Digital Sovereignty in Africa: An Open Syllabus

Introduction
This open curriculum was created for the 2021 Research Sprint on African narratives on Digital Sovereignty. The sprint brought together researchers and professionals from academia, industry and civil society from all over the world to collaborate on issues of digital sovereignty and to discuss how African States can promote digital governance, and accountable transitions to the digital economy. This involved a careful study of the challenges of data extraction and commodification, rising costs of innovation, an influx of predatory firms, the loss of privacy, linguistic and cultural exclusion, loss of comparative advantages in business, technology-led unemployment, and autonomy in the digital economy.

Readers are encouraged to benefit from this collection of materials to create their own courses, and to study the development of African perspectives on digital sovereignty.

Course Description
While sovereignty is not a new concept, it is one that is increasing in use in the context of the digital economy. Digital sovereignty, simply put, refers to how governments can articulate a national vision of economic independence and development, while at the same time promoting the protection of citizens’ data. When narrowly understood, digital sovereignty is interpreted to mean states reasserting control and promoting their authority over the internet. More broadly, it could be used to encompass personal autonomy and choice, freedom in the internet era, and human rights. From the perspective of the global South, however, a better way to look at digital sovereignty might be to understand it as a means to reinvigorate developmental freedom of states and citizens alike in the digital era. This broadens the concept to include within its fold efforts to promote economic and technological autonomy for the developing world, in ways that empower citizens and States alike, promoting plurality of options, enabling contextualisation and facilitating the inclusion of socio-political, cultural and linguistic priorities.

This syllabus unpacks the notion of digital sovereignty itself and its relevance; and explores what digital sovereignty means in the global South in general, and in the African context in particular, with the intent of extracting the key elements of a pan-African narrative on digital sovereignty.

The primary focus is on two fundamental and inter-related sets of questions. First, how does development and economic independence look in the African context? That is, how can data extraction, data use and re-use foster the creation of competitive advantage, innovation and technological learning, enabling local businesses, creating jobs, and promoting structural change in Africa, much like in other parts of the world? Second, what does a new discourse that factors in development as a central component of the data economy look like, taking into account the different starting points of countries as they enter, and engage with data? In answering this, the syllabus addresses questions related to linguistic and cultural heterogeneity in the internet world, a homegrown narrative on privacy and informed consent and the establishment of citizen-state relations for data protection in the African context.

This syllabus brings together the works of various scholars and practitioners reflecting and deliberating an African perspective in a digital world that is increasingly populated by voices from the global North.

Learning Modules
The course is divided into seven modules, each dealing with a core theme. Each independent module page contains the discussions on the module, which are an outcome of the research sprint. They also contain external resources which learners will find to be of use. These modules though interdependent can also be studied independently by learners.

Contributors
The program and the curriculum were conceptualised and curated by Berkman Klein Center’s Padmashree Gehl Sampath, drawing on her multi-year project on Development in the Digital Economy at the Center.

Participant Contributors
A host of academicians and practitioners animated the discussions during the programme and contributed to the curriculum of the course. These included: Mr. Bright Simons (mPedigree and the IMANI Centre for Policy and Education), Prof Wim Naudé (Cork Univesity), Khadija Abdulla Ali (Drone Pilot, Zanzibar Drone Mapping Initiative), Dr. Manish Raghavan (Cornell University), Leonard Cortana (Tisch School, New York University), Prof James S. Wahutu (New York University), Prof Thomas Streinz (New York University), Mr. Amadou Diop (MNS Consulting), Prof Olufunmilayo Arewa (Temple University), and Prof Irene Lo (Stanford University) for their time and contributions. In the first week, Mr. Bright Simons spoke on the "limits of techno-hegemony”, and Prof Wim Naudé discussed “successful digital transformations” by arguing that ‘successful digital transformations require avoiding digital dystopias’. In the second week, Ms. Khadija Abdulla Ali discussed how drones can be used for local development in Africa, using her experience in the drone-mapping initiative in Zanzibar, and Mr. Manish Raghavan discussed ‘Machine Learning for Social Good’. This was followed by Mr. Leonard Cortana spoke about his latest work on deep fakes, big data programming and cultural stereotypes in the third week. For the discussion on a privacy narrative for Africa, Prof James S. Wahutu gave a presentation on “What’s the discussion of privacy in Africa?”. In the final weeks of the course, Prof Thomas Streinz discussed “Data access and digital equality for digital sovereignty”, Mr. Amadou Diop spoke on Africa’s digital infrastructure dependencies and what it means for digital sovereignty, Prof Olufunmilayo Arewa discussed technology, law and development highlighting the colonial biases in African narratives, and Prof Irene Lo explored how markets can be designed for social good.

Regional and Other Partners
The Virtual Research Sprint was hosted by the South African Research Chair on Industrial Development, University of Johannesburg, within the framework of the Ethics of Digitalisation project run by the the Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society, the Leibniz Institute for Media Research, Hans-Bredow-Institut, the Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society, and the Global Network of Internet and Society Research Centers (NoC), under the auspices of the Federal President of Germany and with funding from the Mercator Foundation.