Leasing Out Sovereignty; The proliferation of Chinese Surveillance Technologies in Africa

Abstract

In the everyday lexicon, digital technology is simply an instrument, a functional conduit that automatically realizes ends. Contrary to this supposition, we can explore digital technology as a political and cultural artifact that embodies values embedded in postcolonial societies. This dissertation project, based on ethnographic, documentary, and archival research, discusses digital technology's functional architecture and how it operates as the preeminent artifact to envision developed futures. The project investigates how Chinese surveillance technology has proliferated throughout Africa, particularly in Kenya, and examines the technological fix as an aspiration for improving the capabilities of the postcolonial state to bolster social order and spur economic development. The project's principal goal is to examine the effects of digital technology on (i) state sovereignty and the governance of local populations, including the management of crime and the enforcement of economic regulation; (ii) civil society, concerning the sense of in/security, and of un/freedom it instills in citizens; and (iii) patterns of social and material inequality. What, further, are its hidden, unintended consequences in Kenya, and what particularities, if any, emerge from its postcolonial context? And, finally, what does the spread of Chinese digital infrastructure, as exemplified by the case study here, augur for China's future in Africa? These questions have significant implications for Africa and the global order at large. This project seeks to resolve these questions by focusing on the procurement and use of digital surveillance technology.