Paper short abstract:

This paper would intend to discuss the phenomenon of ICTs as social transfers (remittances) from migration flows and how it impacts the source communities and further drives new ICTs expansion in Kebemer, Senegal.

Paper long abstract:

Along with ICTs' rapid growth in Africa, we have come to identify a parallel phenomenon that may serve as a driver of such growth. Migrants, whether temporary or permanent, who keep in contact with their families from the source community, tend to have added technology transfers in their remittance flow tools. We have found that, in conjunction (or in an endogenous relationship) with ICTs' infrastructure expansion in rural areas of Senegal, families with migrant members tend to be at the forefront of this new connectivity, which is further amplified through cultural diffusion in the community, impacting families with no migrants.

As part of this discussion, we wish to explore the possible endogenous nature of this technology transfer in the local West African context. Does migration drive infrastructure expansion to adapt to the demand, or does infrastructure expansion allow for migrants to adapt and improve their mobility (or both)?

Does the family on the receiving end of the technology possess sufficient knowledge and expertise to comprehend how their network sees itself suddenly and drastically expanded, or are they unaware of its possibilities, implying questions of education, awareness and technological appropriation?

Finally, drawing further on the potential of network expansions, while the panel may focus on linking African communities, we would wish to push this further within a migration framework and discuss how it connects them to the world and its ideas.

We will mainly be drawing from a case study conducted in the winter of 2012 in Senegal.

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