[Air-L] CFP for AAG 2015: Digital Connectivity, Inclusion, and Inequality at the World’s Economic Margins

[Mark Graham]

*Digital Connectivity, Inclusion, and Inequality at the World’s Economic
Margins*

AAG Annual Meeting <http://www.aag.org/cs/annualmeeting/call_for_papers>,
Chicago, April 21-25, 2015



*Organisers: *

*Mark Graham <http://www.oii.ox.ac.uk/people/?id=165> and Chris Foster
<http://www.oii.ox.ac.uk/people/?id=356>, University of Oxford*



We are in the throes of a global transformation of digital connectivity.
Over six billion people have access to phones and two and a half billion
people use the internet. Meanwhile, governments, international
organisations, and corporations are developing plans, projects, and
policies to connect the remaining disconnected. Fibre-optic cables, laptops
for every child, and drones, balloons, and satellites all beaming down
internet access are just some of the strategies being actively planned to
bring connectivity to the rest of the world in the coming years.



As we approach a situation in which almost half of humanity is online, we
need to explore the difference people expect connectivity to make at the
world’s economic peripheries. Will connectivity amplify or deepen economic
inequalities? Should we expect empowerment, inclusion, and opportunities;
or further exploitation and extraversion?



This session brings together papers that seek to explore the differences
that connectivity makes, and can make, in the contemporary international
division of labour and on-going global shifts in economic flows. It will
critically explore ‘Bottom of the Pyramid’ networked capitalism, and the
opportunities, struggles, and alternatives that it underpins. It will also
facilitate a space for research that addresses the central question of ‘who
benefits and who doesn’t from the increasing networking of the world’s
population?’



*Potential topics include:*



   - Discourses around connectivity, inclusion, and exclusion in the Global
   South
   - ICT and development policies and who they ultimately benefit.
   - Changes to global value chains or production networks
   - Opportunities for upgrading or disintermediation
   - Empirical or theoretical engagements with the idea of ‘connectivity’
   and the roles that it can play amongst the world’s poorest
   - Contemporary or historical treatments of the links between
   connectivity and inequality
   - Alternative ways of imagining or envisioning connectivity at the
   world’s economic peripheries
   - Case studies of global ‘body shopping’, digital work, or bottom of the
   pyramid capitalism
   - Policies and initiatives for digital connectivity which support
   inclusion and reduced inequality



*Submission Procedure:*



To be considered for the session, please send your abstract of 250 words or
fewer, to: mark.graham at oii.ox.ac.uk and christopher.foster at oii.ox.ac.uk


The deadline for receipt of abstracts is October 1 2014. Notification of
acceptance will be before October 7. All accepted papers will then need to
register for the AAG conference at aag.org. Accepted papers will be
considered for a special issue or edited volume edited by the organisers.


------------------------------------------
Dr Mark Graham

Associate Professor and Senior Research Fellow
Oxford Internet Institute
University of Oxford

Research Fellow
Green Templeton College
University of Oxford

Visiting Research Associate
School of Geography and the Environment
University of Oxford

oii.ox.ac.uk/people/graham <http://www.oii.ox.ac.uk/people/graham> |
geospace.co.uk <http://www.geospace.co.uk> | Information Geographies
<http://geography.oii.ox.ac.uk> | wikichains.org <http://www.wikichains.org>
 | @geoplace <http://twitter.com/geoplace> | zerogeography blog
<http://www.zerogeography.net/>
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