Pan-African Futurism: Ghana and the Paradox of Technology for Development with Reginold Royston

From Pan-African independence movements to contemporary tech innovation, Ghana has long been a crucible for imagining African futures. Today, many of Ghana's software engineers and members of Ghana's digital diaspora are rethinking technology not only as an engine of economic growth but also as a tool for political autonomy and social transformation.

Watch our recent Buffett Book Talk with Reginold A. Royston, Associate Professor of African Cultural Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and author of Pan-African Futurism: Ghana and the Paradox of Technology for Development, an ethnographic account of an emerging ethos among technologists working on development projects on the ground in Africa today. Drawing on observation and interviews with software engineers in Ghana and media producers across Ghana's digital diaspora, Royston argues that these actors challenge long-standing NGO-led development paradigms, using technology as a means of reclaiming autonomy and reimagining African political futures in a global digital age.

After Royston's talk, Sean Hanretta, Associate Professor of History at Northwestern University, joined the conversation to offer historical context and reflections on the book’s themes as well as questions for further investigation.

Watch the recording

About the speakers

Reginold A. Royston is a media anthropologist and digital humanities researcher, jointly appointed in the School of Information and the Department of African Cultural Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He coordinates the Black Arts + Data Futures group through the Borghesi-Mellon Interdisciplinary Workshop in the Humanities at the UW-Madison Center for Humanities. His research interests include new media and innovation in the African Diaspora, often explored through ethnographic research in Ghana, the US, and the Netherlands to examine Ghana’s digital diaspora. He has also worked for 15 years as a reporter, graphic designer, and cultural critic.

Sean Hanretta is an Associate Professor of History at Northwestern University focused on the intellectual, cultural, and religious history of modern West Africa. He is currently working on a long-term project on the history of Muslim weddings and funerals in Ghana and on the history of higher education in the wider region. He is particularly interested in the theory of historical evidence and in non-documentary forms of historical sources.