Abstract:
This article explores how computers and the Internet are represented among young,
educated people in Niger and the social expectations that are attached to their use.
It argues that pre-existing social and economic conditions play an important role in
shaping the meanings associated with these devices. Thus, in a context of poverty
and unemployment, the Internet and computers are perceived as technologies that
may help young people and their country integrate into a modern world of economic
opportunities and well-being via the transnational and transcultural interactions
that take place in cyberspace. The Internet is associated with the ideas of modernity
and ‘leapfrogging’ development. However, because of the lack of computer equipment
and adequate infrastructure, these expectations are largely exaggerated, and they
divert attention from the actual possibilities for change that reside in people and
not in technological devices. The research is based on fieldwork conducted among
young, educated computer and Internet users during the summers of 2003 and 2004
in Niamey, the capital city of Niger and further complemented by data collected in
2008. Semistructured interviews were used to explore the reception of the Internet
and the representations associated with them. Although the term ‘educated’ may
sometimes refer to traditional or Arabic/Islamic education in Niger, we restricted
the use of the word to refer to modern western-style education (without prejudice or
pejorative label to those who are not in that category).
