2025:Program/Decolonising knowledge on Wikipedia
Session title: Decolonising knowledge on Wikipedia
- Session type: Roundtable
- Track: GLAM
- Language: en
🎥 Session recording: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Decolonising_knowledge_on_Wikipedia.webm 🎥
The roundtable "Decolonising Knowledge on Wikipedia" aims to contribute to inclusivity in the Wikimedia projects by interrogating our practices, structures, and sources and critically highlighting power dynamics. This roundtable involves current Wikimedia projects and initiatives already focusing on decolonising knowledge, it triggers a broader discussion and collects experiences, examples and recommendations to expand and scale those practices.
Description
Decolonising knowledge on Wikipedia requires a critical examination of our practices, structures, and sources, while actively addressing power imbalances. It is a collective and global effort that necessitates engagement from both individuals and institutions to foster a more inclusive and representative knowledge ecosystem.
This roundtable brings together ongoing Wikimedia projects and initiatives dedicated to decolonising knowledge on an international scale in Africa, South America and Europe. By facilitating discussions both onsite and online, it serves as a dynamic space for enlarging the network and exchanging ideas, methodologies, and best practices. The hybrid format facilitates participation, enabling contributors from diverse backgrounds to share their perspectives and experiences in shaping a more equitable Wikimedia landscape.
The core objective of this initiative is to enhance inclusivity across Wikimedia projects by challenging existing structures and critically evaluating the sources that shape knowledge production. Through open dialogue and collaboration, the roundtable seeks to amplify underrepresented voices, recognise marginalised histories, and promote alternative narratives that have historically been overlooked or excluded.
By engaging in this discourse, participants contribute to a growing repository of knowledge that reflects diverse cultures, identities, and experiences. The session will not only highlight existing challenges but also identify actionable strategies for fostering a more just and representative digital knowledge space.
Through collective reflection and shared learning, this initiative aspires to build sustainable frameworks for decolonising knowledge on Wikipedia. The insights gathered from this discussion will inform future approaches, offering practical recommendations and concrete steps towards a more inclusive and equitable Wikimedia movement.
- How does your session relate to the event theme, Wikimania@20 – Inclusivity. Impact. Sustainability?
Decolonising knowledge is essential to guarantee that the knowledge the Wikimedia projects promote and disseminate is truly inclusive. It interrogates our practices, structures and sources and critically highlights power dynamics. Decolonising knowledge is a shared and ongoing process which involves anyone at an international level. Furthermore, it is a topic which allows us to openly discuss and reconsider provenance and the heritage preserved and valorised by GLAMs. It is a topic which deeply contributes to the theme of "Wikimania@20 – Inclusivity. Impact. Sustainability."
- What is the experience level needed for the audience for your session?
Everyone can participate in this session
Resources
Speakers
- Iolanda Pensa - iopensa
- Iolanda Pensa, volunteer of Wikipedia since 2006, former chair of Wikimedia Italia (2020-2024), former chair of the Wikimania Committee (2017-2025), organiser of Wikimania Esino Lario 2016 and currently national coordinator of GLAMs for Wikimedia Italia. In my work, I am head of the research area "Culture and territory" at the Institute of design at SUPSI University of Applied Sciences and Arts of Southern Switzerland.
- Lutherking Petercan
- My name is Asuru Lutherking Petercan from Rivers State Nigeria, based in Lagos State Nigeria, studied Architecture in Rivers State University, (B.Tech, MSc, PhD in View), my past involvement with Wikimedia started in 2022 and fully in 2023 where I uploaded archives to Commons, created biography and helped edit articles following the information from archives uploaded, I started a group for GLAM heritage professionals in Nigeria, also carry wiki training workshops to train and teach about wiki tools and how to better wiki projects in Nigeria. I am a GLAM oriented Wikimedian having worked with galleries and archives in Nigeria, and I support the Global GLAM Community as well on various activities.
- Florence Devouard
- Username:Anthere (She/her). French. Languages : FR N; EN-4.
- * Co-Executive Director of Wiki in Africa
- * Wikipedian-in-Residence at World Intellectual Property Rights (WIPO)
- * Former chairwoman of Wikimedia Foundation board of trustees
- * Co-founder, former Vice-Chair and currently member of Wikimédia France Chapter
- * Wikipedian since 2002.
- As well as
- * Financial auditor an member of Les sans pagEs UserGroup
- * Member of m:Wikimedians for offline wikis UserGroup (contact member for the affiliate)
- * Member of the Wikimedians in Residence Exchange Network UserGroup
- * Formerly treasurer of WikiFranca (hub-to-be for French speaking wikimedia groups)
- * Board member of Open Food Facts
- * Vice-Chair of Ynternet.org
- Key words : Wikipedia, Wikimedia Commons, Africa, IP rights, Open Movement, Community Building, Open Source, Creative Commons, Life-long learning, accountability, Gender Gap, Equity
- Donia
- I am a board member of Egypt Wikimedians User Group the communication manager. I have been active in Wikimedia projects since 2019, organising many event: edit-a-thons, campaigns, photo contests, and writing contests.
- islahaddow
- Isla has been working as a Wikipedian since 2011, activating Africa’s collective voice and experiences on the Wikimedia and Open movements. She co-leads ground-breaking Africa-focused projects such as Wiki Loves Africa, Wiki Loves Women, WikiAfrica Hour, African Environment WikiFocus, ISA Tool, WikiFundi, and WikiChallenge Écoles d’Afrique. She also works part-time as Director of Communications for Open Education Global.
- Isla is a project and communications strategist, a Zimbabwean by birth and a Capetonian (South Africa) by adoption. She is passionate about open access to Africa’s knowledge and facilitating the growth of previously under-represented or ‘invisible’ communities to share their stories, experiences, creativity, and heritage with the world. Prior to her involvement in Wikimedia, she worked to promote Africa’s filmmakers, writers, poets, musicians, and artists.
- In 2019, Isla was a member of the Advocacy Working Group for the completed Wikimedia Movement Strategy 2030. In 2020, she researched, wrote, and published an analytical report on the motivations, needs, expectations, and philosophical intentions of Creative Commons’ Global Network members. The report is compiled from the thoughts and experiences of 188 Creative Commoners members.
- Prior to working within the WikiAfrica movement, she was the Marketing and Communications Manager for the Africa Centre, raising the brand and national profile of event-based arts brands. Prior to that, she worked as a writer to accelerate and support the growth of Africa’s film industry both as a skilled destination and a burgeoning creative force.
- chantal
- .
- Evelin Heidel
- Program Director, Wikimedistas de Uruguay.