Organizer: The Conversational School of Philosophy (CSP), in collaboration with Transhumanists Africa (TA), and the Posthuman Studies Association (PSA)

Convenor: Dr. Ojochogwu Abdul (University of Abuja, Nigeria; Transhumanists Africa; and the Conversational School of Philosophy)

Keynote Speakers:

Prof. Dr. Stefan Lorenz Sorgner – John Cabot University, Rome, Italy

Prof. Josue Yoroba Guebo – Felix Houphouet Boigny University, Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire

CONCEPT NOTE

The Conversational School of Philosophy (CSP), in collaboration with Transhumanists Africa (TA) and the Posthuman Studies Association (PSA), invites papers for a virtual colloquium in October 2026 entitled “Cross-cultural Conversations in Euro- and African Transhumanism.” This event explores how African and European philosophical and cultural traditions shape differing visions of human enhancement. Classic transhumanism, propounded by the likes of Bostrom (2005, 2012), Pearce (1995), Fuller (2011), and Sandberg (2013), and often associated with Silicon Valley (alongside the hub’s liberal and libertarian outlooks), is frequently critiqued as overly individualistic and technocratic, whereas European thinkers (Sorgner, 2022, 2026; Schussler and Balistreri, 2024) have proposed a Euro-Transhumanism grounded in Europe’s Continental philosophy and humanistic tradition. Stefan Lorenz Sorgner (2026), for example, describes Euro- Transhumanism as a “distinctive, philosophically rich alternative to the individualistic, technocratic focus of classic transhumanism”. This approach emphasizes social consciousness, diversity of flourishing, and continuity with European ideals of truth, goodness and beauty.

Meanwhile, African scholars emphasize how communal values, normative personhood, and progressive re-interpretations of tradition intersect with enhancement technologies. Philosopher Ademola Fayemi defends an Afrofuturistic account of personhood that harmonizes traditional African ontologies with modern science. Fayemi (2018) argues that African concepts of the self (e.g. the Yoruba notion of inu, or inner self) are inherently dynamic and “alterable”. His reconstruction shows that an African-inspired idea of personhood can “accommodate science and technology” alongside religious and communal values. Similarly, other scholars note that Ubuntu (or an African humanism) supports transhumanist goals; as one study concludes, the “embedded values of African humanism deserve to be taken seriously in galvanizing global trust in transhuman futures” (Ewuoso and

Fayemi, 2021). In other words, African ethical traditions and community-oriented philosophies (like Ubuntu) can provide important guidance for responsible human enhancement.

Afrofuturism, an influential speculative concept in Africa-oriented transhumanist discussions, have been described as “a cultural and political framework for reimagining possibilities” that centers Black experiences and agency in future visions, and which emphasizes that “futures are made – and that who gets to imagine them is a political question” (Brooks and Anderson, 2025). Interestingly, Nigerian-American science fiction and fantasy writer Nnedi Okorafor initiates a distinction between Afrofuturism – understood as centering the diasporic, historical experiences and realities of African-Americans/”Blacks” – and Africanfuturism, which is deeply and directly rooted in African culture, history, mythology, cosmology and worldview (Okorafor, 2019). As Okorafor affirms, Africanfuturism envisions the future, engages with technology, explores space, leans toward optimism, and is primarily created by and centered on people of black African origin. This strand ultimately imagines futures that are situated in or emanate from the African continent, thus marking a distinction from Afrofuturism which centers the Black Diaspora or the West. Noting such distinctive currents, Abdul (Forthcoming) explores an “African futures” philosophy network comprising a triad of Afrofuturism, Africanfuturism, and Afropolitanism, intended to set a framework for innovative engagement, re-interpretations, and re-imaginations of the traditions, experiences, realities, cultural expressions, science, philosophies, and aspirations of the broader African world (continental and diasporic), and to project fluid or dynamic understandings of the African way of being in the world, as such that they significantly present “African modernist” pathways which embrace novelty and permit openness and adaptation to emerging/enhancement technologies, thought, and values. Ideas set forth in the aforementioned discourses, importantly, lay the groundwork for possible constructions of an African Transhumanism.

This colloquium aims to spark an intercultural dialogue between these perspectives, i.e., African and European. We welcome contributions that examine how European and African intellectual traditions converge or diverge in their approach to technology and the future of humanity. Papers might contrast the Africa-centered philosophies with European approaches that draw on continental humanist legacies, or explore hybrid models emerging from African- European exchanges. In general, we encourage work that brings out cross- cultural/intercultural themes concerning transhumanism – for example, comparing ethics of enhancement in communitarian versus individualistic societies, examining the role of tradition, spirituality, or secular humanism in different contexts, or analyzing the impact of postcolonial, decolonial, transcolonial, and global justice concerns on transhumanist discourse.

PROPOSED TOPICS

Possible sub-topics include (but are not limited to):

• • • Afrofuturism, Africanfuturism, and African tech-futures: How Black and African art, literature and philosophy reimagine future technologies and enhancement.

    • Afrocommunitarianism, African personhood, and Transhumanism: Communal ethics and traditional values (e.g. Ubuntu, inu) in relation to biotechnology and enhancement.

    • Euro-Transhumanism: European philosophical frameworks (e.g. Sorgner’s vision) that critique Silicon Valley transhumanism and emphasize social and cultural heritage.

    • Comparative ethics: Individualism vs. communitarianism in enhancement debates, and how differing value-systems shape policies on augmentation.

    •  Postcolonial, decolonial, transcolonial, and global justice dimensions: How histories and discourses of colonialism, inequality, globalization, Third Space, and negotiation influence African and European transhumanist agendas.

    • Religion and spirituality: The role of religious beliefs and metaphysics in acceptance or critique of human enhancement technologies across cultures.

    • Science and secularism: The role of science, scientific advancement/worldview, and secular (or secular humanistic) values in influencing acceptance or critique of human enhancement technologies across cultures.

    • Intercultural dialogues: Case studies of intellectual exchange between African and European thinkers (or diasporic communities) on technology, identity, and the future of humanity.

    •  Diaspora perspectives: How African diasporic communities (in Europe, the Americas, etc.) bridge or transform Euro- and African-centered transhumanist ideas. How European diasporic communities in Africa (or Africans of European descent) bridge or transform Euro- and African-centered transhumanist ideas.

    • Afropolitanism and Afropean perspectives: How circulation of the worlds/worlds in movement (Mbembe 2005, 2020), dispersion and immersion, African mobilities, transnationalism, interconnectedness, in-between-ness, multi-local belongings, multidimensional thinking, heterogeneity, hyperculturality, conviviality, antagonism, postmodernism, freedom, fluidity of identities, and hybridization of African and European beings and lived/shared experiences disrupt essentialism and connect, disjoint, or transform Euro-and-African-centered transhumanist perspectives.

    • Postracialism and/or Postracialized Societies: How would human enhancement technologies impact the concept of race? What would African and European identities mean or matter in a transhumanist civilization or posthuman world?

Submission Instructions

• Authors should email their abstract (300 words max), alongside the paper title, author name(s), affiliation(s), contact information, and five keywords, as Microsoft Word document to chogwu.abdul@uniabuja.edu.ng before or by June 30, 2026. All submissions must be in English.

IMPORTANT DATES

• Abstract submission deadline: June 30, 2026

• Notification of acceptance: July 21, 2026

• Date of Colloquium: October 1-2, 2026

PUBLICATION

• The best papers from the colloquium will be published in an essay collection with the Transhumanism and Africa book series (edited by Dr. Ojochogwu Abdul and Dr. Leo Igwe) under the Trivent Transhumanism imprint. Each paper should be between 5000 and 7000 words, and all submissions will undergo a peer review process.

Contact and Further Information

• For submission or inquiries, contact the convenor Ojochogwu Abdul at chogwu.abdul@uniabuja.edu.ng. For information on the Conversational School of Philosophy, Transhumanists Africa, and Posthuman Studies Association, please visit – respectively - the CSP website: www.cspafrica.org; TA website: www.transhumanistsafrica.org; and PSA website: www.posthumanstudies.org.