Transforming Africa

By Mirjam de Bruijn

Mirjam de Bruijn is a Professor in 'Contemporary History and Anthropology of Africa' at Leiden University and the African Studies Centre (ASC) in Leiden, The Netherands. She has managed several research programs, including 'Mobile Africa Revisited' (2008-2013), and is now heading the research programme 'Connecting in Times of Duress' (2012- 2017).

If we begin with the idea that African societies themselves are mobile, it is not a real surprise that mobile communications technologies have been easily adopted. The question is not if Africans can afford a telephone, but why everyone does not have one. Communication is of crucial importance in societies whose livelihoods depend on the exploitation of various niches and spaces. Mobile telephony was introduced in Africa at the end of the last century following the liberalization of the telecommunications market.  Its reach gradually spread from urban to rural areas and is now reaching the most remote areas.

One of my areas of focus has been the “revolutionary” decade of the entrance of mobile telephony into the more isolated regions of Cameroon, Chad, and Mali.  Through our research, which is qualitative-based and deeply ethnographic, we followed people and society in their appropriation of the then-new technology over a period of ten years (2001-2011). The dynamics we observed reveal a story of changing power hierarchies and increasing geographic mobility that reshape the socioeconomic fabric in Sub-Saharan Africa.

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