Of Cell Phones and Area Studies

OK, I'm something of a tech junkie. As such, I've been particularly pleased to see the communications revolution taking hold in Nigeria and elsewhere in Africa. Back in the early '90's when I was doing my fieldwork, calling home to the US was a big deal. I had to schedule a call a day or two in advance with NITEL (Nigerian Telephone and Telegraph, the State Monopoly), and then I would pay $6 a minute for the call.

Now, however, cell phones have smashed NITEL's monopoly, and in many ways, Nigerians have access to better communications technology than most Americans, since their phones are all "unlocked." One of my Nigerian brother-in-laws was shocked to hear that I didn't have wi-fi internet access on my cell phone. "Hot spots are everywhere here now... so I never pay for international calls anymore." As a result, I get calls from Nigeria all the time (occassionally even during class... always a hoot for my students here in Kentucky).

On a more academic note the real significance here is that

the communications revolution is finally providing a more even playing ground for African academics. One of the ugly realities of Area Studies fields such as African History is the degree to which the center of academic power has been in the US. Education and Publishing for African Studies are centered in the US. So much so that the best career move for an African Africanist is to get a position in an American university -- and getting your PhD in the US sure didn't hurt, either.

Part of this has been because the fiscal pressures on African Universities have made it difficult for scholars to get the time and support necessary to do research. Further, a shortage of funds for libraries also meant that African-based scholars had a hard time keeping up with the "latest trends" in methodology.

The internet explosion in Africa (fueled in part by cell-phone modems) has helped shift the balance a bit to help African-based scholars gain access to international materials (such as via JSTOR) and also to have more of a presence in scholarly fora. Certainly this has been apparent as of late on H-Africa, which has seen an ever-growing number of African-based subscribers.

This is a good thing. Yeah technology!