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African Meetings on Environmental Justice 2026: Ecology, Justice, and African Knowledge in Dakar

African Meetings on Environmental Justice 2026: Ecology, Justice, and African Knowledge in Dakar By LJ Dabo From December 3–5, 2026, Dakar, Senegal, will become a gathering place for scholars, activists, farmers, artists, students, and community leaders from across Africa and beyond. The African Meetings on Environmental Justice 2026, hosted at Cheikh Anta Diop University, seeks to create a new space for dialogue on ecology, social justice, and African knowledge systems. At a time when climate change, environmental degradation, and social inequality affect communities across the continent, the conference offers an opportunity to place African experiences and African solutions at the center of global environmental discussions. Why Environmental Justice Matters Africa contributes only a small percentage of global greenhouse gas emissions, yet many African communities experience some of the most severe environmental consequences. Drought, flooding, coastal erosion, desertification, pollut...
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Shared Knowledge and Shared Experience: The Missing Conversation in the Wikimedia Movement

Shared Knowledge and Shared Experience: The Missing Conversation in the Wikimedia Movement For many years, I have attended Wikipedia conferences, edit-a-thons, and community gatherings. At these events, one phrase is heard repeatedly: shared knowledge. The Wikimedia movement rightly celebrates the idea that knowledge belongs to everyone. Volunteers write articles, upload photographs, improve citations, translate content, and make information freely accessible to people around the world. The concept of shared knowledge lies at the very heart of Wikipedia and its sister projects. Yet over time I have noticed that another equally important idea receives much less attention: shared experience. Beyond Information Wikipedia is often described as a knowledge project, but it is also a human project. People travel across countries and continents to attend conferences. Volunteers spend countless hours mentoring newcomers, organizing edit-a-thons, teaching workshops, and helping people learn how ...
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Life as a Shared Experience: Why Meaning Comes from Connection

Life as a Shared Experience: Why Meaning Comes from Connection In modern society, we often celebrate the individual. We speak of personal success, personal achievement, personal wealth, and personal goals. Yet beneath these ideas lies a deeper truth: human life is fundamentally a shared experience. From the moment we are born, we enter a world created by others. We inherit language, stories, customs, knowledge, music, and traditions. Even our understanding of ourselves develops through relationships with family, friends, teachers, and communities. We may walk our own path, but we never begin the journey alone. The Shared Nature of Value Many of the things people value most exist because of collective agreement and shared meaning. Money has value because societies agree that it does. Language works because communities share words and meanings. Art becomes meaningful because others view it, interpret it, and pass it on. Traditions survive because generations continue to practice them. Ev...
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The Silent Crisis of Lost History: Preserving Family Archives in the Information Age

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  The Silent Crisis of Lost History: Preserving Family Archives in the Information Age ​Today, we live in an era obsessed with digitizing information, yet we remain remarkably vulnerable to losing our most intimate historical records. While the world rushes to archive the internet, a massive, unindexed narrative of humanity—hidden in attics, garages, and old desk drawers—is frequently being discarded before it can ever be understood or shared. ​The Hidden Costs of Discarded History ​A recent discovery by a friend in California serves as a stark reminder of this loss. While cleaning out her mother’s papers, she came across two of her grandmother’s original paintings—works she very nearly threw into the trash. ​Similarly, the meticulous sifting through the papers of a deceased elder revealed a profound, harrowing letter detailing his experience as a WWII grave digger in France. That document highlighted the immense stress of his work, the danger of being shot at by enemy forces...
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The "Digital Highway": Why Everyone Should Care About Digital Public Infrastructure

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  The "Digital Highway": Why Everyone Should Care About Digital Public Infrastructure ​June 24, UN Open Source Week DPI Day (Digital Public Infrastructure) Have you ever thought about what makes our modern world "run"? We take for granted things like paved roads, bridges, and electrical grids. We don’t think about how they work, but we know our lives would grind to a halt without them. They are the public infrastructure —the shared foundation that lets us travel to work, keep our homes lit, and trade goods. ​Think about your phone or computer. When you go online to send money, look up health records, or prove who you are to get a government service, you are using a new kind of "highway." This is called Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) . ​What is DPI, Anyway? ​DPI is a fancy term for the "digital roads" we all use to participate in the modern economy and society. It usually includes three main things: ​ Digital ID: A way to prove who you...
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Literary Cafes Paris

The 6th arrondissement, specifically the Saint-Germain-des-Prés district, is inextricably linked to the history of modern literature. You will find that the geography of the area is defined by a dense concentration of institutions that served as "offices" for writers of the 20th century.    Literary Cafes Paris ​The "Big Three" Literary Cafés ​These establishments are clustered within steps of one another and remain the most iconic anchors of the district’s intellectual history:   ​Café de Flore (172 Boulevard Saint-Germain): Famously the preferred "office" of Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir. Its historical significance is rooted in its role as a warm, functional space during the Occupation, where writers could spend hours working under the coal stove.   ​Les Deux Magots (6 Place Saint-Germain-des-Prés): Historically the bastion of the Surrealists (led by André Breton) before becoming a primary haunt for the Existentialists. It remains a focal poin...
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Africa Diaspora Tours Paris

Several organizations specialize in exploring the history and contemporary life of the African diaspora in Paris.  Africa Diaspora Tours Paris ​Primary Tour Providers ​Entrée to Black Paris ​Focus: Founded by Dr. Monique Y. Wells and Tom Reeves, this organization provides a highly curated, research-driven approach to Black history in Paris. They offer private walking tours covering diverse topics such as the Latin Quarter, the Luxembourg Garden, and the Black presence in art. ​Notable for: Their long-standing academic partnerships and extensive library of self-guided and audio tours, which may align well with your "analog-first" research habits. ​Website: entreetoblackparis.com ​Ricki Stevenson’s Black Paris Tours ​Focus: Established in 1998, these tours offer a comprehensive overview of the African and African American experience in the city. Their "full-day" format includes a mix of walking and bus transit, often concluding in the vibrant Little Africa district (t...
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