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Short abstract:

In this paper I argue that to fully understand how digital technologies function, we should move away from elite contexts, and look at how they function in majority worlds. I argue that it is exactly in such contexts, that we will see how we can move towards more just tech, for all.

Long abstract:

In this paper, I rethink residents of Kibera, a low-income neighborhood in Nairobi, and often referred to as ‘Africa’s largest slum’ as active agents towards a more sustainable development and uptake of new digital technologies. Based on nineteen months of fieldwork in Nairobi, and more specifically in Kibera’s tech environments, I show how Kibera has become fully digital, yet, its inhabitants are often still considered passive users, and as marginal or peripheral (‘Other’) to the tech ecosystem. Nairobi is considered one of Africa’s leading tech ecosystems, and as such an example for innovation and digital ICT development. Yet, at the same time, it is estimated that sixty percent of Nairobi inhabitants reside in low-income areas. In many tech ecosystems, these people are considered ‘in need’, and technology is seen as a way to ‘disrupt’ their predicaments for the better. To counter this narrative, I argue that low-income area residents are not the ‘Other’ at all, but instead the majority. In such a way, understanding how digital developments play out in ‘majority worlds’ is crucial to understand how technology is taken up and appropriated away from elite contexts. Building on the example of how young people employ ‘YouTube University’ as an imagined alternative for formal education, I make the case that ultimately, all technology is situated, and as such, leaving out majority world residents and their agentive uptake would be a crucial mistake if we want to move towards more just technologies.