Digital Humanities and Classical Studies in Nigeria: Building Professional Capacity for Text Digitisation and Analysis

Digital humanities methodologies, including text encoding, corpus linguistics, and computational analysis of ancient texts, are transforming classical scholarship globally and creating new professional competencies that Nigerian Classical Studies practitioners need to develop urgently. This study assesses the current state of digital humanities capacity in Nigerian Classical Studies departments and proposes a professional capacity-building programme. A professional needs assessment methodology was adopted, surveying 40 Classical Studies academics and postgraduate students at Nigerian universities on their digital humanities awareness, tool usage, and training needs. Consultations with five international digital classicists and four Nigerian university IT infrastructure officers supplemented survey data. Review of global digital humanities training programmes identified models adaptable to the Nigerian context. Findings reveal that awareness of digital humanities tools is low among Nigerian classical scholars, with only 22 percent reporting any familiarity with text encoding (TEI-XML) and 18 percent with corpus analysis software. Hardware infrastructure at most Nigerian universities is inadequate for computational classical work. Interest in training is high, with 85 percent of respondents expressing strong interest in digital tools training. The study proposes a modular Digital Classical Studies Capacity Building Programme delivered through a combination of online training modules, annual residential workshops at University of Nigeria Nsukka, and collaborative digitisation projects linking Nigerian and international classical institutions. National programme adoption is recommended through the Tertiary Education Trust Fund.

Keywords: digital humanities, Classical Studies, text digitisation, professional capacity, Nigeria