Digital Disruption, Colonial Hangover, and Law in Africa

Law and Africa Initiative Lecture Series 2025

In the digital era, many African countries sit at a crossroads of potential futures shaped by digital-era technologies in contexts of existing laws and institutions constructed under conditions of colonial and postcolonial authoritarian rule. Patterns of domination established during colonialism continue to play an important role globally as well as within many former colonies, including those in Africa. External actors that play a role in such relationships include governments, international organizations, NGOs, and digital economy companies.

This lecture will discuss how legal frameworks and patterns of relationships established during colonialism continue to shape the spread of AI and other digital era technologies in African contexts. It will discuss ways that true decolonization of law will require institutional and other changes that continue to be elusive in many African contexts. With a focus on Nigeria, this lecture will draw attention to three key aspects of the intersection of law and digital technologies in African contexts today: 1) Digital technologies, law, and colonial hangover; 2) Disruption, crisis, and trust; and 3) Digital technologies, law, and development.

Professor Olufunmilayo B. Arewa of Antonin Scalia Law School at George Mason University (Arlington, VA, USA) will deliver an online lecture on the topic ‘Digital Disruption, Colonial Hangover, and Law in Africa.’ Professor Arewa’s major areas of scholarly research include Business Law, the Creative Industries, Copyright, Accounting, Law & Technology, Law & Culture, Private Equity, Entrepreneurship, and Africana studies.

Prior to becoming a law professor, Professor Arewa practiced law for nearly a decade, working in legal and business positions primarily in the entrepreneurial and technology startup arena, including law firms and companies in the Silicon Valley and New York. She also served as Chief Financial Officer and General Counsel of a venture capital firm in Boston. Before becoming a lawyer, she was a Visiting Lecturer at the Center for Afroamerican and African Studies (CAAS) at the University of Michigan and served as a Foreign Service Officer in the U.S. Department of State in Washington, D.C. and Montevideo, Uruguay.

In 2019, she was a Fellow at the Käte Hamburger Center for Advanced Study in the Humanities at Universität Bonn for the research project “Disruptive Technologies, Digital Colonialism, and the Construction of Commercial Law in Africa.” In 2015, she received a German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) Faculty Visit Research Grant at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin for a research project entitled ”Cultural, Legal, and Business Considerations in the Diffusion of Jazz in Germany.”

She received an MA and PhD (Anthropology) from the University of California, Berkeley, an A.M. (Applied Economics) from the University of Michigan, a JD from Harvard Law School, and an AB from Harvard College. In addition to writing about music, Professor Arewa has studied classical voice.

She has published extensively in her fields of expertise.