From Colonialism to AI: The Politics of Science, Technology, and Development in Africa

This seminar investigates the pervasive and often in conflicts narratives surrounding science, technology, and development in Africa. On one hand, a continent always playing "catch up" and space of "underdevelopment," on the other hand, Africa is a place of miraculous stories of human ingenuity and entrepreneurship against all odds. This seminar seeks to unravel these stories and take a critical look at the ways histories and contemporary inequities shape and drive both discussions of, and practices, of technology and development. With our eye on the present moment, we will visit twentieth-century dams in Ghana, colonial movie theaters in Northern Nigeria, missionary birthing centers in the DRC, mobile money stands in 2010s Nairobi, garbage dumps in contemporary Kampala, and a stalled AI data center on Kenya's geothermal fields. Through our journey, we will work to understand how colonialism, foreign intervention, the politics of religion and ethnicity, the natural environment, and the work of ordinary people have come to shape the landscape of technology in Africa. The class is built around your individual investigation of a startup, infrastructure project, or development intervention of the past or the present.