[Air-L] Call for abstracts: Digital Decolonisation and Digital Justice

[Karen Frost-Arnold]

 The African Centre for Epistemology of Philosophy of Science (ACEPS) at
the University of Johannesburg invites abstract submissions for:

DIGITAL DECOLONISATION
AND
DIGITAL JUSTICE

13 and 14 August 2025

Digital technologies are deeply embedded in how we produce and share
knowledge. At the same time, our digital infrastructure for sharing
knowledge is largely designed and maintained by tech companies in the
Global North that pursue profit by exploiting citizens and communities in
the Global South. For example, social media companies profit from hate
speech that inflames ethnic cleansing. Tech companies exploit the labour of
workers from the Global South to train algorithms. AI has significant
environmental costs, which are disproportionately borne by the Global
South. And citizens of the Global South are often cut off from the benefits
of digital technologies. Technologies are often designed without their
interests, languages, cultures, or material circumstances in mind.

Digital Decolonisation and Digital Justice is a two-day, interdisciplinary
conference investigating decolonisation of the digital technologies that
shape contemporary knowledge and exploring what reparations for digital
harms might involve. The hybrid conference will be held online and in
person at the ACEPS in 2025.

This conference aims to investigate the following questions, among others:
• How do social media platforms and big tech corporations perpetuate
digital colonisation?
• What is the nature and scope of the harms caused by big tech?
• When and why must tech companies be held accountable for harms, and what
are the right mechanisms for doing so?

This conference aims to bring together scholars from philosophy, science
and technology studies (STS), media studies, information science,
communications, data science, computer science, political science, and
other fields working on decolonisation and technology. Taking
decolonisation as more than a mere metaphor, ACEPS aims to encourage
submissions from scholars from Africa and the broader Global South with the
aim of building networks of collaboration.

Topics that will be included in the call for papers for researchers to
consider may include, but are not limited to:
· Epistemic decolonisation and technology
· Decolonising the internet
· Alternative, postcolonial technologies
· Indigenous knowledge and AI
· Democracy and AI
· Climate justice and AI
· Digital harms and technological epistemic injustice
· Justice for digital harms
· Resistance and refusal theory

Abstract length: 500 words
Submission deadline: 1 June 2025
Notification of acceptance: 15 June 2025
Email abstracts & queries: pbenton at uj.ac.za
Organisers: Paige Benton, Karen Frost-Arnold, Veli Mitova.

Funding: This conference is part of the grant project Safeguarding Justice
& Democracy in the Age of AI. Funding is provided
by the University of Johannesburg Global Excellence and Stature.

Accepted speakers will be responsible for their own visa, travel, and
accommodation. However, funding is available to cover
accommodation for students from developing countries. If you fall into this
category, please indicate this in the body of your
email when submitting.