[Air-L] Fwd: New Book: Mapping the Digital Divide in Africa. A Mediated Analysis

Wed May 15 07:10:39 PDT 2019

Apologies for cross posting

*Out now*

Bruce Mustvairo and Massimo Ragnedda, *Mapping the Digital Divide in
Africa. A Mediated Analysis. *Amsterdam University Press
https://www.aup.nl/en/book/9789462986855/mapping-the-digital-divide-in-africa

*Description*

Despite issues associated with the digital divide, mobile telephony is
growing on the continent and the rise of smartphones has given citizens
easy access to social networking sites. But the digital divide, which
mostly reflects on one's race, gender, socioeconomic status or geographical
location, stands in the way of digital progress.

What opportunities are available to tame digital disparities? How are
different societies in Africa handling digital problems? What innovative
methods are being used to provide citizens with access to critical
information that can help improve their lives? Experiences from various
locations in several sub-Saharan African countries have been carefully
selected in this collection with the aim of providing an updated account on
the digital divide and its impact in Africa.

*Reviews*

"For many years ‘the digital divide’ has been a catchphrase, often with
little analytical content. This book provides studies of how the concept
can be understood within an African context. The different contributions
address problems related to digital opportunities as well as inhibitions to
growth; thus, it has implications for how to comprehend technological,
political, economic, social, and cultural development in a wider world. Of
particular importance is that the book provides a theoretical understanding
as well as an account of the impact of different technologies such as
mobile phones." - *Helge Rønning, Professor*, Department of Media and
Communications, University of Oslo, Norway

"You need to take a different perspective of both the digital divide and
Africa to understand the complexity of social and digital inequality in
Africa. The digital divide is different in every part of the world. Reading
this book you will grasp the complexity of the social, cultural and
political affairs of Africa that are reinforcing the digital divide.
Surprisingly, while mobile telephony is booming here, ICTs are in fact only
reinforcing existing social inequality." - *Jan A.G.M. van Dijk, Professor*,
Department of Communication, University of Twente, the Netherlands

"This is a timely and much-needed collection that fills an important gap in
the literature. It offers excellent conceptual tools and a selection of
case studies that provide a useful map of the digital divide across the
African continent and between Africa and the rest of the world. I
especially appreciate the editors’ efforts to address African issues on
their own terms and to problematize interpretive paradigms from the global
north. It is a book that many will look forward to reading. I will
recommend it to my students." - *Pier Paolo Frassinelli, Professor,* School
of Communication, University of Johannesburg, South Africa

______________

*Massimo Ragnedda* <http://northumbria.academia.edu/MassimoRagnedda>

Senior Lecturer in Mass Communication

Squires Building 306f, Northumbria University, NE8 1ST  Newcastle (UK)

Tel: 01912437444

Visiting Professor at the Faculty of Journalism, Lomonosov Moscow State
University <http://www.journ.msu.ru/eng/news/27610/>

Most recent books:

Bruce Mutsvairo and Massimo Ragnedda eds (2019) Mapping the Digital Divide
in Africa. A Mediated Analysis.
<https://www.aup.nl/en/book/9789462986855/mapping-the-digital-divide-in-africa>
Amsterdam University Press

Massimo Ragnedda and Bruce Mutsvairo, eds (2018) *Digital Inclusion. An
International Comparative Analysis
<https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781498562126/Digital-Inclusion-An-International-Comparative-Analysis>*,
Lexington Books.

Massimo Ragnedda and Glenn Muschert, eds (2018) *Theorizing Digital Divide*
<http://bit.ly/2y9WSLm>, Routledge

Massimo Ragnedda (2017) *The Third Digital Divide: A Weberian approach to
digital inequalities* <http://bit.ly/2f8FObg>, Routledge.