The technopolitics of communication technologies in Africa

Abstract

Research on Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in Africa has often explored their relationships with politics-be it for their ability to affect participation, offer new tools for representation and accountability, or innovate reporting on politically relevant events. There is, however, another, deeper sense in which new media and politics interact, which depends on the ability of technologies-including ICTs-to incorporate ideas and ideologies and subtly act in the pursuit of specific political objectives. This chapter focuses on this form of technopolitics and offers an empirically grounded framework to study how political projects become embedded into artefacts, and to comparatively analyse whether and how the visions of national and international actors shape and are shaped by technological possibilities and constraints.