Experimental Rural Development in the Global South

Piloting Digital Technologies for Agriculture in Tanzania
Erscheinungsjahr 2027
ISBN: 978-1-84701-436-8
Verlag: James Currey

Buch, Englisch, Band 10, 352 Seiten, Print PDF, Format (B × H): 156 mm x 234 mm

Reihe: Future Rural Africa

Are digital technologies really a silver bullet for development in the Global South?

Digital technologies are supposed to solve the challenges of climate change, projected population growth, land conflicts and food insecurity, especially in rural areas. Yet NGOs, government institutions, and private companies are increasingly adopting a trial-and-error approach as they recognize the limitations of transferring Western science and technologies to the global South.

This book presents the ambivalent practices and implications of digital pilot projects which aim to 'develop' both farming communities and locally adapted innovations in East Africa. Inspired by laboratory ethnographies in Science and Technology Studies, it explores the practices of testing and developing digital technologies in rural Tanzania. The multi-sited ethnography, which takes in agricultural fairs, conferences, documents, online courses, tech hubs, project offices, villages and fields, centres on three case studies, namely DAST (a digital land-formalisation tool), STAS (an AI system for agricultural productivity) and iPlus (an e-extension tool). Rather than viewing these technologies simply as welcome tools to promote connectivity, empowerment and increased production - as commonly advanced in development policy - this book foregrounds the (un)intended consequences of the planning, set-up, maintenance and results of digital pilot projects. Against the backdrop of conflicting logics between testing technologies and developing Tanzanian agriculture through them, this book considers their (un)predictable impacts on new actors, the character of development and the trial communities in rural Tanzania.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Matejcek, Astrid

Fachgebiete

• Geowissenschaften Geologie GIS, Geoinformatik
• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Spezielle Soziologie Agrarsoziologie
• Interdisziplinäres Wissenschaften Wissenschaften Interdisziplinär Futurologie (Interdisziplinär)
• Naturwissenschaften Agrarwissenschaften Agrarwissenschaften
• Interdisziplinäres Wissenschaften Wissenschaften Interdisziplinär Ökotrophologie (Ernährungs- und Haushaltswissenschaften)
• Interdisziplinäres Wissenschaften Wissenschaft und Gesellschaft | Kulturwissenschaften Kulturwissenschaften: Ernährung & Gesellschaft
• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Spezielle Soziologie Sachkultur, Materielle Kultur
• Interdisziplinäres Wissenschaften Wissenschaften Interdisziplinär Entwicklungsstudien
• Wirtschaftswissenschaften Volkswirtschaftslehre Internationale Wirtschaft Entwicklungsökonomie & Emerging Markets
• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Soziale Gruppen/Soziale Themen Sozialprognosen

Inhaltsverzeichnis

1. Leapfrogging: Revolution in "Development", or Evolution of the Technological Fix?
2. The Living Laboratory: Technology, Science and Development in East African Agricultural Settings
3. The Idea of Digital Pilot Studies - Planning Disruptive Innovation for Agricultural "Development"
4. Planning Smart, Working Hard: The Labour of Setting up Digital Infrastructure
5. The Actual Things and their Digital Doubles: On the Trace of Power in Actor Networks, Data Flows and Modes of Knowing
6. The Use(-lessness) of Test Results: Technological Pilot Projects in Rural Tanzania Between Success and Failure

7. The Digital Pilot Project as an Allegory of Postmodern Technoscience

References
Index

Über Autor(innen)

Matejcek, Astrid
ASTRID MATEJCEK is a lecturer and research assistant in the Cultural Geography research group at the Institute of Geography at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Germany.