Decolonising the Internet in Africa: Fostering Cultural Inclusivity in the Era of 4IR

Special Issue: Communicatio

(August 2024: Issue 3)

Call for Abstracts.

Willems and Mano (2016) note that Africa has experienced a rapidly changing media landscape in the last
few decades, reflecting global shifts into the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR). Radio, television, and
newspaper content is increasingly being accessed through mobile devices like laptops, tablets, and mobile
phones. As a result, “Most African countries have also experienced a rather spectacular growth in access
and availability of both ‘mass media devices’ and digital technologies” (Willems and Mano 2016, 1). 4IR,
with its emphasis on connectivity and smart technologies, promises enhanced interactivity and
innovation. As a robust global network, the internet can foster connections between individuals, amplify
diverse voices, and facilitate the exchange of knowledge on an unparalleled scale (Castells 2011). However,
it is of utmost importance to critically assess the intricacies that shape the digital landscape and ensure its
transformation into a tool that genuinely honours diversity, nurtures inclusive progress, and fosters
equitable production and dissemination of knowledge for the African continent. Undeniably, the internet
possesses a unique capacity for promoting connections, amplifying diverse voices, and facilitating the
exchange of knowledge on an unprecedented scale, such as democratising the public sphere for the
marginalised and indigenous language revitalisation (Cassels 2011). The internet has democratised the
public sphere in South Africa, for instance, by providing a platform for its historically poor and marginalised
people, such as Black Twitter performing a public accountability role for recent racist incidents in society;
social media being used for mobilisation in the national looting civil unrest that took place in July 2021
during the Covid-19 lockdown period in South Africa (Mwaura and Akpojivi, 2022); the role of social media
during the Arab Spring in Egypt (Howard et al., 2011); and social media as a tool for solidarity during the
#EndSARS movement in Nigeria (Uwalaka, 2022). Indigenous languages continue to be threatened and
endangered because of past colonisation and imperialism (Meighan 2021). Hence, a major focus of
decolonial studies is the erasure of indigenous languages, which fits into one of its three lines of critique:
decolonising knowledge. To draw from the founding father of decoloniality on the African continent,
Professor Ngugi wa Thiong’o, language was used as a key strategy of colonisers – imposing the coloniser’s
language and forbidding colonised people’s native language. The internet has been identified as a platform
that holds great promise and potential as a tool for indigenous language revitalisation. For instance,
Meighan (2021, 404) found in Mexico, Australia, and Canada “very promising indicators of Indigenous
socio-technological self-determination. Indigenous content creators, developers, and visionaries are
becoming increasingly visible and influential in decolonising the digital landscape to serve better
Indigenous Peoples, their languages, and their communities”. However, the internet has perpetuated
offline inequalities in many ways.

Communicatio: South African Journal for Theory and Research invites abstract submissions for a
Special Issue that is themed “Decolonising the Internet in Africa” that centrally considers "How can we
effectively decolonise the Internet in Africa in an era of 4IR, to promote cultural diversity, inclusivity, and
equitable access to knowledge”. The Special issue ultimately aims to transform our understanding of the
digital landscape in Africa, offering a pathway towards a decolonised internet that genuinely serves all
users. Doing so will enrich global discourses around digital rights, inclusivity, diversity, and equitable access
to knowledge, fostering a more inclusive and diverse internet ecosystem.

This Special issue will contribute significantly to understanding the digital landscape, particularly
concerning cultural representation, inclusivity, and equity in Africa within five focus areas:

1) Enhanced Understanding of Internet Usage and Cultural Representation: To deepen the

understanding of how cultural diversity is represented digitally. It will shed light on the presence,
portrayal, and accessibility of indigenous cultures, languages, and knowledge systems within the
internet ecosystem in Africa.
2) Insights into Digital Inclusion and Access: By focusing on the digital engagement of marginalised
communities, it will provide insights into the digital divide, internet access disparities, and digital
literacy rates in different socio-economic groups and geographic locations.
3) Improved Understanding of Internet Governance and Policies: It will critically examine African
countries' Internet governance structures and policy frameworks. It will evaluate their influence
on inclusivity and diversity, providing valuable insights into how policy interventions can improve
internet governance for greater representation and inclusivity.
4) Pragmatic Strategies for Decolonising the Internet: It will identify practical, real-world strategies
for decolonising the internet and evaluate interventions promoting cultural diversity and
inclusivity in the digital sphere.
5) Exploring the Impacts of 4IR Technologies in Africa: This focus area will delve into the implications
of the Fourth Industrial Revolution technologies—like artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things,
big data, and blockchain—on Africa's digital terrain. By understanding how these emerging
technologies interact with African societies' cultural, economic, and social aspects, we can better
comprehend their potential benefits and challenges, ensuring that they serve as tools for
inclusivity and empowerment rather than mechanisms of further marginalization.

The Special issue thus invites contributions from emerging and established African scholars that explore
and investigate themes such as, but not limited to, the following themes:

• The colonial cultural representation and diversity embodied within the digital sphere.
• The distinctive challenges marginalised communities face in their online engagement.
• The elements that contribute to unequal access and digital literacy within underrepresented
communities.
• How equitable internet access and inclusion can be ensured through practical strategies.
• How existing internet governance structures and policy frameworks impact inclusivity and
diversity within the digital sphere.
• Policy adjustments that can be made to encourage cultural representation and linguistic diversity.
• Strategies for decolonising the internet.
• The practical approaches and interventions that have successfully promoted cultural diversity,
inclusivity, and decolonisation within the digital realm.
 • How diverse stakeholders can work together to create a decolonised internet.
• Investigating the potential for bias in AI systems and analysing how algorithms can perpetuate
existing inequalities to inform communication theory.
• Examining how AI and algorithm biases can shape communication practices and discourses.
• Strategies for enhancing fairness and transparency in AI to contribute to discussions on media
policy and social implications of new media (Media and culture).
• Offer insight on navigating the challenges posed by AI in the African context.
• 4IR's role in shaping Africa's Digital Future: Investigating the impact and opportunities of Fourth
Industrial Revolution technologies, such as AI and blockchain, on inclusivity, empowerment, and
cultural representation in Africa's digital landscape.

However, it welcomes other submissions related to pursuing a decolonised internet to transform Africa's
digital landscape broadly.

Length of Abstracts and Articles

• Abstracts should be 200 words.

• Articles should be 6 500 – 8 000 words.

Submission instructions

• All Abstracts and full Papers must adhere to Communicatio submission guidelines that can be
accessed here:
https://www.tandfonline.com/action/authorSubmission?show=instructions&journalCode=rcsa2
0
• Please submit abstracts to: prinolag@uj.ac.za

Special Issue Editors

• Dr Prinola Govenden - Senior Lecturer, Department of Communication and Media, University of

Johannesburg
• Dr Job Mwaura - Research Associate, Wits Journalism

Important Dates

• Deadline for submitting abstracts: 15 January 2024

• Notification of accepted abstracts: 1 February 2024
• Deadline for full papers: 30 March 2024
• Expected date of publication: August 2024

All papers will go through a peer review process.

References

Cassels, Morgan (2019). “Indigenous languages in new media: Opportunities and challenges for language
revitalization.” Working Papers of the Linguistics Circle, 29 (1), pp 25-43.

Castells, Manuel (2011). The rise of the network society. John Wiley & sons.

Howard, Philip N., Aiden Duffy, Deen Freelon, Muzammil M. Hussain, Will Mari, and Marwa Maziad.
(2011). "Opening closed regimes: what was the role of social media during the Arab Spring?." Available at
SSRN 259509

Meighan, Paul (2021). “Decolonising the digital landscape: The role of technology in Indigenous language
revitalisation”. Alternative: An International Journal of Indigenous Peoples, 17(3), pp 397-405.

Morris, Merril. and Ogan, Christine (1996). The internet as a mass medium. In McQuail’s Mass
Communication Theory. 5th edition. London: Sage.

Mwaura, Job., and Akpojivi, Ufuoma (2022). “Imagine dying from an overseas disease when you do not
even own a passport: A critical analysis of Twitter conversations in the wake of COVID-19 in Kenya and
South Africa”. Journal of African Media Studies, 14 (1), pp 29-44.

Uwalaka, Temple (2022). “Social media as a solidarity vehicle during the 2020# EndSARS Protests in
Nigeria”. Journal of Asian and African Studies, 00219096221108737.

Willems, Wendy, and Winston Mano (2016). "Decolonizing and provincializing audience and internet
studies: Contextual approaches from African vantage points." In Everyday Media Culture in Africa, pp. 15-
40. Routledge.