No More “Solutionism” or “Saviourism” in Futuring African HCI: A Manyfesto

Abstract

Research in HCI4D has continuously advanced a narrative of ‘lacks’ and ‘gaps’ of the African perspective in technoscience. In response to such misguided assumptions, this paper attempts to reformulate the common and perhaps unfortunate thinking about African practices of design in HCI4D – i.e., largely as a function of African societal predicaments and Western technocratic resolutions. Through critical reflection on a range of issues associated with post-colonialism and post-development, I examine the possibilities that various historical tropes might offer to the reinvention of the African perspective on innovation. This leads to the consideration of how engaging in critical discussions about the future dimensions of African HCI can allow for grappling with the effect of the coloniality of being, power and knowledge. Developing on the ideas of futuring as a way of dealing with the complexities of the present – in this case the coloniality of the imagination - the paper ends by discussing three tactical propositions for ‘remembering’ future identities of African innovation where the values of autonomy are known and acted upon.

Including critical Approaches in HCI Curricula: A provocation

“…In asserting an alternative constitution of identities in HCI, the subprogram of African HCI came about as a community of researchers and practitioners designing and evaluating interactive systems for African communities. With a shift from a developmental to a decolonial focus [15] , the community has challenged the status quo of technological innovation and begun to reimagine interaction design that considers the plurality of the principles, practices, and knowledge foundational to any design project in Africa [12], [16], [17]. As African HCI researchers and educators, we continuously quest for finding an intersectional space for our distinctive African HCI identities.…”

“…Although a loaded question, we recognize the complexities of interrogating it dialectically. We approached this question as one that is foundational to the future identities of African HCI, and particularly one that recognizes how the earlier constitution of African HCI identities and narratives are positioned against a prior discourse of difference, nothingness, and backwardness [16], [18]. Our first attempt to unpack the question entailed identifying how African culture and context figure in the appropriation of HCI's models and methods of design.…”

"\"Remembering” as a Decolonial Praxis in African HCI and Design"

“…To re-invent the African perspective on innovation, recent research in HCI has approached "coloniality of imagination" as thinkable interventions where the subjectivities of technical beings could render the decolonization of the African social imaginaries do-able (See. [2]). When normative cultures of design are conceived as an inevitable by-product of the performativity of the colonizing power [5], one can begin to articulate how decolonization of the technical social imaginaries directing design in African culture could render actionable the invisible performativity of power in computing research and design [16].…”

“…As a conceptual piece, the authors adopted a narrative essay approach to analysis and discussion (see. [2,10]). For Bodker [10], the constructive analysis of elements associated with the second wave of HCI theories and models provides the basis for critical discussion on their implications to third-wave agendas where practices of design are broadened towards new cultural context and domain of application.…”

“…For Bodker [10], the constructive analysis of elements associated with the second wave of HCI theories and models provides the basis for critical discussion on their implications to third-wave agendas where practices of design are broadened towards new cultural context and domain of application. More recently, Adamu [2] engaged in critical reflection on various historical tropes associated with post-colonialism and post-development in HCI, which provided the basis for a more sustained discussion on the future dimensions of African HCI as a futuring exercise. For both authors, discussing elements of the 2nd and 3rd wave HCI, and the assumptions underpinning postapproaches to HCI4D, bring to the fore of HCI, the dialectic between the past and the future.…”