37.3585, Confs: Panel at LSA 2027 - African Naming Knowledge: Digital Humanities and Cultural Memory (Nigeria)

[The LINGUIST List]

LINGUIST List: Vol-37-3585. Mon 02 Nov 2026. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 37.3585, Confs: Panel at LSA 2027 - African Naming Knowledge: Digital Humanities and Cultural Memory (Nigeria)

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Date: 31-Oct-2026
From: Abdussalam Olawale Amoo [amooabdussalam at fuwukari.edu.ng]
Subject: Panel at LSA 2027 - African Naming Knowledge: Digital Humanities and Cultural Memory


Panel at LSA 2027 - African Naming Knowledge: Digital Humanities and
Cultural Memory
Short Title: LSA 2027
Theme: African Naming Knowledge: Digital Humanities and Cultural
Memory

Date: 15-Jun-2027 - 19-Jun-2027
Location: Lagos, Nigeria
Contact: Abdussalam Ọláwálé Àmọ̀ó
Contact Email: amooabdussalam at fuwukari.edu.ng

Linguistic Field(s): Historical Linguistics; Language Documentation;
Ling & Literature; Sociolinguistics; Text/Corpus Linguistics
Subject Language(s): English (eng, stan1293)
Language Family(ies): African Language Isolate; African Mixed
Language; African Unclassified; New English; North African Arabic
(nort3191)

Submission Deadline: 08-Dec-2026

African Naming Knowledge: Digital Humanities and Cultural Memory
The 11th Annual Lagos Studies Association Conference
Conference Dates: June 15-19, 2027
Venue: Trinity University, Sabo/Yaba, Lagos & Zoom
Abstract Deadline: December 8, 2026
Panel Organisers: Abdussalam Ọláwálé Àmọ̀ó (Federal University,
Wukari, Nigeria) & Uzoma Elizabeth Egwu Okoro (Pan-Atlantic
University, Lagos, Nigeria)
Panel Description:
African naming practices constitute rich repositories of historical
experience, indigenous knowledge, social relations, cultural memory
and political contestation. Personal names, place names and other
naming traditions preserve ways of knowing and interpreting the world,
yet their documentation and transmission are increasingly shaped by
colonial legacies, linguistic marginalisation and changing
technological environments.
In keeping with the theme of the 11th Annual Lagos Studies Association
Conference, “(Re)generation in African Studies: Scholarship, Pedagogy,
and Activism,” this panel explores how onomastics and digital
humanities can contribute to the regeneration of African Studies by
recovering underrepresented naming histories, rethinking established
knowledge practices and developing new approaches to the preservation
and circulation of African cultural knowledge.
The panel invites interdisciplinary contributions on the
documentation, interpretation, digitisation and transmission of
African naming practices. Potential areas of inquiry include digital
archives of African names, geographical information systems and
indigenous toponymy, naming and environmental knowledge, colonial
renaming, computational representations of African names, and
community-led cultural heritage repositories. Contributions may also
examine how digital resources can support the teaching of African
languages and cultures, facilitate intergenerational knowledge
transmission, and expand public engagement with African naming
traditions.
Beyond the adoption of technology as a research instrument, the panel
interrogates the epistemological and ethical questions that accompany
the digitisation of naming knowledge. Whose interpretations are
preserved? How can African communities participate in decisions about
the representation and ownership of their cultural data? What
possibilities do digital approaches offer for challenging inherited
classifications and creating more inclusive forms of knowledge
production?
We welcome interdisciplinary papers that examine African naming
practices as dynamic and evolving systems of knowledge rather than
static cultural records. Through this panel, we intend to bring
African onomastics into dialogue with digital humanities. The panel
positions naming as a medium for regenerating scholarship, pedagogy
and intellectual activism in Africa. The panel organisers welcome
contributions from established and early-career scholars, researchers,
postgraduate researchers, digital humanities practitioners, linguists,
historians, geographers, heritage professionals and researchers
working with African communities and indigenous knowledge systems.
Suggested Sub-topics:
Prospective contributors may consider, but are not limited to, the
following areas:
- African Onomastics and Indigenous Knowledge Systems
- African Personal Names, Identity and Cultural Memory
- Digital Onomastics and African Studies
- Digital Archives and Repositories of African Names
- Digital Toponymy and Indigenous Geographical Knowledge
- GIS Mapping, Place Names and African Spatial Heritage
-  African Place Names, Environmental Knowledge and Ecolinguistics
- Colonial Renaming, Decolonisation and Cultural Memory
- Naming, Language Contact and Sociolinguistic Change
- African Names, Language Technologies and Artificial Intelligence
- Digital Representation, Classification and Searchability of African
Names
- Naming, Data Sovereignty and Community Ownership of Cultural
Heritage
- African Naming Traditions, Oral History and Intergenerational
Transmission
- Digital Humanities, African Languages and Cultural Heritage
Education
- Digital Onomastics, Pedagogy and Public Scholarship
- Community-Led Digital Repositories and the Preservation of
Indigenous Knowledge
- Regenerating African Naming Knowledge for Future Generations
Submission Guidelines:
Scholars, researchers and practitioners interested in participating in
this panel are invited to submit an abstract of no more than 250
words, indicating the proposed paper title, central argument,
methodology or approach, and relevance to the panel theme.
Please include the following information with your submission:
- Full name
- Institutional affiliation
- Short academic biography (not more than 100 words)
- Email address
- Telephone/WhatsApp contact
Abstract deadline: December 8, 2026
Please send abstracts to the panel organisers via
amooabdussalam at fuwukari.edu.ng and uokoro at pau.edu.ng. Please use the
subject line: LSA 2027 Panel Abstract: African Naming Knowledge:
Digital Humanities and Cultural Memory


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