Toward an Afro-Centric Indigenous HCI Paradigm

Current HCI paradigms are deeply rooted in a western epistemology which attests its partiality and bias
\nof its embedded assumptions, values, definitions, techniques and derived frameworks and models.Thus
\ntensions created between local cultures and HCI principles require us to pursue a more critical research
\nagenda within an indigenous epistemology. In this paper we present an Afro-centric paradigm, as
\npromoted by African scholars, as an alternative perspective to guide interaction design in a situated
\ncontext in Africa and promote the reframing of HCI. We illustrate a practical realization of this
\nparadigm shift within our own community driven designin Southern Africa.