Digital Media and the Preservation of Indigenous Languages in Africa: Toward a Digitalized and Sustainable Society

Digital Media and the Preservation of Indigenous Languages in Africa: Toward a Digitalized and Sustainable Society presents cutting-edge epistemological debates, academic case studies, and empirical research from African scholars on the intersection of digital media technologies, artificial intelligence, and the preservation of Indigenous languages. This edited volume provides a methodology for African researchers, practitioners, and marginalized communities to integrate digital technologies into their lives to foster innovation, advance the documentation and preservation of underappreciated languages, and develop African epistemologies. Contributors argue that African societies should acknowledge and embrace digital media platforms which, although potential epistemic colonial sites, are nevertheless essential for promoting ways of life that reflect the diversity and importance of Indigenous cultures. For Indigenous languages and local epistemologies to flourish in this rapidly evolving technological era, African communities must employ a variety of contemporary practices and strategies to document, protect, and preserve ways of being that have formerly been relegated to the periphery.

Fulufhelo Oscar Makananise is associate professor in the Department of Communication Science at the University of South Africa.

Shumani Eric Madima is senior lecturer of linguistics in the Department of English, Media Studies, and Linguistics at the University of Venda .