Digital Tools, Development and the Marginalized

Auteur
Janet Kwami is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Communication Studies at Furman University, USA. Jenna Burrell is Associate Professor at the School of Information, University of California, Berkeley, USA.

Résumé

Digital technologies, and in particular mobile phones, have spread widely over the past several decades, reaching populations marginalized from the global economy and other structures of power.

Digital Tools, Development and the Marginalized offers an analysis of how groups in several countries in Africa and in rural China self-organize with digital technologies through different forms of association: including small-scale trade, firm-based enterprise, and kin-based social networks. The book presents case studies capturing the diversity of this emergent phenomenon. The topics covered by these case studies include; Ghana's "market women" and their trade activities, Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) firms and their workers in Kenya's IT industry, household money management and migrant women working in the service sector in Beijing, China as agents of change transferring tools and technical knowledge to their rural home areas.

This book is a valuable resource for academics, researchers and students in the areas of sociology, development studies, science and technology studies, international studies, African studies, gender studies, communication studies and global media studies.

Contenu

Foreword 1. Sensitizing Concepts: Marginality, Digital Tools and Development Jenna Burrell and Janet D. Kwami 2. Marginality, Mobilities and Social Networks: Practices and Livelihood Strategies among Ghanaian Women Traders Janet D. Kwami 3. Managing the Soundscape of the Market: The Curious Case of the Market Preacher Jenna Burrell 4. Nairobi's BPO Sector: Between Developmental State and Social Enterprise Bob Bell 5. Informal Loans, Social Networks and ICT in Uganda Ishita Ghosh 6. Entrepreneurship and ICT in the Chinese Grey Economy Elisa Oreglia 7. Making Comparisons: Gendered Engagement and Digital Tools Janet Kwami and Jenna Burrell