The ‘Glocalization’ of Mobile Telephony in West and Central Africa

This book examines the ‘glocalization’ – the adaptation of a
global telecommunication technology to local particularities – in West
and Central Africa. Through case studies in Cameroon and Guinea, the
research presented evinces how local agency leads to the appropriation
of mobile telephony, and the extent to which telecommunication companies
acculturate their marketing strategies to consumer preferences and
local realities. The book interrogates the presumptive neutrality of
technology and presents evidence of agency superseding supposedly fixed
limitations of use for mobile phones. In opposition to the notion of an
Africa ‘lagging’ behind, the book also nuances the development discourse
so often associated with the ‘leapfrog’ and spread of mobile telephony
south of the Sahara. Overall, this study highlights ways in which agency
leads to modernity being refracted locally in West and Central Africa
and reflects on the tension at play between ‘globalizers’ and
‘globalized’.