LÍNEAS DE FINANCIAMIENTO :

Where the previous two examples reflect on situations outside of South Africa, I have also tried to engage with the literature around (access to) computer education in rural South Africa. Regretfully, the available literature on this topic appears to be rather scarce, as most of the scholarship leans towards urban situations, higher educational institutions and curriculum development.

The concept most closely related to the issues covered in my study is that of the ‘digital divide’. As Conradie, Morris and Jacobs (2003:199) have noted, much has been written about the digital divide between South Africa and the rest of the world, but little about the divide between rural and urban contexts within South Africa. However, these authors show that there is a very distinct gap between rural and urban areas, with access to computer technology and internet in South Africa strongly biased geographically towards urban areas:

[R]ural areas in the country are unfortunately not only lagging behind with regard to internet access, but also with regard to those factors (such as literacy, computer skills, and high income rates) that could possibly contribute to the bridging of the urban-rural divide. (Conradie et al, 2003:199)

That said, there are examples of initiatives that have attempted to introduce information technologies (IT) infrastructures to rural areas, and, to a lesser extent, to promote computer education (Conradie et al, 2003:200). A 2000 study by Stavrou and Benjamin showed that most telecentre initiatives in South Africa were struggling, and not only in rural areas. They concluded that the major stumbling block was the long- term economic sustainability of these centres and also noted that they did not reach many deep rural communities. These findings are interesting in relation to the Computer Centre in Carnarvon, given the threats to its viability that emerged during the course of my fieldwork. In listing the reasons for failure of IT projects, Conradie et al (2003:200-1) identified six serious challenges. The three most applicable to the Carnarvon context are: ‘reconciling the tension between technology push and local development needs’, the ‘lack of PC-related applications and sustainable career path opportunities in rural areas’, and ‘other social challenges specific to the rural area involved’ (eg. domestic violence, political divisions, power relations) (Conradie et al, 2003:200). The other three challenges involved the lack of electric power, the lack of a communication infrastructure, and lack of PC- related skills in the local community (teachers).

In order to address the challenges of rolling out access to computer technology in developing countries, in the late 1990s academics such as Van Audenhove (1999) and Mansell & When (1998) suggested three actions to be taken: one, the establishment of an IT infrastructure, two, the development of IT that is

applicable to local needs, and three, the introduction of supporting regulations for IT-related issues. In the case of the Carnarvon Computer Centre, external donors in the form of the SKA have provided the infrastructure. However, over the course of my research it has become clear to me that the issues of responding to local needs and providing appropriate support are very significant for the effective day-to-day functioning of the Centre.

2.4

Conclusion

This chapter has discussed first the concept of critical cosmopolitanism as central to the overarching conceptual framework for my study and then the more focused literature on space and place, the real and the virtual, as well as access to information technologies. As with most broad theories in the social sciences and humanities, critical cosmopolitanism has been the subject of much debate and has been criticised for both its empirical and its analytical value. In order to apply critical cosmopolitanism to my own research, it was necessary to engage with this debate and the more contemporary work of three influential thinkers on critical cosmopolitanism, namely Ulrich Beck, Gerard Delanty and Kwame Appiah. The four relationships between self and other put forward by Delanty (2012) – namely, the relativisation of identity, the positive recognition of the other, the mutual evaluation of cultures, and the creation of a normative culture – together define the scope of cosmopolitanism as a way of being in the contemporary world. However, Delanty stresses that these relationships should not be seen as preconditions for each other and argues that people are not equally cosmopolitan on all levels. Here Appiah’s idea of ‘rooted cosmopolitanism’ is considered particularly useful for positioning local attachments as important for, rather than in opposition to, engagement with the other. Delanty has also stressed that cosmopolitanism should be understood as a particular kind of learning process that makes social change possible. This important point was developed in the discussion on cosmopolitan learning as well as several studies on the impact of access to computers on identity and perceptions of ‘the other’ reviewed above. While cosmopolitan learning is often assumed to apply only to urban spaces, it most definitely creates an opportunity to rethink understandings of rural identity as changing and globally connected. Of particular interest here is the work by Hull and colleagues on how, through stimulating dialogue across differences in ideology, language and culture, it becomes possible for adolescents in different parts of the world to reflect on challenges, responsibilities, and opportunities in a globalised, digital world. The ideas around a ‘virtual world’ as opposed to a ‘real world’ were also central to the discussion in this chapter. The ethnographic work in Trinidad of Miller and Slater (2000) has made the important point that virtuality and cyberspace should not be seen as separate from the ‘real’ world, as these spaces are not apart from the rest of social life. The internet and other forms of technology are new ways of mediation, claim Miller and Slater, but are not a new reality. Particularly striking from their ethnography was their discussion of the apparent paradox in Trinidadian identification with self and other through the use of the internet. While on the one hand they regarded themselves as capable cosmopolitan citizens, with a good understanding of the world ‘out there’, on the other hand they observed how they were unknown to those whom they had considered to reside in the metropolitan centres of that world. Also important for my

research project is the insight that computer technology creates new spaces that form an increasing part of everyday life and are most certainly not apart from everyday life. This accords with the literature on critical cosmopolitan learning, where Murphy (2015) emphasises that the local and the global should not be seen as opposed to each other but, rather, as influencing and shaping one another. At the same time, in the context of South Africa (discussed in my final section above) the gap between urban and rural areas in regards to IT infrastructure and support needs to be factored into the analysis. Here Jackson’s ideas on ‘broken world thinking’ are instructive.

The concepts discussed in this chapter will be drawn on in my exploration in the chapters that follow of how people in Carnarvon are using the Computer Centre and experiencing their exposure to new technologies. The next chapter presents a reflexive description of the history of Carnarvon and the many socio-economical problems residents of this town are currently facing, as part of the wider context within which the Computer Centre is operating.

CHAPTER 3: