The Rhetoric of Mobile Communication for Development (M4D): A Critical Analysis

Abstract

Increasing access to mobile phones in Africa has sparked a reformulation of the ICT and development discourse. In previous decades, abundant literature has argued that access to computers and the Internet will make leapfrogging development possible; today, scholars’ attention is shifting away from those devices to focus instead on the potential of the mobile phone for development. A new rhetoric centered on mobile communication for development (M4D) and building on the old premises is now emerging. Its core ideas are: a) the adoption of the mobile phone is unique in the history of technology in Africa; b) the mobile phone has an all-encompassing character; c) the mobile phone has a leveling effect; d) mobile leapfrogging is possible. The purpose of this paper is to identify and critically assess the underlying assumptions and a priori conclusions that form the fabric of this rhetoric constructed around those four pervasive and repetitive themes in the literature devoted to ICTs for development. I argue that this rhetoric obscures social inequalities by overemphasizing mobile phones’ physical availability and the technological side of development at the expense of many other conditions that should be met for technology use to have an effect on social development.