era. In LisanzaE. M. & MuakaL. (Eds.), The Palgrave handbook of language policies in Africa (pp. 645–663). Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-57308-8_30
12.
ChildsT. (2020). Language Endangerment in Africa. In Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Linguistics.
13.
ChunW. H. K. (2009). Introduction: Race and/as technology; or, how to do things to race. Camera Obscura: Feminism, Culture, and Media Studies, 24(1 (70)), 7–35. https://doi.org/10.1215/02705346-2008-013
14.
ColemanB. (2009). Race as technology. Camera Obscura: Feminism, Culture, and Media Studies, 24(1 (70)), 177–207. https://doi.org/10.1215/02705346-2008-018
15.
CookD., & OkenimkpeM. (1997). Ngugi wa Thiong’o: An exploration of his writings (2nd ed.). James Currey.
16.
DiPersioD., & CieriC. (2019). The linguistic data consortium: Developing and distributing language resources4all. https://www.ldc.upenn.edu/sites/www.ldc.upenn.edu/files/lt4all-2019-ldc-language-resources-4all-slides.pdf
17.
EkeD. O., WakunumaK., & AkintoyeS. (Eds.). (2023). Responsible AI in Africa: Challenges and opportunities. Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-08215-3
18.
FahnbullehM. (2006). In search of economic development in Kenya: Colonial legacies & post-independence realities. Review of African Political Economy, 33(107), 33–47.
19.
FalolaT., & JenningsC. (2002). Africanizing knowledge: African studies across the disciplines. Transaction Publishers.
20.
FranklinU. M. (1999). The real world of technology (2nd ed.). House of Anansi Press.
21.
GoldstoneB., & ObarrioJ. (Eds.) (2017). African futures: Essays on crisis, emergence, and possibility (1st ed.). University of Chicago Press.
22.
GumedeV. (2023). Post-colonial development in Africa: Samir Amin’s lens. Politikon, 50(4), 438–451. https://doi.org/10.1080/02589346.2023.2300893
23.
HassanY. (2023). Governing algorithms from the South: A case study of AI development in Africa. AI & SOCIETY, 38(4), 1429–1442. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00146-022-01527-7
24.
HassanY. (2024). Machine Learning as a state-building experiment: AI and development in Africa. In BorchC. & Pardo-GuerraJ. P. (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of the sociology of machine learning. Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780197653609.013.27
25.
HauserM. D., ChomskyN., & FitchW. T. (2010). The faculty of language: What is it, who has it, and how did it evolve? In YamakidoH., LarsonR. K. & DéprezV. (Eds.), The evolution of human language: Biolinguistic perspectives (pp. 14–42). Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511817755.002
26.
HeeksR. (2022). Digital inequality beyond the digital divide: Conceptualizing adverse digital incorporation in the global South. Information Technology for Development, 28(4), 688–704. https://doi.org/10.1080/02681102.2022.2068492
27.
HineC. (2007). Multi-sited ethnography as a middle range methodology for contemporary STS. Science, Technology, & Human Values, 32(6), 652–671. https://doi.org/10.1177/0162243907303598
28.
HiruyK. (2014). Using multi-sited ethnographic case studies and auto-ethnography to explore bottom-up community empowerment among African communities in Australia. In SAGE research methods cases. Sage Publications. https://doi.org/10.4135/978144627305014537443
29.
HuiY. (2012). What is a digital object?Metaphilosophy, 43(4), 380–395. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9973.2012.01761.x
30.
JensenC. B., BallesteroA., de la CadenaM., FischM., & IshiiM. (2017). New ontologies? Reflections on some recent ‘turns’ in STS, anthropology and philosophy. Social Anthropology, 25(4), 525–545. https://doi.org/10.1111/1469-8676.12449
31.
KhuranaD., KoliA., KhatterK., & SinghS. (2023). Natural language processing: State of the art, current trends and challenges. Multimedia Tools and Applications, 82(3), 3713–3744. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11042-022-13428-4
32.
KingV. E. (1987). The African public services: Problems and challenges. Social and Economic Studies, 36(2), 207–215.
33.
LefebvreH. (1991). The production of space (Nicholson-SmithD., Trans.; 1st ed.). Wiley-Blackwell.
34.
LisanzaE. M., & MuakaL. (Eds.) (2024). The Palgrave handbook of language policies in Africa. Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-57308-8
35.
MannersR. A. (1962). Africanization, neo-racialism and east Africa. Africa Today, 9(9), 4–15.
36.
MarcusG. E. (1995). Ethnography in/of the world system: The emergence of multi-sited ethnography. Annual Review of Anthropology, 24, 95–117.
37.
MazruiA. (1993). Language and the quest for liberation in Africa: The legacy of Frantz Fanon. Third World Quarterly, 14(2), 351–363.
38.
MitiL. M. (2017). Africanisation of the study of African languages and linguistics in African universities. In CrossM. & NdofirepiA. (Eds.), Knowledge and Change in African Universities: Volume 2 – Re-imagining the terrain (pp. 101–119). SensePublishers. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-6300-845-7_6
39.
MufweneS. S. (2013). Language as technology: Some questions that evolutionary linguistics should address. In TerjeL. (Ed.), In Search of universal grammar: From old Norse to Zoque. John Benjamins Publishing Company.
40.
MwangiE. (2004). The gendered politics of untranslated language and Aporia in Ngugi wa Thiong’o’s petals of blood. Research in African Literatures, 35(4), 66–74. https://doi.org/10.1353/ral.2004.0099
41.
Ndlovu-GatsheniS. J. (2018). Epistemic freedom in Africa: Deprovincialization and decolonization (1st ed.). Routledge.
42.
Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o. (1986). Decolonising the mind: The politics of language in African literature. James Currey.
43.
Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o. (1993). Moving the centre: The struggle for cultural freedoms. James Currey.
44.
Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o. (2009). Something torn and new: An African renaissance. Civitas Books.
45.
NkrumahK. (1965). Neo-colonialism: The last stage of imperialism. Humanities Press Intl Inc.
46.
NunanD. (2007). What is this thing called language?Palgrave Macmillan.
47.
OjoT. (2018). Political economy of ICT4D and Africa. In ServaesJ. (Ed.), Handbook of Communication for Development and Social Change (pp. 1–14). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-7035-8_64-1
48.
O’RiordanK. (2017). Unreal objects: Digital materialities, technoscientific projects and political realities (1st ed.). Pluto Press.
49.
Pavliková-VilhanováV. (2007). Christian missions in Africa and their role in the transformation of African societies. Asian and African Studies, 2(16), 249–260.
50.
QureshiS. (2019). Perspectives on development: Why does studying information and communication technology for development (ICT4D) matter?Information Technology for Development, 25(3), 381–389. https://doi.org/10.1080/02681102.2019.1658478
51.
RakolobeK. A. (2024). The impact of the Lesotho language policies on indigenous and former colonial languages usage in public domains in Lesotho. In LisanzaE. M. & MuakaL. (Eds.), The Palgrave handbook of language policies in Africa (pp. 625–644). Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-57308-8_29
52.
RankinW. (2014). The geography of radionavigation and the politics of intangible artifacts. Technology and Culture, 55(3), 622–674. https://doi.org/10.1353/tech.2014.0077
53.
RothchildD. (1970). Kenya’s Africanization program: Priorities of development and equity. The American Political Science Review, 64(3), 737–753. https://doi.org/10.2307/1953460
54.
SchelenzL., & PawelecM. (2022). Information and communication technologies for development (ICT4D) critique. Information Technology for Development, 28(1), 165–188. https://doi.org/10.1080/02681102.2021.1937473
55.
ShindoR. (2022). Decolonising the language of citizenship. Citizenship Studies, 26(4–5), 650–660. https://doi.org/10.1080/13621025.2022.2091249
56.
Statista. (2024). Africa: Number of living languages by country 2022. Statista. https://www.statista.com/statistics/1280625/number-of-living-languages-in-africa-by-country/
57.
SuarezM. (2019). What can multi-sited and digital ethnography contribute to innovation studies in the global South?African Journal of Science, Technology, Innovation and Development, 11(4), 495–503. https://doi.org/10.1080/20421338.2018.1528703
58.
TchaineD. (2024). The survival of Franco-Arab colonization in Chad: The gordian knot of linguistic policies. In LisanzaE. M. & MuakaL. (Eds.), The Palgrave handbook of language policies in Africa (pp. 575–591). Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-57308-8_27
59.
TemboD. (2020). Missionaries and the standardisation of vernacular languages in colonial Malawi, 1875–1935. The Society of Malawi Journal, 73(2), 1–17.
60.
UnwinP. T. H., & UnwinT. (2009). ICT4D: Information and communication technology for development. Cambridge University Press.
61.
VakuntaP. W. (2010). Aporia: Ngugi’s fatalistic logic on the position oflndigenous languages in African literature. Journal of the African Literature Association, 5(2), 74–82. https://doi.org/10.1080/ 21674736.2010.11690159
62.
WilliamsonB. (2023). Historical geographies of place naming: Colonial practices and beyond. Geography Compass, 17(5), e12687. https://doi.org/10.1111/gec3.12687
63.
WinnerL. (1986). Do artifacts have politics? In the whale and the reactor: A search for limits in an age of high technology (1st ed., pp. 19–39). University of Chicago Press.
64.
WoolgarS., & LezaunJ. (2013). The wrong bin bag: A turn to ontology in science and technology studies?Social Studies of Science, 43(3), 321–340.
