South Africa's scholars and communities chart path forward on digital learning and innovat
South African scholars and communities will shape digital knowledge practices at a national summit in 2026.
South Africa’s humanities scholars, educators, students and community organisations will have a direct hand in shaping the country’s digital future when a landmark national summit convenes in Pretoria next year. The three-day Digital Humanities Cluster Summit, running from 7 to 9 October 2026 at UNISA, will bring together a broad coalition of voices to define what digital humanities means for South Africa and to establish a shared national agenda for the field. Online access will be available, opening participation to people across the country regardless of location.
The public stake is clear. How digital methods are applied to humanities scholarship shapes how knowledge is produced, preserved and made accessible to South African communities. It affects how indigenous languages are documented, how local knowledge systems are recognised within academic structures, and how future generations of students encounter their own histories and cultures through educational curricula.
The summit’s organising principle is that no single institution, discipline or sector can advance this field alone. University researchers, educators and students will sit alongside information specialists, infrastructure experts, government representatives, policymakers and community organisations. Their collective task is to identify common challenges, build practical solutions and determine what changes are needed across the country’s research and knowledge landscape.
At the centre of the three days is a concrete deliverable: a South African digital humanities position paper. Prof. Menno van Zaanen, digital humanities professor at the South African Centre for Digital Language Resources (SADiLaR) at the North-West University, describes it as capturing “where we are, what needs to change and what we collectively believe should happen next.” The document will serve as a national reference point, shaping how the discipline is taught, recognised and supported within existing academic structures and qualification frameworks.
The summit’s structure is deliberately practical. On the first day, ten specialised working groups will present findings, evidence and recommendations across areas that touch directly on public access and civic knowledge: the roles of libraries and archives, digital preservation, interdisciplinary research, public knowledge, community knowledge and emerging technologies. These groups will address foundational questions about what resources currently exist, where the gaps lie, who is responsible for closing them, and what changes are required.
Day two shifts to testing and refinement. Participants will challenge and strengthen the working groups’ recommendations through focused dialogue. By the third day, contributions converge into a coherent national position that feeds directly into the final position paper.
The summit also undertakes definitional work with real consequences for ordinary South Africans. Participants will explore what digital humanities means within a South African context, what makes African digital humanities distinctive, and how the field intersects with indigenous languages, local knowledge systems and educational curricula. These are not abstract academic questions. The answers determine what support the discipline receives, how it is taught in universities, and whether it reflects the full diversity of South African knowledge and experience.
SADiLaR is jointly organising the summit with UNISA, Nelson Mandela University and the North-West University. For these partners, the event represents a critical opportunity to build shared understanding across institutions and sectors, and to strengthen the connections between universities and policymakers, between archives and new technologies, and between established scholarship and emerging forms of knowledge production.
The summit will operate in both in-person and online formats. Registration is available at https://bit.ly/46vvohD. For further information, contact Lihle Sosibo, communication manager at SADiLaR, at [email protected] or 064 684 9281.
Whether the position paper that emerges from October’s gathering will carry enough weight to shift institutional policy and funding priorities remains the open question that participants will be working to answer.
Q&A
What is the primary public stake in defining digital humanities for South Africa?
How digital methods are applied to humanities scholarship shapes how knowledge is produced, preserved and made accessible to South African communities, affects how indigenous languages are documented, how local knowledge systems are recognized within academic structures, and how future generations of students encounter their own histories and cultures through educational curricula.
Who will participate in the Digital Humanities Cluster Summit?
University researchers, educators and students will sit alongside information specialists, infrastructure experts, government representatives, policymakers and community organisations to identify common challenges, build practical solutions and determine what changes are needed across the country's research and knowledge landscape.
What concrete deliverable will the summit produce?
A South African digital humanities position paper that captures where the field is, what needs to change and what should happen next, serving as a national reference point shaping how the discipline is taught, recognised and supported within existing academic structures and qualification frameworks.
What are the ten working group focus areas at the summit?
The roles of libraries and archives, digital preservation, interdisciplinary research, public knowledge, community knowledge and emerging technologies; these groups will address foundational questions about what resources exist, where gaps lie, who is responsible for closing them, and what changes are required.