Digital technology is defined as electronic technology that produces, stores, and processes data. Digital technology has evolved over time with several global players, including those in Africa, making varied but significant contributions within their capacities and digital spaces. A critical question that has been asked is to locate and clarify the myths and misconceptions surrounding the contribution of African Indigenous knowledge (AIK) to modern digital technology. Voronkova et al. assert that the development of digital technology was dominated by the United States (US) and Germany during the second industrial revolution following the widespread use of electricity from the second half of the 19th century to the early 20th century in that order.
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Digital technology is defined as electronic technology that produces, stores and processes data, Moore and Czerwinska (2019:3). Digital technology has evolved over time with a number of global players, including those in Africa making varied, but significant contributions within their capacities and digital spaces. A critical question that has been asked is to locate and clarify the myths and misconceptions surrounding the contribution of African Indigenous Knowledge (AIK) to modern digital technology. Voronkova et al. (2023:734) assert that the development of digital technology was dominated by the United States (US) and Germany during the second industrial revolution following the widespread use of electricity from the second half of the 19th century to the early 20th century in that order. Shizha and Emeagwali (2016:47) argue that Africa’s development, particularly in the field of science and technology, is judged and adjudged from the viewpoints of its former colonizers, with a deliberate bias on Africa (negatively) as not having possessed any form of science and technology before Europeans set foot on the continent. Consequently, it is the duty of this study to interrogate such assertions.
Hegel in his narrative asserts that the Black man cannot conceive neither a history nor a science because he acts on basic instincts most of the time, which are devoid of civilization (Kienon-Kabore, 2017:50). Whilst, the narrative that ‘modern’ should replace ‘traditional’ is also misplaced (Battiste, 2017), Kaya and Seleti (2013:36) note that the Eurocentric view perpetuates the misconceptions and stereotypes narrative by articulating that AIK is obsolete and static. These sentiments are also echoed by Khumalo and Baloyi (2017:4) who proclaim that the failure to properly position AIK can also be ascribed to biases and stereotypes brought about by colonialism and its negative perceptions. Hountondji (2017) is of the opinion that much of the existing research on African communities is still dominated by Euro-centric biases and lenses which view Africa in the negative trajectory.
Denial and a lack of research on how technical and scientific AIK influenced the development of digital technology in Sub-Saharan Africa has been put forward by Kienon-
Kabore (2017). Other scholars question indigenous knowledge’s accuracy including (Smith, 2012); on credentials of community experts (Apffel-Marglin, 2011); its ultimate replication (Ellen et al., 2000:17) and the consequential lack of documentation (Kienon-Kabore, 2017). It is, thus, a cosmopolitan of views regarding the birth, evolution and growth of African Indigenous Knowledge Systems as they relate to digital technology development and consequent widespread use.