Current Sponsored Research Projects

Hybrid Technologies in the Era of HIV and AIDS: Hoes and Mobile Phones in Rural Africa

Effective dates: 2006-09
Funding Source: National Science Foundation (NSF) Science and Society Program Region or Country (ies): Africa
Principal Investigators: Laura L. Murphy, PhD (lmurphy2@tulane.edu)
Go to Dr. Murphy's webpage

Interdisciplinary field research in Marakaru Location,  Western Kenya took place mostly in 2007. Data analysis and writing address these research questions: 1) How are the hoe and mobile phones being used? (Do new livelihoods emerge? Who is left out?) 2) How does “HIV/AIDS” influence these technology changes? 3) How can external actors influence technology adaptation to enhance capabilities (i.e., for human development)?  This research is an academic study of socio-technical change: how do “global” technologies (the cellular phones, called “mobiles” in Kenya) get adopted and adapted into rural lives and livelihoods? In western Kenya, lives appear to be dominated by concerns of agriculture, education, the generalized HIV/AIDS epidemic, in a context of traditional cultural norms of extended families, polygyny, self-help groups—and rapid social change. Also, the characteristically rural Kenyan lack --of paved roads, electricity, health and extension services --aggravate chronic cash poverty. Despite this unpropitious setting for such a sophisticated digital device, mobile phone handsets are being adopted into village lives (15% of households own one). The project aims to identify practical ways that external agencies can act to remove barriers and enhance local innovation and adaptation on behalf of the poorest.  See Dr. Murphy’s website for recent publications and working papers that answer these questions.