On Wednesday the 6th of March, 2024, Nairobi Digital Humanities is holding its third roundtable to explore Children’s Storytelling Podcasting in Kenyan Indigenous Languages.
At the helm of the conversation will be Njeri Wangarĩ.
The Nairobi Digital Humanities Roundtable has over the past months invited Dr. Melissa Allela, Nyambura M. Waruingi, and Njeri Wangarī to share their expertise on the digital technologies of African storytelling.
Dr. Allela described her research as exploring the intersection of traditional African folktales and fables with new and emerging technologies. She questioned the limitations of legacy media and discussed how leveraging the affordances (the quality or property that defines something’s possible uses or makes clear how it can or should be used) of newer technologies can create new tellings and retellings of orally told stories while maintaining the performative, participatory, and communal elements of live oral storytelling.
Nyambura Waruingi’s discussion of “The Ground Screams to Whisper ” explored the healing of our lineages and embracing freedom through an Afro-gothic transmedia and multiplatform project. She helps the audience experience the triumph of being an everyday female freedom fighter and facilitates the reliving of their often-erased stories- stories that have shaped Kenya’s independence struggle.
Our last speaker, Njeri Wangarī, will speak on her project, Tusome Hadithi, a case study on how podcasting can be used to preserve African folklore and indigenous languages, whilst still upholding an age-old tradition of oral storytelling endearing itself to a digital generation.
Join her at 6.30 pm EAT.
The Nairobi Digital Humanities Roundtable provides a space for learning and a community for sharing, including through a creative residency. Keep an eye out for updates on future opportunities.
