I stumbled on science and technology studies (STS) during my Masters programme (studying International Development Studies). My research topic shifted from an examination of female health workers’ experiences during Covid-19 to edtech in Africa. Don’t ask me how I made the switch! I had long been interested in various dimensions of science and technology. I grew up aspiring to become a NASA astronaut (again, don’t ask me how I became a social scientist), and was enthralled by Silicon Valley stories as the wave of swindler-founders rose in the 2010s. Finding STS felt like finding a place where my varying interests in this field – in social media, beauty politics, techno-politics and aid – could be coherently expressed. I am especially interested in techno-politics (how politics and technology interact to shape systems of governance and societal processes) as I watched technology transform the way we lived beginning 2020.

I found that the development industry rarely turns the lens on itself regarding the adoption and spread of technological solutions, despite the significant influence that tech founders have had on the field for the last few decades. Moreover, I think science and technology in Africa could be more critically theorized, at least from the lens of techno-politics and sociocultural impact. The narrative about technology in Africa is often optimistic, but whose ideas shape that optimism and how has that come to be? This one question influenced my foray into educational technology on the continent, and also encouraged me to explore the literature on STS in Africa. This is easily one of my favourite subject areas to discuss, and I am excited to share this reading list!

Books

• What Do Science, Technology, and Innovation Mean from Africa? (Clapperton Chakanetsa Mavhunga)If you read nothing at all from this list, read this and Mavhunga’s work. Arguably one of the leading theorists of STS in Africa, Mavhunga’s collection redefines what technology means for Africans, with emphasis on indigenous forms of knowledge that have long been left out of theorization.

• Atomic Junction: Nuclear Power in Africa after Independence (Abena Dove Osseo-Asare)On my to-read list, after I read about British involvement in Ghana’s nuclear program after Nkrumah was deposed. Osseo-Asare discusses the Los Alamos-esque endeavour undertaken at Atomic Junction by bright-eyed, Soviet-trained Ghanaian scientists, and tensions over placemaking with residents of the settlement. An excerpt is available on the linked website.

• Ghana On the Go: African Mobility in the Age of Motor Transportation (Jennifer Hart)I found this book while looking for analyses of trotro and lorries in Ghana, for a review of Kukurantumi – Road to Accra. There’s surprisingly very little in the literature that seriously examines the iconography of these forms of transit in Ghana’s political history. This book traces the history of commercial transportation in Ghana, specifically focusing on how trotro drivers navigated (post-)colonial realities to carve out distinct social and economic identities undergirded by local interpretations of modernity. I loved the use of primary sources in this book.

• Africa as a Living Laboratory: Empire, Development, and the Problem of Scientific Knowledge, 1870-1950 (Helen Tilley)This book is a tremendous resource if you want to understand how various colonial actors (state, philanthropic and academic) shaped the development of scientific knowledge in Africa. It also looks at how Africans, as knowledge creators, influenced these external efforts to ‘govern’ Africa better through scientific inquiry. This is a very well-researched book packed with case studies and source material.

Articles and grey literature

• What do we really know about Bridge International Academies? (Curtis Riep). While Bridge Academies has been in the news recently because of an internal World Bank investigation about sexual abuse cover-ups at the organization’s schools, there have long been concerns about the Bridge model offered to students in Kenya, Liberia, Uganda and Nigeria. Backed by Silicon Valley investors, Bridge sought to solve poor education outcomes in Africa by automating lessons in low-cost private schools. Dr. Curtis Riep was infamously arrested in Uganda while conducting research on Bridge operations in the country, raising concerns about a company that has increasingly resorted to sheer repression when challenged about the effectiveness of its strategy. This article details Bridge’s work in Liberia, Uganda, Kenya and Nigeria, highlighting critical issues around an Uber-like approach to expansion and education.

• Profits and bleeding hearts (Maria Hengeveld). I first learned about Bridge from this article. It is from 2016 but succinctly addresses the influence of tech founders on global education.

• The technopolitics of infrastructure breakdowns: A historical overview of dumsor (Claudia Serwah Prempeh). This is one of my favourite finds! Electricity has an interesting relationship with governance in Ghana, and this article highlights the modern iteration of this relationship through dumsor and electoral power.

• Networks of (colonial) power: roads in French Central Africa after World War I (Libbie Freed). One of the most intriguing lines of inquiry in STS is the relationship between colonial influence on technological change in Africa and spatial development. This article looks at how roads in central Africa came to define ways of knowing and contesting colonial power.

Concluding notes

I will publish a Part 2 to this list. Let me know what you enjoyed most on this list!