Reviewing the Intersection of Epistemicide, African Digital Platforms and Digital Storytelling: A Theoretical Framework

Abstract

Digital storytelling emerges as a key ‘epistemic site’ for knowledge reclamation and narrative sovereignty, potentially challenging dominant knowledge hierarchies. This paper reviews the potential of digital storytelling to counter the so-called ‘epistemicide’. The review extends beyond traditional epistemological critiques to theorise about the role of digital platforms in countering epistemicide. The purpose of this paper is to propose a theoretical framework where digital storytelling acts as a vehicle for epistemic resistance and justice. This theoretical framework responds to previous calls for decolonial methodologies that prioritise lived experiences and counter the dominance of centric epistemologies. To support this framework, the review highlights the role of African digital platforms in fostering alternative knowledge systems and examines how participatory digital storytelling can contribute to social justice. This review paper, hence, claims that digital storytelling can be a site for narrative reclamation, sovereignty, and decentralisation. The paper advocates for an epistemic decentralisation model that reimagines digital media as a domain for inclusivity. Such inquiries about the systematic integration of digital storytelling in both global and local knowledge systems or settings and whether it constitutes a potential site of epistemic dialogue are recommended. An understanding of the role and effectiveness of digital storytelling in countering epistemicide and the intersection between digital storytelling and epistemic justice, mainly among Indigenous communities, necessitates such virtual ethnographies.