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SUMMARY:Beyond revolutions: the use of ICTs for political mobilization and
  participation in Sub-Saharan Africa - Speaker to be confirmed
DTSTART:20111111T090000Z
DTEND:20111111T170000Z
UID:TALK31776@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:23868
DESCRIPTION:*Conference Summary*\n\nAfter witnessing the critical role new
  Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) played in supporting po
 litical change in Northern Africa at the beginning of 2011\, expectations 
 have grown that in Sub-Saharan Africa authoritarian or semi-authoritarian 
 regimes may also be challenged by emerging uses of ICTs for political chan
 ge. However\, there have been little signs that long-standing leaders in c
 ountries like Zimbabwe\, Ethiopia\, or Uganda may be ousted from power by 
 a popular uprising supported by and coordinated through the use of new tec
 hnologies. What are the reasons for this apparent absence of impact? How m
 uch of the lack of technologically mediated mobilizations for greater righ
 ts and political freedoms depends simply on the limited diffusion of ICTs 
 such as the Internet? How much depends instead on the particular nature of
  politics on the African continent (where the most significant protests to
  date have been channelled by partisan and divisive politics rather than b
 eing the expression of an empowered civil society)? And\, in the absence o
 f revolutionary outcomes\, are ICTs affecting and possibly transforming th
 e nature of political mobilization and participation in more subtle ways?\
 n\nThe workshop will address these questions by providing a platform for s
 cholars studying the role of ICTs in political transformations to engage w
 ith the arguments put forward by researchers investigating governance proc
 esses in Africa. It will focus not only on the newest technologies\, but e
 xplore the unique ways in which new and old means of communication are bei
 ng and could be combined in Sub-Saharan Africa to enable citizens to expre
 ss voice and affect political processes. Participants will examine\, for e
 xample\, whether and how the increasing availability of mobile phones is p
 romoting innovative ways of influencing government policies and of claimin
 g rights\, but also how these innovations fit in longer term patterns of u
 se of communication to affect governance. The overarching aim is to explor
 e whether\, as has been the case for applications such as mobile banking\,
  the most significant uses of ICTs for participatory politics in Africa ma
 y emerge from a unique combination of global influences and local needs\, 
 rather than from the application of tools and uses that have been proved s
 uccessful in external contexts. This inter-disciplinary workshop complemen
 ts the Cambridge Centre of Governance and Human Rights (CGHR)’s current 
 research project on how innovations in ICTs can transform governance proce
 sses in Africa.\n\n*Panel 1: ICTs and political change in Africa. How to b
 ridge the communication and governance divide?*\n\nChair: Sharath Srinivas
 an (CGHR\, University of Cambridge)\n\nRichard Crook (Institute of Develop
 ment Studies\, University of Sussex)\n\n_Rethinking governance for develop
 ment in Africa: building on what works_\n\nWinston Mano (University of Wes
 tminster)\n\n_Not Yet Uhuru: The growing Janus Face of New Media and ICTs 
 in Africa_\n\n\n\n\n*Panel 2: Mobile phones and citizens’ voices in the 
 African airwaves. How is interactive radio affecting governance in Africa?
 * \n\nChair: Harri Englund (University of Cambridge)\n\nIginio Gagliardone
  (CGHR\, University of Cambridge)\n\n_Voice\, texts and claims. Understand
 ing new forms of interactions among citizens\, radio journalists and gover
 nance actors in Kenya_ \n\nAlastair Fraser (CGHR\, University of Cambridge
 )\n\n_Interactive radio at Breeze FM\, Chipata\, Zambia: transforming or r
 einforcing authoritarian culture?_ \n\nFlorence Brisset-Foucault (CGHR\, U
 niversity of Cambridge)\n\n_How ICTs and talk radio influence the debates 
 on citizenship and the modalities of political participation in Uganda: pr
 eliminary reflections_\n\n\n\n*Panel 3: ICTs and electoral politics in Afr
 ica*\n\nChair: Anne Alexander (CRASSH\, University of Cambridge)\n\nTeke N
 gomba (University of Aarhus)\n\n_‘Politics here is man-to-man’: Unders
 tanding political parties’ tepid embrace of ICTs in Cameroon_\n\nGianluc
 a Iazzolino (University of Edinburgh) \n_Texting in troubled times.  Civil
  society using mobile telephony during 2007-8 political violence in Kibera
 \, Kenya_\n\n\n\n*Panel 4: Investigating ICTs and political change: Tools 
 and methods*\n\nChair: Daniel Hammett (University of Sheffield)\n\nAlem Ha
 ilu and Helen Bond (Howard University) \n\n_Social media and political cha
 nge in Africa_\n\nNicole Stremlau (University of Oxford) and Emrys Schoema
 ker (LSE) \n\n_Diagnosing communication ecologies_\n
LOCATION:CRASSH\, 17 Mill Lane\, Cambridge CB2 1RX
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