Challenging Dominant Narratives: Alexandra Cenatus, James Yékú, and Kristen Mapes

Overview

These three presentations will examine how digital humanities can both challenge dominant narratives and create space for marginalized voices. Together, the talks invite attendees to consider how DH projects navigate questions of migration, community, representation, and power, while also addressing with the challenges scholars face in access, infrastructure, and knowledge production. By engaging with these case studies, attendees will gain insight into how digital humanities can serve as a tool for constructing counter-narratives, fostering ethical collaboration, and reimagining the cultural record across borders.

The Haitian American Dream Timeline: Constructing Counter-Narratives Through Digital Humanities

Presented by Alexandra Cenatus, Ph.D. Student and Humanities Program Director, University of Maryland, Baltimore County

October 23, 2025

This presentation discusses the Haitian American Dream Timeline, a collaborative digital humanities project that examines the complex history of Haitian immigrants in the United States. Drawing from Michel-Rolph Trouillot’s (2015) perspectives for documenting both historical actors and sites of historical production, this project traces the causes behind various periods of Haitian migration. This project employs scavenging approaches to construct counter-narratives that center Haitian voices and experiences while providing historical and political contexts that drive migration patterns from Haiti to the United States.

The presentation will also address the barriers that Haitian scholars face when attempting to access archives and conduct research, examining how their positionalities and perspectives shape the narratives they produce about Haiti and its diaspora. Through this analysis, it will demonstrate how digital humanities can serve as a tool for amplifying marginalized voices and creating more nuanced narratives, disrupting archival practices. By sharing both the successes and obstacles encountered in this project, it offers strategies for other scholars working on producing counter-narratives in their digital humanities work.

https://utsa.zoom.us/meeting/register/RYhrrlstQuOsM5eW59oSlQ

Crossing Digital Borders: DH in Africa, Africa in DH

Presented by Dr. James Yékú, Associate Professor of African DH and Co-Creator of African DH Symposium, University of Kansas, Lawrence Kansas

October 30, 2025

In this talk, I argue that African digital humanities (DH) is fundamentally a border-crossing intervention, with its transnational ontology shaped by the conscious platformization of African voices and projects within digital humanities. Drawing on African DH initiatives at the University of Kansas, I will highlight the importance of postcolonial and African theoretical approaches to the digital cultural record, discuss the politics of digital representation and knowledge production in DH, and address recent concerns about African data and AI models. My goal is to explore how community plays a foundational role in shaping African DH and to argue that ethical collaborations provide a more resilient framework for DH work, effectively “trumping” the common constraints of funding and infrastructure.

https://utsa.zoom.us/meeting/register/dfSsPYtHRauL4sArcWuBhA

What is Global Digital Humanities? Reflecting on Opportunities and Challenges

Presented by Kristen Mapes, Interim Director of Global Digital Humanities, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan

November 7, 2025

https://utsa.zoom.us/meeting/register/SwwUJU2nTa6vhAdc1N7R7Q

Details coming soon.

Alexandra Cenatus

Alexandra Cenatus is a Ph.D. student at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County and also serves as the Director of Programs at Maryland Humanities, where she works to make the humanities accessible and engaging for diverse audiences. Her doctoral research investigates the intersection of Haiti’s evolving social landscape and its influence on Haitian foodways. Through her role at Maryland Humanities, Cenatus develops and evaluates inclusive programming and promotes language accessibility via workshops, panel discussions, and exhibitions. She co-authored the Haitian American Dream Timeline in 2021 alongside collaborators Margarita Vargas-Betancourt and Ivanna Moreno, a digital humanities initiative that chronicles the historical trajectory of Haitian immigration to the United States. Cenatus actively contributes her research and programming expertise to community initiatives through her service on the Maryland 250 Commission and her board positions with the Haitian Studies Association (HSA), WeaveTales, and the Washington State Coalition for Language Access (WASCLA).

James Yékú

James Yékú, a recipient of the Alexander von Humboldt fellowship, is an associate professor of African digital humanities at the University of Kansas. He is the author of two monographs—Cultural Netizenship: Social Media, Popular Culture, and Performance in Nigeria, and The Algorithmic Age of Personality: African Literature and Cancel Culture—and two poetry volumes, as well as a collection of nonfiction essays. Yékú spearheads African DH programming at the University of Kansas and also co-organizes the annual African DH symposium.

Kristen Mapes

Kristen Mapes is the Interim Director of Digital Humanities at Michigan State University where she bring together DH scholars and students from across units, create pathways to doing DH, and amplify digital work to range of publics. She regularly teaches the introductory Digital Humanities graduate and undergraduate courses and leads the digital humanities study abroad program, Digital Culture in London and Scotland. Kristen co-Chairs the Global Digital Humanities Symposium and is Chair of the Executive Board of the Association of Digital Humanities Associations (ADHO). Her work can be found in, for example, the Social Justice in the Digital Humanities #dariahTeach course, Reviews in Digital Humanities, and the Routledge Handbook of Digital Humanities Methods. She holds graduate degrees in Library and Information Science from Rutgers University and Medieval Studies from Fordham University.