Mobile phones and the transformation of society: talking about criminality and the ambivalent perception of new ICT in Burkina Faso

Abstract

Global impacts on Africa have been widely discussed regarding their consequences for development and poverty reduction. Development seems to work as the concrete implementation of road networks, markets, communication networks and so on. Although mobile phones have not been implemented by development agencies, they count among the most efficient tools for development in Africa. Anthropologists, however, quickly started to point out some ambivalent aspects of the new ICT in general and mobile phone usage in Africa in particular. Based on fieldwork in Burkina Faso, this contribution goes beyond the present criticism. It links the logic of implemented and well-established structures representing global impacts, i.e. tarred roads and the booming mobiles, with everyday usages. In particular the sometimes malicious entanglements between road networks and mobile networks play a crucial role in public awareness. Road networks as well as mobile networks count among the most popular...