Reflections on the Development and Implementation of the DH Hub at Nelson Mandela University (NMU)

Establishing a Digital Humanities hub in Africa offers a unique opportunity to reimagine how African scholarship can engage with digital technologies to address local and global challenges. This paper reflects on developing and implementing the Digital Humanities Hub of Nelson Mandela University, a proud African university, as part of a broader strategy to revitalise the Faculty of Humanities. By integrating DH methodologies into research, teaching, and public engagement, the hub is mandated to foster interdisciplinary collaboration, enhance digital literacy, and address pressing societal issues such as social justice and cultural preservation. This reflection explores the challenges encountered in setting up the hub, including a low uptake by students and academics, the resistance to interdisciplinary collaborations, resource and funding constraints, the need for training and infrastructure, and ensuring cultural relevance within a predominantly Western-dominated field. Additionally, it outlines key successes, such as the hub's role in empowering scholars and students through workshops, seminars, and digital projects that use African knowledges and are thus also interpreted from African perspectives. Through these experiences, this paper offers insights into how a structured, intentional approach to Digital Humanities can contribute to the decolonisation of knowledge and the Africanisation of knowledge, and contribute to the creation of a model for the African DH projects and centres based in Africa. The ultimate goal is to harness the potential of digital tools to enrich African scholarship, support diverse narratives, and promote sustainable research practices.