{"id":12388,"date":"2026-05-04T17:00:35","date_gmt":"2026-05-04T15:00:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sadilar.org\/?p=12388"},"modified":"2026-10-14T19:02:07","modified_gmt":"2026-10-14T17:02:07","slug":"digital-humanities-dh-summit-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sadilar.org\/en\/digital-humanities-dh-summit-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"ESCALATOR"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>
\n
\n

<\/p>\nTowards an inclusive & active South African community of practice in Digital Humanities & Computational Social Science<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n

About the DH Summit 2026<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The DH Summit 2026 is a national gathering of researchers, educators, students, institutional leaders, and policy voices working at the intersection of digital methods and humanities scholarship. The summit is jointly organised by SADiLaR\/ESCALATOR, UNISA, NMU, and NWU, and will be held in person at the University of South Africa (UNISA) in Pretoria, with online participation available for those who cannot attend in person.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The summit is designed as a working event, not a conventional conference. There will be no standard paper presentations. Instead, participants collaborate around shared questions and produce something of lasting value together. The summit’s primary output will be a South African DH position paper: a durable, citable document that articulates where digital humanities stands in this country, what the field requires, and what its communities are committed to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pre-Summit Working Groups<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

To ensure the summit produces substantive outcomes, a set of pre-summit working groups will be established to begin their work in advance of the October event. Each group will be assigned a focused theme or question to develop in the months leading up to the summit. When the summit opens, each group will present a short draft contribution \u2014 a position, synthesis, or set of questions \u2014 as the starting point for a facilitated session with all participants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How it works<\/strong>: Participants join a small working group aligned to their area of interest. Each group meets online between June and September 2026 to develop its contribution. At the summit, the group’s contribution opens a facilitated session \u2014 a futures workshop or world caf\u00e9 \u2014 with the wider gathering. Session outputs are synthesised and integrated into the South African DH position paper.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Working Group Themes<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Eight working groups are being convened, each focused on a central question that the summit session will open up to the wider gathering.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Theme<\/mark><\/strong><\/td>Working question<\/mark><\/strong><\/td><\/tr><\/thead>
MAIN THEME<\/mark><\/strong><\/td><\/tr>
What is DH \u2014 for us?<\/td>What does Digital Humanities mean in a South African, African, and Global South context \u2014 and what shared understanding can we build together?<\/td><\/tr>
MACRO GROUP 1: EDUCATION<\/mark><\/strong><\/td><\/tr>
DH Curriculum and Classification<\/td>How should DH be classified in South Africa’s CESM system \u2014 and what would a nationally recognised DH curriculum framework look like?<\/td><\/tr>
Postgraduate Training and Cross-Institutional Infrastructure<\/td>Could a NEPTTP-style model support a cross-institutional DH postgraduate programme \u2014 and what would it take to make that happen?<\/td><\/tr>
MACRO GROUP 2: KNOWLEDGE PRODUCTION & PRESERVATION<\/mark><\/strong><\/td><\/tr>
Public Humanities<\/td>How does DH connect with communities, civic engagement, and publicly oriented knowledge production beyond the university?<\/td><\/tr>
Africanisation, Decolonisation, and Indigenous Knowledge<\/td>What does a genuinely African DH practice look like \u2014 and how do frameworks of decolonisation and indigenous knowledge reshape the field?<\/td><\/tr>
Radio, Media, and Community Knowledge<\/td>How does DH engage with radio and digital media as sites of knowledge production from and for communities?<\/td><\/tr>
Digital Preservation, Archives, and Information Practice<\/td>How do we preserve, curate, and provide access to South African knowledge heritage in digital environments \u2014 and what roles do librarians, archivists, and information professionals play in shaping DH practice?<\/td><\/tr>
MACRO GROUP 3: EVALUATION<\/mark><\/strong><\/td><\/tr>
Evaluating Interdisciplinary DH Research<\/td>How do we evaluate and recognise DH outputs within institutional reward structures \u2014 and what criteria should guide that assessment?<\/td><\/tr>
MACRO GROUP 4: COLLABORATION<\/mark><\/strong><\/td><\/tr>
Policy Engagement<\/td>How do we bring DH into formal policy conversations with DHET, CHE, and national funders \u2014 and what does the field need to make that case?<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

DH Cluster Summit 2026: Summary of Proceedings<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

7\u20139 October 2026  |  UNISA Muckleneuk Campus, Pretoria<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Overview<\/mark><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The Inaugural Digital Humanities (DH) Cluster Summit 2026 took place from 7 to 9 October 2026 at the University of South Africa\u2019s Muckleneuk Campus in Pretoria. The summit brought together researchers, educators, postgraduate students, librarians, archivists, media practitioners and institutional leaders from universities and organisations across South Africa, with further participants joining online.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The summit was jointly organised by the South African Centre for Digital Language Resources (SADiLaR), through its ESCALATOR programme, together with UNISA, Nelson Mandela University and North-West University. It was designed as a working event rather than a conventional conference. In place of paper presentations, participants engaged with contributions prepared in advance by pre-summit working groups. Their collective input will inform a South African Digital Humanities position paper.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dates<\/strong><\/td>7\u20139 October 2026<\/td><\/tr>
Venue<\/strong><\/td>Functional Hall, Kgorong Building, UNISA Muckleneuk Campus, Pretoria<\/td><\/tr>
Format<\/strong><\/td>Hybrid: in person, with online participation via Microsoft Teams and a Facebook livestream. Sign language interpretation was provided throughout.<\/td><\/tr>
Co-hosts<\/strong><\/td>SADiLaR (through the ESCALATOR programme), University of South Africa (UNISA), Nelson Mandela University (NMU) and North-West University (NWU)<\/td><\/tr>
Programme<\/strong><\/td>Day 1: <\/mark><\/strong>Defining the Field  \u00b7  Day 2:<\/strong><\/mark> Building the Field  \u00b7  Day 3:<\/strong> <\/mark>Discussion to Action<\/td><\/tr>
Primary output<\/strong><\/td>A South African Digital Humanities position paper<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Delegates at the DH Cluster Summit 2026, UNISA Muckleneuk Campus<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Background and purpose<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Between 2023 and 2025, NWU, UNISA and NMU each established formal Digital Humanities centres or hubs. Despite this institutional growth, DH is not yet defined in the DHET\/CHE Classification of Educational Subject Matter (CESM), is largely absent from university curricula, and rarely features in national research infrastructure conversations. The Cluster Summit was established as a national response to this gap, bringing the DH community into direct conversation with the policy and funding structures that will determine whether the field can be formally recognised and sustained, with an eye on South Africa\u2019s hosting of ADHO 2028.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The summit was framed as a working event rather than a conventional conference, organised around three guiding questions:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  • Day 1, Defining the Field: <\/strong>Where are we, and what do we mean by Digital Humanities?<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Day 2, Building the Field: <\/strong>What does South African DH need to thrive?<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Day 3, Discussion to Action: <\/strong>What do we collectively want to do next?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Its primary output is a South African DH position paper: a single, citable reference point on curriculum recognition, evaluation and institutional support, designed to speak directly to the DHET, the CHE and funders such as the DSTI.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    WG<\/mark><\/strong><\/td>Working group<\/mark><\/strong><\/td>Focus<\/mark><\/strong><\/td>At the summit<\/mark><\/strong><\/td><\/tr><\/thead>
    Main theme<\/mark><\/strong><\/td><\/tr>
    1<\/td>What is Digital Humanities in a South African context?<\/td>A shared understanding of DH in a South African, African and Global South context<\/td>Day 1 plenary<\/td><\/tr>
    Education<\/mark><\/strong><\/td><\/tr>
    2<\/td>Curriculum Development & CESM Classification<\/td>How DH should be classified in the DHET\/CHE CESM system and recognised at degree level<\/td>Day 1 breakaway; Day 2 report<\/td><\/tr>
    3<\/td>Postgraduate Programmes & the NEPTTP Model<\/td>Pathways for cross-institutional DH postgraduate training<\/td>Day 2 breakaway; Day 3 report<\/td><\/tr>
    Knowledge production and preservation<\/mark><\/strong><\/td><\/tr>
    4<\/td>Public Humanities<\/td>How DH connects with communities, civic engagement and publicly oriented knowledge production<\/td>Day 1 breakaway; Day 2 report<\/td><\/tr>
    5.1<\/td>Africanisation & Decolonisation<\/td>Africanisation and decolonisation as frameworks for DH methods, tools and infrastructure<\/td>Day 1 breakaway; Day 2 report<\/td><\/tr>
    5.2<\/td>Indigenous Knowledge Systems<\/td>Ethical, community-led work with indigenous knowledge systems in digital environments<\/td>Day 2 breakaway; Day 3 report<\/td><\/tr>
    6<\/td>Radio & Digital Media<\/td>Radio and digital media as sites of community knowledge production<\/td>Day 2 breakaway; Day 3 report<\/td><\/tr>
    7<\/td>Digital Preservation, Archives & Information Practice<\/td>Digital memory, access and preservation, with LIS institutions as full DH partners<\/td>Day 1 breakaway; Day 2 report<\/td><\/tr>
    Evaluation<\/mark><\/strong><\/td><\/tr>
    8<\/td>DH Evaluation Guidelines<\/td>Evaluation guidelines for DH outputs not recognised by current DHET frameworks<\/td>Day 1 breakaway; Day 2 report<\/td><\/tr>
    Collaboration<\/mark><\/strong><\/td><\/tr>
    9<\/td>Policy Engagement<\/td>How the DH community engages DHET, CHE and funders such as the DSTI<\/td>Day 2 breakaway; Day 3 report<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
    \n\n\n\n

    Proceedings<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    Day 1: Defining the Field<\/mark><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    Following a welcome on behalf of UNISA by the programme director, Dr Denzil Chetty, the context-setting keynote was delivered online by Prof \u2019Tunde Ope-Davies, Founding Director of the Centre for Digital Humanities at the University of Lagos, the first DH centre in Africa. His address, Afro-Centred Digital Humanities as a Framework for Reconfiguring African Studies and Recalibrating Indigenous Languages and Knowledge Systems<\/em>, argued that Africa should be a source of theory and not only an object of inquiry. He called for community-held linguistic data to be governed as epistemic sovereignty, and for South Africa\u2019s twelve official languages, including South African Sign Language, to become languages of DH theory and teaching. He also acknowledged SADiLaR\u2019s contribution to the technologisation of South Africa\u2019s indigenous languages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
    \n
    \"\"
    Day 1: Opening session and online keynote address<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

    Delegates then met the three DH structures and the national DH infrastructure (UNISA, NWU, NMU and SADiLaR), heard what each can offer, and learnt how their own institutions could establish a DH centre. Working Group 1 presented its findings on what Digital Humanities means in a South African context, followed by a panel discussion with representatives of the South African DH centres and hubs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    In the afternoon, the following working groups broke away for sessions, and summit participants contributed to each group\u2019s summary:<\/p>\n\n\n\n