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  • MADSEJ
    Vol. 1 No. 2 (2024)

    Since the inception of the African Electronic Literature Alliance & African Diasporic Electronic Literature (AELA & ADELI) by Yohanna Joseph Waliya in 2021 under the aegis of the Electronic Literature Organization, and in collaboration with Prof. Richard Ajah of the University of Uyo, Nigeria, Prof. Mourad El Fhali and Prof. Abdelmoumin El Azouzi of the Sidi Mohammed Ben Abdellah University, Morocco, and Prof. Tunde Ope-Davies of the University of Lagos, Nigeria, this movement continues to create an avenue via its African Electronic Literature International Workshop and Conference (AELAIWC). This initiative has been supported by different academic institutions in Africa such as University of Lagos, University of Uyo, University of Calabar and Sidi Mohammed Ben Abdellah University, Morocco, providing a platform through which African scholars across the globe have been trained on the basics of digital literary scholarship and practices in order to position the future of the humanities scholarship in Africa. In other words, AELAIWC provides capacity building forum to the young African scholars by teaching digital research methodology and computational analysis in all fields of the humanities especially literature and language. Thus, the birth of African modern interdisciplinary scholarship in Digital Humanities is evident. Furthermore, computational interception in the humanities now tilts towards the unification of the whole humanities under the umbrella of what is popularly known today as Digital Humanities, fostering collaborative and interdisciplinary research. This is a sort of returning to the philosophy of the medieval period whereby all disciplines fed from the same philosophical tools and institutions.

    Hence, this Volume 1 Issue Number 2 of MADSEJ centres on the Digital Humanities and interdisciplinary scholarship in Africa. It contains a peer-review collection of the major discussions at the AELAIWC2023 and few works from other reputable experts in electronic literature and its subgenres.

    In this volume, Caitlin Fisher, a distinguished professor at the York University, Canada and the present President of Electronic Literature Organization, who was the AELAIWC2023 Keynote Speaker II, argues that Western narrative traditions are epistemologically challenged by spatial and immersive storytelling vis-à-vis African narratives. Her article presents the successful African XR projects, including Joel Kachi Benson's award-winning Daughters of Chibok and constructive initiatives from Black Rhino and Electric South. Despite the strides of the African immersive storytelling at global scale, it remained inaccessible to the readers because of the socioeconomic gab in the African society and the unaffordability of the VR lenses. Her discussion explores the meeting point of the XR with Internet of Things (IoT) and AI. At the end, Caitlin’s paper proposes generally that distinct experimentation is essential for the advancement of immersive storytelling medium particularly cropping more African oral storytelling traditions into participatory practices. This will make future immersive storytelling more Afro-centric globally, facilitating the export of African culture and civilisations.

    In his paper, Benharrousse of the American University in Cairo, Egypt, engages the readers with the digital capitalist market value of digital cultural productions and the neoliberal structures that resist the emergence of the electronic literature as a counter-market practice within digital culture. Therefore, the author raises the question of theorising digital literary market value and political engagement in the electronic literature. Funkhouser concerns himself with presenting the comprehensive overview of digital poetry evolution from the late 1950s to the trending AR poetry applications. He establishes the fact that digital tools have redefined poetic practices and poetics synchronically and diachronically in this digiral era.

    Teaching electronic litearature to the Gen Z has taken a new dimension whereby teachers of literature must recognise the trending digital tools and provide literary teaching techniques that match with this generation. These are the preoccupations of Bassey and Larsen’s paper. They lay emphasis on the obtainable digital tools within the locality of the institution particularly in Nigeria as a starting point to encourage the use of technologies as pedagogical tools.

    As for John and Awelewa, they take the readers to the diasporic Nigerian writers-Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and Ben Okri who have enjoyed the privileges of the digital technology to horn their influence in the global literary landscape. Their research reveals that digital data visualization offers new knowledge patterns into the intersection of migration and literary recognition as contributions to Nigerian by extension African digital literary studies.

    We wish to acknowledge all our authors especially Dr. Rachid Benharrousse of the American University Cairo, Egypt, who assisted us with drafting the permanent template for the journal.

    Richard Ajah &Yohanna J. Waliya

    1. University of Uyo, Uyo, Nigeria

    E-mail: richardajah@uniuyo.edu.ng

    2 Département des Études Littéraires et Culturelles, Le Village Français du Nigéria (Centre Interuniversitaire Nigérian d’Études Françaises), Badagry, Nigeria.

    E-mail : yohannawaliya@frenchvillage.edu.ng

  • Cover Page

    MADSEJ
    Vol. 1 No. 1 (2023)

    This Maiden Edition of Multilingual African Digital Semiotics and E-lit Journal (MADSEJ) is dedicated to selected peer-reviewed articles harvested from the second annual conference African Electronic Literature Alliance International Workshop Conference (AELAIWC2022) titled E-Literary Procedural Creativity on Digital platforms and Metaverse/création numérique procédurale de la Littérature métaverselle et littérature dispositive, virtually anchored from the Centre for Digital Humanities University of Lagos (CEDHUL).

    This issue generally introduces the art of writing electronic literature, the theories that support its practice and the role of Africa in the 21st century digitality. This objective is premised on the social reality that digital media is decentralising digital universe called metaverse, transforming exponentially our worldview and society today by tilting towards e-literary fusion with non- literary, humans and Artificial Intelligence to produce an e-literary utopia.

    This edition opens with the discourse of literary procedural creativity, meta-creative writing or distant writing, critiquing, reading and analysis employing theories and methods in Electronic Literature. Noticeably, in the Nick Montfort’s article, he explains the theories of computer- generated novel whereby authors use computer to practice the art of distributive writing under the aegis of programming languages. In this regard, authors play the role of a writer and a computer programmer in the same vein combining their writing techniques with computational techniques, emerging innovative new ways of producing narrative designs and prose to make work of arts set a utopia of human and machine interaction.

    As for Philipe Bootz, the veteran theorist in the Electronic Literature, in his piece, he presented the theory called “Procedural model” and its praxis in the work of arts in four-dimensional aspects and the social situation based on a concept of a computer system. With illustrations and examples, he technically reports “procedural model” application and compares it with various pre-existing theories in the field of electronic literature to expose their limitations. The articleelaborates the semiotic dimension of Bootz’s theory and points out that the text of computer- generated productions is multidimensional and distributable. And at the end, Bootz redefines the electronic literature basing his facts on the Spinozist conception of the ontology of art works.

    Davin Heckman’s article deviated from the theories and praxis of the digital literature, poetics of generative text and Artificial Intelligence to open a discussion on the future of digitality in Africa against the Western world’s socio-political antihuman interests. The article establishes the facts that Africa should benefit from the clashes of the world powers with Russia and China by focusing on developing its local digital infrastructures to free itself from the grips of the world powers. He iterates that African digital autonomy is capable of shaping the 21st century.

    Ajah’s article contributes to the arguments that digital infrastructures are seriously needed in Africa to avoid obsolescence of African digital heritages and electronic literatures on the virtual world, equally signalling the need to classify the genres of the African e-lit in other to properly document it for the future. Ajah invokes new argument on the critical attention and exploring

    African electronic literature broadly. Based on these facts, the article attempted describing and exploring the emergent African electronic literature and its subgenres with their evolutions over the time. Then, it concludes with lamentations similar to those of Heckman by highlighting the potentials of the African digital autonomy in shaping the global culture. Whilst, Charles Berebon argues in his philosophical article that another problem facing Africa is digital divide. This causes social injustices and inequality. Hence, such issues could be solved through philosophical and ethical analyses.

    Moreover, Alan Bigelow provides a short guide for African artists on how to create digital literature using HTML5, JavaScript, React and CSS.

    These articles cover all needed skills, theories with applications, techniques of creating African electronic literature and they call for the attention of the African policymakers towards building lasting digital infrastructures that will influence the global community, and an African society free of digital divide.

    We appreciate all our authors who have taken pains and pens to contribute to this maiden edition of the Multilingual African Digital Semiotics and E-lit Journal (MADSEJ).

    Editors: Richard O. AJAH and Yohanna Joseph WALIYA.

  • MADSEJ
    Vol. 2 No. 1 (2024)

    The rapid increase of internet connectivity has resulted in 5.52 billion global internet users in 2024, including approximately 570 million in Africa (Kemp). This exponential growth has catalysed significant sociocultural transformations and computationally-assisted studies, forming the foundation for contemporary African digital culture. African users, in particular, leverage platforms such as TikTok, Facebook, and X (formerly Twitter) as tools for liberation and social activism, often operating beyond the direct influence of global powers, including the United Nations (Waliya 23). Notable examples include the socio-political upheavals of the Arab Spring in Egypt, Tunisia, and Libya; the #EndSARS protests in Nigeria; and the recent Gen Z-led protests in Kenya. 

    African digital culture, undoubtedly, has become an enduring phenomenon, yielding substantial benefits. These include enabling digital activism, providing pathways to stardom through video content creation, and compelling governments to address pressing societal issues. The youth, in particular, have embraced digital technologies for their socio-technological and socioeconomic advantages, fostering a collective sense of empowerment and social responsibility. While challenges inherent to these digital transformations exist, this discourse emphasises their positive impacts.

    Unlike traditional African cultural practices—such as the communal decision-making that required a market-day assembly—modern digital platforms like WhatsApp forums, Facebook Village Groups, Zoom, and Google Meet now facilitate instantaneous interactions and conversations. These tools have reshaped social exchanges, fostering sustainable and harmonious environments, physically or virtually.

    Moreover, the integration of artificial intelligence (AI) into African digital ecosystems has further transformed its socioeconomic dynamics. Platforms such as Facebook Reels, YouTube, and TikTok have enabled Gen Z creators to achieve financial independence through their innovative digital skits and content creation. These advancements underscore the transformative potential of AI in alleviating poverty and redefining African digital culture.

    The transformative landscape of African digital humanities inspired the theme of Volume 2, Number 1 of the Multilingual African Digital Semiotics and e-Lit Journal (MADSEJ), October 2024: The Integration of Artificial Intelligence into the African Humanities scholarship. This edition deliberately highlights the role of AI in African humanities scholarship, focusing on digital humanities, literary production, algorithmic vernaculars, and the linguistic practices of African Gen Z on platforms like TikTok, X, and Facebook, reemphasising the different roles that virtual spaces have played “in vulgarising African digital contents” (Ajah 59) . One significant contribution to this Number is the work of Odili and Mabude, who explore the application of algorithmic models in preserving African digital culture through the African Buffalo Optimisation (ABO) algorithm. Their study demonstrates how ABO can fine-tune algorithmic Djembe, digital Griot narratives, optimised Adinkra symbols, cultural heritage analytics, and African digital art generation, while safeguarding the African identity in the digital age.

    Ajah's article advances the discourse by employing stylometry and computational literary studies (CLS) tools such as AntConc to analyse Ahmadou Kourouma’s Quand on refuse on dit non (QOR). His research elucidates the author’s artistic engagement with interethnic conflict in Côte d’Ivoire, showcasing how CLS methods give insights into postcolonial dynamics, otherness, and identity that elude traditional literary analysis.

    Ugwumbo and Egbe’s contribution focuses on digital poetics and the climate crisis through their analysis of Waliya’s Climatophosis, a digital eco-poem. By applying Halliday’s systemic meta-function of ideation and Di Rosario’s Entax theory, they argue for the eco-poem's efficacy as a medium for climate advocacy, emphasising its potential to inspire environmental stewardship.

    Similarly, Waliya and Mbey examine the dynamics of sentiment polarity within a WhatsApp group of lecturers and administrative staff in the Department of Modern Languages and Translation Studies, University of Calabar. Using Jacques Derrida's concept of "pharmakon" to analyse 5,727 messages, their study uncovers the coexistence of positive and negative sentiments, highlighting the nuanced interplay of human emotions in digital communication.

    Finally, we express our profound gratitude to Mr. Tomsmith O. Unimuke of the University of Sydney’s School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering for his invaluable contributions to this journal. His rigorous plagiarism checks and quality assessments ensure the scholarly integrity of the works we publish.

    Works cited

    Ajah, Richard. “Introduction to African Electronic Literature.” MADSEJ, vol.1, no. 1, 2023, p.56-66.

    Kemp, Simon. « Digital 2024 October Global Statshot Report ». DataReportal, 23 October 2024, https://indd.adobe.com/view/56eac68a-1f77-422d-87ed-2f5a5230e9ad?allowFullscreen=true&wmode=opaque.

    Waliya, Yohanna Joseph. « Digital Activism & “Botification” of Janusz Korczak’s Concepts in “Twitterature” ». WHAT WOULD KORCZAK DO? Reflections on Education, Well-being and Children’s Rights in the Times of the COVID-19 Pandemic, Wydawnictwo Akademii Pedagogiki Specjalnej, 2020, p. 21‑40.