HomeThinking the Relationship to Artificial Intelligence and Digital Technologies: Powers, Resistances, Innovations

Thinking the Relationship to Artificial Intelligence and Digital Technologies: Powers, Resistances, Innovations

Penser le rapport à l’inteliigence artificielle et aux technologies numériques : pouvoirs, résistances, innovations

Pensar la relación con la IA y las tecnologías digitales: poderes, resistencias, innovaciones

Emerging Practices in Technologies and Communication for Development

Pratiques émergentes en technologies et communication pour le développement

Prácticas emergentes en tecnologías y comunicación para el desarrollo

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Published on Friday, September 26, 2025

Abstract

Digital technologies constitute a central factor in the transformation of contemporary societies, with artificial intelligence representing one of their most significant vectors. They simultaneously carry promises of innovation and participation, and act as vectors of dependency, exclusion, and renewed forms of domination. The aim is to explore the tensions that run through the imagination, uses and challenges of artificial intelligence and advanced digital technologies, combining critical approaches, field studies and theoretical perspectives.

Announcement

Argument

Digital technologies constitute a central factor in the transformation of contemporary societies, with artificial intelligence representing one of their most significant vectors. They simultaneously carry promises of innovation and participation, and act as vectors of dependency, exclusion, and renewed forms of domination. Notwithstanding the opinion of Richard G. Zind (1978), no technology is neutral (Goupy, 2014; Almazán Gómez & Luzi, 2020). Circulating models, despite their claim to universality, carry cultural references and specific cognitive frameworks. They privilege sources and normative frameworks specific to their symbolic and social universe. As such, when one adopts a technology, one simultaneously adopts, knowingly or not, the culture, references, and induced practices of its producer. Of course, everything then depends on the behavior of the agent. Either one integrates it and erects it as an absolute model or ideal type without discussion, or one appropriates it by diverting its uses and functions, or more fundamentally by recreating it from one’s own cultural references, cognitive frameworks, and from specific needs and expectations. In any case, one must not lose sight of the fact that any model, whether descriptive, normative-analytical, ideal type, or purely normative to be imitated, according to the categories of Jean-François Ménard (2006), aspires to impose itself as a reference model, even more so in situations of competition. It is also known that, whether one wants it or not, the adoption of a model always involves deviations and appropriations. One often witnesses an initial reconstruction followed by a distancing (Darbon, 2009), to the point where the imported model becomes, no more and no less, “the way we do things here,” as Richard Rose (1991, 29) emphasizes.

Critical approaches derived from postcolonial and decolonial thought make it possible to shed light on these ambivalences. From the perspective of global logics linked to political and social regulation fostered by the transfer of models, they reveal the persistence of mechanisms of domination inherited from colonial history, participating in the shaping of social representations by local social structures and, in this respect, contributing to the cannibalization of local models. Applied to the field of digital technologies and AI, decolonial thought invites us to recognize in digital infrastructures the reproduction of those logics at work in data extractivism, algorithmic concentration, and platform governance (Quijano, 2000; Mignolo & Walsh, 2018). The digital divide, far from being reducible to a question of technical access, refers to cultural, linguistic, and epistemic inequalities that keep entire populations on the margins of digital systems (Oyedemi & Choung, 2020).

At the same time, decolonial thought shows that these technologies are not only instruments for reproducing global hierarchies, they also constitute spaces for reinvention and resistance. In numerous contexts, citizen and community initiatives mobilize digital technologies to defend local knowledge, reaffirm cultural identities, and experiment with alternative forms of governance. Digital activism, community radios, citizen networks, and creative uses of platforms all attest to the capacity of actors to divert and reappropriate digital technologies (Castells, 2012; Escobar, 2018).

Frugal innovation (Radjou, Prabhu & Ahuja, 2012), which relies on contextual creativity and local resources, illustrates this reinvention. Whether it concerns African Fab Labs (Nkoudou, 2022), mobile payment systems, or indigenous participatory mapping (Damome, Akam and Kiyindou, 2019), these practices demonstrate that other forms of technologies, adapted to contexts and designed for the needs of communities, are possible (Kiyindou, Damome and Akam, 2022).

Finally, the issue of education and the critical transmission of knowledge remains central. Inspired by critical pedagogies (Freire, 2013), educational and participatory practices aim to move beyond a technicist vision in order to develop a reflective and emancipatory appropriation of digital technologies. Far from simple technical learning, the goal is to build a collective capacity to question the logics of surveillance, dependency, and exclusion, and to imagine alternatives (Santos, 2011).

This colloquium aims to explore these tensions by bringing together critical approaches, field studies, and theoretical perspectives on artificial intelligence, digital technologies, and their uses in communication, governance, and development.

Proposals may fall within the following axes:

1. Governance, circulation of knowledge, data sovereignty

This axis first examines the ways in which digital technologies shape governance regimes and contribute to the hierarchization or circulation of knowledge. Global platforms, dominated by a few multinationals, consciously or unconsciously exercise a power of selection and visibility that contributes to the invisibilization of local knowledge, minority languages, or alternative narratives. At the same time, community experiences of digital governance show that more horizontal models of knowledge circulation are possible. Papers may explore the tension between hegemony and alternatives in digital policies, systems, and infrastructures.

The digital divide under consideration is not limited to infrastructure, such as Internet access or equipment, it also encompasses cultural, linguistic, and epistemic inequalities. Global technologies are often designed without taking local realities into account, thereby contributing to the marginalization of entire communities. This axis thus also explores how these divides reinforce exclusions already inherited from colonialism. Papers may also show how educational, cultural, or civic initiatives attempt to reduce inequalities. For example, papers may analyze weak connectivity in rural schools, the absence of digital content in certain languages, or the impact of digital exclusion on civic and cultural participation.

This axis also invites reflection on issues of digital sovereignty, namely how communities and States can regain control over the collection, storage, and use of data. One may regret what is called “data coloniality,” that is, the massive capture of digital traces by global actors, often to the detriment of countries in the Global South. This situation poses a twofold problem: on the one hand, it limits the ability of the countries concerned to develop their own data valorization strategies, and on the other hand, it fuels structural dependency on transnational private actors who impose their norms, infrastructures, and commercial logics. It is therefore necessary to reflect on the establishment of governance frameworks that guarantee the protection of personal data, transparency of uses, and equitable access to digital resources. This also requires investment in local infrastructures, including data centers, sovereign cloud solutions, and secure networks, that are adapted to the cultural, linguistic, and socio-economic contexts of the Global South. What local alternatives are emerging to build infrastructures that respect rights, ethics, and local needs?

2. Critical epistemologies and pedagogies of the digital

This axis focuses on moving beyond the technicist vision of digital learning in order to develop critical capacities that allow questioning the logics of exclusion, surveillance, and domination. It calls for reflection on educational and research practices that make communities active agents in technological appropriation. Papers may analyze experiences of popular education, community universities, or participatory training systems, where digital technologies become tools of awareness-raising and liberation.

This axis also seeks to stimulate reflection on situated knowledge. Starting from the observation of the risks linked to the reproduction of cultural, linguistic, and social biases, increased surveillance, and data extractivism, it aims to question the logics of inequality and marginalization while also considering forms of resistance and critical appropriation of digital technologies and AI. It invites exploration of possible alternatives toward an ethical AI that integrates epistemologies and values originating from the Global South. Papers may focus on theoretical approaches as well as case studies, particularly in the fields of governance, health, education, culture, or civic mobilizations.

3. Frugal innovation and technodiversity

Frugal innovation refers to the ability to invent effective solutions in contexts of limited resources, often through recycling, improvisation, or collective practices of ingenuity. This axis highlights experiences such as Fab Labs, mobile payment systems, or indigenous participatory mapping. These practices make it possible to rethink digital technologies from situated needs and to inscribe technology within a logic of autonomy, social justice, and popular creativity. Papers may address these initiatives as credible alternatives to the dominant model of capitalistic and energy-intensive innovation.

4. Digital activisms and resistances

Digital technologies are also used as instruments of resistance and political mobilization. This axis focuses on practices of digital activism that mobilize social networks to challenge established powers, claim rights, or construct new forms of collective subjectivity. It also highlights strategies of subversion or infra-politics that enable marginalized groups to use digital technologies as autonomous communication spaces outside dominant logics. Contributions may analyze these experiences as forms of digital appropriation, producing counter-discourses and new practices of citizen governance.

5. Cultures, endogenous knowledge, and the anthropology of AI: powers, resistances, and imaginaries

This axis proposes to examine the uses of artificial intelligence and digital technologies in the fields of culture, anthropological practices, and endogenous knowledge. The aim is to understand how AI reshapes cultural production, social dynamics, and local forms of knowledge, while also generating resistance and new imaginaries. On the cultural level, AI transforms the modes of creation and dissemination of works, while raising the risk of a homogenization of imaginaries, as shown by Lev Manovich (2001) in his work on digital culture and Shoshana Zuboff (2019) on surveillance capitalism.

From an anthropological perspective, it is necessary to examine how local communities appropriate, divert, or resist imposed uses of technologies, thereby joining the approaches of Clifford Geertz (1973) on the interpretation of cultures and Tim Ingold (2011) on the anthropology of life. Innovations related to AI also intersect with endogenous knowledge. Achille Mbembe (2020) and Souleymane Bachir Diagne (2011) emphasize the importance of thinking about hybridizations between contemporary techniques and traditional practices (health, agriculture, crafts, rituals), opening the way to reflection on African and situated epistemologies.

This axis also positions itself as critical. Dominique Cardon (2015), Cathy O’Neil (2016), and Ruha Benjamin (2019) have shown how algorithms can reproduce biases, reinforce inequalities, and fuel surveillance. Yet these same tools can also serve to imagine ethical, inclusive, and local alternatives.

Finally, AI engages prospective visions and imaginaries. Donna Haraway (1991) and Yuk Hui (2016) invite us to think about plural technological futures, not reducible to a Western-centered vision, but open to endogenous narratives and local mythologies. Thus, this axis proposes to cross perspectives on AI from cultures, endogenous knowledge, and anthropological practices, in order to reveal its powers, resistances, and horizons of innovation.

Submission guidelines

Proposals (between 500 and 700 words, excluding bibliography) must be submitted no later than December 15, 2025 to the following address: chaireunescobx@gmail.com

They should specify the chosen thematic axis, the disciplinary and theoretical framework mobilized, the research questions, the methodology, and, where applicable, the studied fields. Each submission must also include the following elements: author’s name and surname, email address, academic or professional status, institutional affiliation, a biographical note of about five lines, the title of the paper, as well as a list of keywords.

January 20, 2026: notification to authors regarding the acceptance or rejection of proposals

Contact : Etienne Damome, etienne.damome@u-bordeaux-montaigne.fr

Scientific Committee

  • Agbobli Christian, Université du Québec à Montréal, Canada
  • Akam Noble, Université Bordeaux Montaigne, France
  • Amador Bautista Rocío, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico
  • Anaté Kouméalo, Université de Lomé, Togo
  • Bogui Jean-Jacques, Université Houphouët Boigny de Cocody, Côte d’Ivoire
  • Cabedoche Bertrand, Université de Grenoble, France
  • Cyrulnik Natacha, Université Aix-Marseille, France
  • Darmawan Deni, University Pankasira, Indonesia
  • Deneuville Allan, Université Bordeaux Montaigne, France
  • Ekambo Jean Chrétien, Université de Kinshasa, RDC
  • Faisal Bakti Andi, Universitas Pancasila Jakarta, Indonesia
  • Gardère Elizabeth, Université de Bordeaux, France
  • Halimi Suzy, Université Paris Sorbone Nouvelle, France
  • Herra Agilar Miriam, Universidad Autónoma de Querétaro, Mexique
  • Kane Aminata, EBAD-Université Cheik Anta Diop de Dakar, Sénégal
  • Kazadi Dikanga Jean Marie, Université de Lubumbashi, République Démocratique du Congo
  • Kemly Camacho, Université de San José, Costa Rica
  • Kiriya Ilia, Université de Grenoble, France
  • Kiyindou Alain, Université Bordeaux Montaigne, France
  • Laborde Aurélie, Université Bordeaux Montaigne, France
  • Lakel Amar, Université Bordeaux Montaigne, France
  • Lehmans Anne, Université de Bordeaux, France
  • Lenoble-Bart Annie, Université Bordeaux Montaigne, France
  • Liquète Vincent, Université de Bordeaux, France
  • Manuel Alexandro Gerrerro, Universidad Iberoamericana, Mexique
  • Mustapha El Hadi Widad, Université de Lille, France
  • Naji Jamal Eddine, Université de Rabat, Maroc
  • Ndiaye Marième Pollèle, Université Gaston Berger, Sénégal
  • Nsude Ifeyinwa, Ebonyi State University, Nigeria
  • Pascal Catherine, Université Bordeaux Montaigne, France
  • Pate Umaru, Université de Maiduguri, Nigéria
  • Perez Da Silva Babo Isabel Maria, Université Lusophone de Porto, Portugal
  • Pinède Nathalie, Université Bordeaux Montaigne, France
  • Regad Halima, Université Abdelhamid Ibn Badis Mostaganem, Algérie
  • Rico de Sotelo Carmen, Université du Québec à Montréal, Canada
  • Rodriguez Wanguemert Carmen, Université de la Laguna, Espagne
  • Rouissi Soufiane, Université Bordeaux Montaigne, France
  • Salles Chloë, Université de Grenoble, France
  • Sonhaye Sabin, Université de Lomé, Togo
  • Tchehouali Destiny, Université du Québec à Montréal, Canada
  • Turki Ramzi, Université de Sfax, Tunisie
  • Viallon Philippe, Université de Strasbourg, France
  • Yao Baglo Namoin, Université de Lomé, Togo

Organizing Committee

  • Abdoul Diop Saidou
  • Aidoudi Lamia
  • Baldé Mountaga Mamadou
  • Capo Chichi Gilbert
  • Damome Etienne
  • Diallo Fatoumata
  • Dok-Kwadda Eric
  • Fagade Carole
  • Guinez BadillaNatalia
  • Kaninda Tshitwala Lynda
  • Koffi Atta Mensah
  • Lowento Ken
  • Mourroux Mélissa
  • Moukala Nguimbi Franck Gordan
  • Nganga Ida
  • Noukafou Augustin
  • Nzi Jérémie
  • Sossou Etienne
  • Tégami Amyn
  • Témadji Rémi
  • Todo Alipui Joël
  • UISTAM (Diaby Moustapha Ben Ismaila)
  • Association Monarch Intelligence (Jean-Yves Mougeolle)

Indicative Bibliography

Achille, M. (2020). Critique of Black Reason. (3rd ed.). La Découverte.

Almazán Gómez, A., & Luzi, J. (2020). The non-neutrality of technology. Ecology & Politics, Vol. 61 (2), pp. 27–43.

Appadurai, A. (1996). Modernity at Large: Cultural Dimensions of Globalization. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.

Cardon, D. (2015). Internet Democracy: Promises and Limits. Paris: Seuil.

Castells, M. (2012). Networks of Outrage and Hope: Social Movements in the Internet Age. Cambridge: Polity Press.

Damome, E., Akam, N., & Kiyindou, A. (Eds.). (2019). Connected Systems, Data and the Digital Economy in the Francophone Space. Paris: L’Harmattan.

Darbon, D. (2009). The Politics of Models in Africa. Simulation, depoliticization and appropriation. Paris: Karthala-MSHA.

De Certeau, M. (1980). The Practice of Everyday Life. Vol. 1: Ways of Making. Paris: Gallimard.

Diagne, B. (2011). Africanity: Between Universalism and Particularism. New York: Fordham University Press.

Escobar, A. (2018a). Designs for the Pluriverse: Radical Interdependence, Autonomy, and the Making of Worlds. Durham: Duke University Press.

Freire, P. (2013). Pedagogy of the Oppressed. Paris: La Découverte.

Geertz, C. (1973). The Interpretation of Cultures. New York: Basic Books.

Goupy, M. (2014). The benevolent neutrality of communication surveillance technologies: The Tunisian case. Cultures & Conflits, No. 04 (93), pp. 109–124.

Haraway, D. (1991). Simians, Cyborgs, and Women: The Reinvention of Nature. London: Routledge.

Hui, Y. (2016). The Question Concerning Technology in China: An Essay in Cosmotechnics. Open Humanities Press.

Ingold, T. (2011). Being Alive: Essays on Movement, Knowledge and Description. Cambridge: Routledge.

Kiyindou, A., Damome, E., & Akam, N. (2022). Artificial Intelligence: Ethical Questions and Socioeconomic Issues. Paris: L’Harmattan.

Manovich, L. (2001). The Language of New Media. Cambridge, MA–London: The MIT Press.

Ménard, J.-F. (2006). The unique “State model” in question. International Review of Comparative Politics, Vol. 13, No. 4, pp. 681–696.

Mignolo, W. D. (2015). Epistemic Disobedience: Rhetoric of Modernity, Logic of Coloniality, and Grammar of Decoloniality (1st ed. Argentina 2011, p. 39). Brussels: Peter Lang.

Mignolo, W. D., & Walsh, C. (2018). On Decoloniality: Concepts, Analytics, Praxis. Durham: Duke University Press.

Nkoudou, T. H. M. (2022). High-stake conditions to catalyze local sustainable development through FabLabs in Africa. In Handbook of Innovation & Appropriate Technologies for International Development (pp. 222–239). Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing.

O’Neil, C. (2016). Weapons of Math Destruction: How Big Data Increases Inequality and Threatens Democracy. New York: Crown.

Oyedemi, T. D., & Choung, M. (2020). Digital inequality and youth unemployment. Communicatio: South African Journal for Communication Theory and Research, 46(2), 199–215. https://doi.org/10.1080/02500167.2020.1821738

Perriault, J. (2002). The Logic of Use: Essay on Communication Machines. Paris: L’Harmattan.

Quijano, A. (2000). Coloniality of Power, Eurocentrism, and Latin America. Nepantla: Views from South, 1(3), 533–580.

Radjou, N., Prabhu, J., & Ahuja, S. (2012). Jugaad Innovation: Think Frugal, Be Flexible, Generate Breakthrough Growth. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Roberts, J. S., & Montoya, L. N. (2023). In consideration of Indigenous data sovereignty: Data mining as a colonial practice. ArXiv.

Rose, R. (1991). What is Lesson-Drawing? Journal of Public Policy, Vol. 11, Issue 1, pp. 3–30.

Ruba, B. (2019). Race After Technology: Abolitionist Tools for the New Jim Code. Cambridge: Polity Press.

Santos, B. de S. (2011). Epistemologies of the South: Justice Against Epistemicide. Boulder: Paradigm Publishers.

Scott, J. C. (1990). Domination and the Arts of Resistance: Hidden Transcripts. New Haven: Yale University Press.

Smith, L. T. (2012). Decolonizing Methodologies: Research and Indigenous Peoples (2nd ed.). London: Zed Books.

Spivak, G. C. (1988). Can the Subaltern Speak? In C. Nelson & L. Grossberg (Eds.), Marxism and the Interpretation of Culture (pp. 271–313). Chicago: University of Illinois Press. (French translation: Spivak, G. C. (2006). Les subalternes peuvent-elles parler ? (J. Vidal, Trans.). Paris: Éditions Amsterdam.)

Stepanova, E. (2011). The Role of Information Communication Technologies in the ‘Arab Spring’: Implications Beyond the Region (Policy Memo No. 159). PONARS Eurasia.

Zind, R. G. (1978). The Hicksian hypothesis of technological neutrality: Analysis and estimation. Actualité économique, No. 10, Vol. 54 (4), pp. 531–538.

Zuboff, S. (2019). The Age of Surveillance Capitalism: The Fight for a Human Future at the New Frontier of Power. New York: Public Affairs.

Event attendance modalities

Hybrid event (on site and online)


Date(s)

  • Monday, December 15, 2025

Keywords

  • intelligence artificielle, technologie numérique, pouvoir, imaginaire, résistance, innovation

Contact(s)

  • ETIENNE DAMOME
    courriel : etienne [dot] damome [at] u-bordeaux-montaigne [dot] fr

Reference Urls

Information source

  • ETIENNE DAMOME
    courriel : etienne [dot] damome [at] u-bordeaux-montaigne [dot] fr

License

CC0-1.0 This announcement is licensed under the terms of Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal.

To cite this announcement

« Thinking the Relationship to Artificial Intelligence and Digital Technologies: Powers, Resistances, Innovations », Call for papers, Calenda, Published on Friday, September 26, 2025, https://doi.org/10.58079/14ra0

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