‘Restricted’ digital/media repertoires in rural Kenya: a constructive critique

Abstract

The ambition of this article is twofold and consists of an attempt to outline a problematic bias of research attention and interpretation, discernible in the field of studies that address the appropriation and usage of new media and networked communication technologies, as unfolding in Africa. Thus, I voice my concerns in respect to scholarly attempts, quantitative and qualitative in nature, to define those who are 'left behind' at the 'bottom of the digital/media pyramid', in narrow deterministic terms. Based on qualitative interviews from field work in Uasin Gishu County, Kenya I suggest a methodological-analytical approach to overcome this blind spot of attention and understanding, by show-casing a different strategy of data generation and interpretative reading. The article draws attention on the media practices and routines that are contextually embedded in the lifeworld concerns and pragmatic decisions of individuals located at the 'excluded' end of the continuum of communication ecologies in Kenya. My in-depth presentation and discussion of two protagonists from rural Ziwa ward, seeks to challenge commonplace characterisations of the causes and consequences of restricted digital/media repertoires. This includes a rejection of techno-centric, normative claims that define digital inclusion in narrow terms and the excluded as human impediments to democratic transition and development. Instead, I put forward a situated understanding of digital/media repertoires that while realised under constrained conditions, nonetheless allow people to address their lifeworld concerns. Concerns, here understood "as activities that matter to people" (Helle-Valle, 2019, 147), in consequence affecting digital/media practices and vice versa.

Critical perspectives on the support of inclusive agricultural innovation in Kenya

“…Uasin Gishu is a region in Western Kenya often referred to as the 'bread basket' of country due to the high food production in the region compared to the rest of the country (County Government of Uasin Gishu, 2013; Clare, Simiyu and Elizabeth, 2019;Wildermuth, 2021). The major crops cultivated in the region have traditionally been wheat, maize, beans, sorghum, millet, and vegetables while new crops such as passion fruit, avocado and coffee have been recently introduced in the region.…”