On the African origins of the notion of « cyber »

The term « cyber » derives from the Greek kubernêtikê, the art of governing, of steering. Its genealogy is that of piloting and control, long before the computer.

Re-inscribing « cyber » in the long history of knowledge, including African knowledge, recalls that the thought of government and regulation has no geographic monopoly.

This conceptual archaeology nourishes an unapologetic African appropriation of a vocabulary too often perceived as imported.