Technology, Digital Innovation, and Society

About

In its third edition, the TOAfrica Summer School will address the theme of the social and cultural impact of digital technologies in Africa with an interdisciplinary approach in the social sciences.

Technological innovation has significantly accelerated over the past three decades, transforming how we relate to each other, the environment in which we live, our job, our health, or our leisure time. New technologies, particularly in media and communication, have dramatically contributed to accelerating the circulation of people, objects, and ideas, further connecting Africa to the world. New economies, professions, services, political movements, and cultural forms emerged due to these transformations.

The Summer School will explore these different phenomena focusing on several key topics, ranging from the consequences of mobile technologies in public health to the effects of technological innovation on transnational mobility and the digitalization of African arts and cultures.

Against this background, the TOAfrica Summer School brings together scholars from different disciplines and practitioners and offers lectures, roundtables, and workshops that provide an in-depth exploration of these dynamics, intending to provide students with a thorough perspective on the topics of digital innovation in Africa.

The Summer School will be held in presence at the Reggia di Venaria (Venaria Reale, Italy). However, a minor part of the participants will be allowed to attend the classes remotely.

Target group

BA and MA students, PhD candidates, international development professionals.

Course aim

The TOAfrica summer school offers Master’s students and professionals an introductory framework to the African continent with particular attention to the Sub-Saharan regions, that in recent years have undergone impressive changes: demographic and economic growth, fast urbanization, internal and external mobility, the development of digital technologies, artistic creativity, social, cultural and religious transformations, but also conflicts and environmental, health and political crises. A new landscape which has repositioned the continent in the global perspective, generating interest in international observers and investors.

Fee info