Digital Storytelling as a Culturally Grounded Pedagogical Technology: An Afrocentric Framework for Early Childhood Education in South South Nigeria

This study develops an original Afrocentric framework for digital storytelling as a culturally grounded pedagogical technology in early childhood education in South South Nigeria. Existing digital storytelling pedagogical frameworks privilege Western narrative traditions and technological assumptions that misalign with the oral-cultural, communal, and indigenous knowledge transmission practices characteristic of South South Nigerian communities. This study employs a participatory design research methodology in three phases. Phase one involved community-based ethnographic inquiry across Ijaw, Edo, and Efik community learning environments in Bayelsa, Edo, and Cross River States, involving 30 community elder-educators and early childhood teachers. Phase two engaged a participatory design team of community members, teachers, and technology designers in co-creating culturally grounded digital storytelling resources and pedagogical protocols. Phase three piloted the framework in six early childhood classrooms over two terms, evaluating literacy development, cultural identity formation, and parental engagement outcomes. Narrative inquiry, critical ethnography, and cross-case thematic analysis were used throughout. Findings confirm that children's literacy and cultural identity outcomes were significantly enriched by culturally grounded digital storytelling. The Afrocentric framework repositions digital storytelling as a vehicle for intergenerational knowledge transfer and community epistemology preservation. An original theoretical and pedagogical contribution to the intersection of Afrocentric scholarship and early childhood educational technology is made. Keywords: digital storytelling, Afrocentric framework, early childhood education, South South Nigeria, participatory design