Programme
21–24 September 2026
This is a preliminary programme: the arrangement and timing of sessions may still change significantly.
Last updated: 30 July 2026
Day 1 · Monday 21 September
Panel 1 · Centring African Knowledge Systems
Chair: To be determined
These papers ground digital and AI methods in African epistemologies — reading folktales, Yorùbá thought and literary emotion as knowledge systems that reshape the very tools used to study them.
- Moral Ecology of African Folktales: Grounding Digital Humanities in African Knowledge Systems EN Augustine A. Farinola Online
- Re-coding the Yorùbá Epistemologies in the Era of Artificial Intelligence: A Relational Ethnography of AI-Generated Videos of Ìtàn Ìjàpá, its Creator and Viewers on Facebook and TikTok EN Hammed Olalekan Lawal
- L’émotion par le non-dit : pour une stratégie d’annotation des émotions chez le personnage de Ramatoulaye dans Une si longue lettre de Mariama Bâ FR Falimatou Pemgbou
Sustainable and Responsible AI Workflows in History from a Global Perspective
University of Luxembourg
Chair: To be determined
Panel 2 · Decolonial Methods & Epistemic Justice
Chair: To be determined
From decolonial computing to the measurement of citation practices and the digital life of Ajami manuscripts, these contributions move decolonisation from critique to method and infrastructure.
- Before the Algorithm: Decolonial Computing as a Methodological Prerequisite for AI-Assisted Heritage Research in Africa EN Khaoula Stiti
- Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETDs), Citation Practices, and the Empirical Measurement of Knowledge Decolonisation: A Computational Approach EN Iginio Gagliardone, Christine Mataranyika, Max Milella, Karabo Mohapeloa
- Les manuscrits ajami à l’ère de l’intelligence artificielle : enjeux épistémiques, infrastructures numériques et savoirs africains FR Aminata Kane, Augustin Ndione
Day 2 · Tuesday 22 September
Panel 3 · Digital Archives, Metadata & Discovery
Chair: To be determined
AI-assisted metadata, entity linking and protocol-based access converge on a shared problem: making African heritage collections findable, connected and usable across institutions.
- Enriching the Invisible: AI-Assisted Metadata Generation and the Findability of Southern African Heritage Collections EN Sanjin Muftić
- Beyond Keywords: Entity Linking for Cross-Database Discovery in African Studies EN Jiayu Yang, Durgesh Nandini
- Les serveurs MCP pour les GLAM africains : une voie d’avenir avec l’IA ? FR Frédérick Madore
Panel 4 · Language AI: Translation & Learning
Chair: To be determined
Scaling language technologies for African languages — from a framework for inclusive language AI to rule-based machine translation and multimodal computer-assisted learning under infrastructural constraint.
- From Data to Impact: A 4D Framework for Scaling Language AI Across African Languages EN Tajuddeen Gwadabe, Lydia Kila Taban
- Traduire sans équivalence : enjeux épistémologiques du transfert linguistique dans un système de traduction automatique à base de règles pour la paire français-ewondo FR Eliette Ngo Tjomb Assembe
- Designing Multimodal CALL for African Languages: Pedagogical Innovation Under Infrastructural Constraint EN Rachel Maina Online
Networking Strategies for Emerging DH Scholars
South African Centre for Digital Language Resources (SADiLaR)
Day 3 · Wednesday 23 September
Panel 5 · Documenting & Sustaining African Languages
Chair: To be determined
FAIR data practices, generative AI for multilingual literacy and strategies for long-term sustainability: how African linguistic heritage is documented, taught and kept alive in the digital era.
- Preserving Linguistic Memory through FAIR Practices: Lessons from SADiLaR and Ibali EN Benito Trollip, Sanjin Muftić
- AI for the ‘Alphabet without borders’: Piloting generative AI for adaptive multilingual literacy materials in the LILIEMA programme in Senegal EN Friederike Lüpke, Jules Mansaly
- Recherche en sciences sociales et pérennisation des langues africaines à l’ère du numérique FR Evelyne Amana
Panel 6 · Manuscripts, Histories & Computational Methods
Chair: To be determined
HTR for Ajami manuscripts, large language models reading historical codebooks and computational ethnography of Sahelian social media show what computation makes legible in African textual and social archives.
- Building NLP/HTR Infrastructure for Ajami Manuscripts EN Oreen Yousuf
- Beyond the Readable Archive: Historical Codebooks, Large Language Models, and the Precolonial African Bead Trade, 1500–1900 EN Lauren Coetzee
- Fulani Networks: A Computational Ethnography of Social Media in the Sahel EN Bruno Allahissem, Mirjam de Bruijn, Luca Bruls, Jelena Prokic, Matthew Sung
Day 4 · Thursday 24 September
Que sait une machine ? Épistémologie, gestion des données et enjeux de l’IA pour les langues africaines
University of Yaoundé 1
Chair: To be determined
Panel 7 · Sustainable Infrastructures & Frugal Innovation
Chair: To be determined
Frugal infrastructures, South–South ecologies, community co-production and the limits of generic AI in African settings: what it takes to build research capacity that lasts.
- Frugal Infrastructures and South-South Ecologies for Sustainable Digital Research in African Humanities EN Leonard Kibet Kirui
- Digital Humanities and the “Town Question” in Nigerian History: Accessibility, Co-Production, and Sustainable Infrastructures from a Nigerian Perspective EN John Oluwafemi Daniel
- L’IA générique face aux réalités africaines : défis structurels et voies alternatives pour la recherche en cybersécurité au Burkina Faso FR Mohamadou Konaté