Overview

Since the so-called Arab Spring, citizens of African countries have continued to use digital tools in creative ways to ensure that marginalised voices are heard, and to demand for the rights they are entitled to in law: to freely associate, to form opinions, and to express them online without fear of violence or arrest. The authors of this compelling open access volume have brought to life this dramatic struggle for the digital realm between citizens and governments; documenting in vivid detail how citizens are using mobile and internet tools in powerful viral global campaigns to hold governments accountable and force policy change. With contributions from scholars across the continent, Digital Citizenship in Africa illustrates how citizens have been using VPNs, encryption, and privacy-protecting browsers to resist limits on their rights to privacy and political speech. This book dramatically expands our understanding of the vast and growing arsenal of tech tools, tactics, and techniques now being deployed by repressive governments to limit the ability of citizens to safely and openly express opposition to government and corporate actions. AI-enabled surveillance, covertly deployed disinformation, and internet shutdowns are documented in ten countries, concluding with recommendations on how to curb government and corporate power, and how to re-invigorate digital citizenship across Africa. The ebook editions of this book are available open access under a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 licence on bloomsburycollections.com.

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9781350324466

Table of Contents

Reviews

This is an outstanding collection of rigorous investigations on how African citizens are negotiating digital technologies. Eschewing epistemic colonialism, the authors develop concepts grounded in the experiences and languages of African citizens in their everyday struggles for rights and justice. The collection brings an inspired perspective on activist citizenship performed with digital technologies. * Engin Isin, Professor emeritus, Queen Mary University of London, UK *

This is an outstanding collection of rigorous investigations on how African citizens are negotiating digital technologies. Eschewing epistemic colonialism, the authors develop concepts grounded in the experiences and languages of African citizens in their everyday struggles for rights and justice. The collection brings an inspired perspective on activist citizenship performed with digital technologies. * Engin Isin, Professor emeritus, Queen Mary University of London, UK * Timely… An interesting and thought provoking read… the first in a series of useful books * Irish Tech News *

Author Information

Tony Roberts is a Digital Research Fellow at the Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex, UK. His research focuses on digital rights, digital inequalities and participatory methodologies. He has worked at the intersection of digital technologies, development and social justice since 1988. Dr. Roberts is the principal investigator of the GCRF African Digital Rights Network and editor of the collected edition Digital Rights in Closing Civic Space: Lessons from Ten African Countries. Tanja Bosch is Associate Professor of Media Studies and Production in the Centre for Film and Media Studies at the University of Cape Town, South Africa, where she also holds the position of Deputy Dean of Research and Postgraduate Affairs. She teaches journalism and multimedia production, social media, radio studies and research methods at undergraduate and postgraduate level. Dr. Bosch has published widely in the field of radio studies in South Africa; and is currently emerging as one of a few African academics publishing in the area of social media activism, with her work on #RhodesMustFall and #FeesMustFall and other hashtagged campaigns.

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