Abstract
The problem with many ICT4D projects and policy designed for African developmental contexts is that there is a tendency towards deterministic assumptions in that arguments and implementation guidelines are often presented a-contextually. The reality is, however, that ICT4D discourses and practice in the African context often imply cross-cultural working and worldview collisions. Therefore, simply adopting Western values and advice wholesale without deep and adequate reflection, may lead to a design reality gap, disruptive and oppressive ICT transfer, and ultimately failure. In addition, identifying, understanding, and representing cultural context and local development realities may present challenges, because it is interwoven with the assumptions and prejudices of those identifying and representing context or distorted with ethnocentric assumptions about ICT and its developmental role. This paper contributes by offering a case of how a particular ICT4D implementation framework with a developmental agenda was appropriated respectfully and ethically for the development realities of a traditional Afrocentric community in South Africa. The author reflects on a number of issues related to cross-cultural dynamics and power relations as it evolved during a particular case of ICT training and project introduction. Narrative examples, representing both method and phenomena, are used to demonstrate a number of interrelated reflexive themes for ICT4D project conduct and context understanding.
Recommended Citation
Krauss, Kirstin E.M., "Demonstrating Critically Reflexive ICT4D Project Conduct and ICT Training in Rural South Africa" (2016). GlobDev 2016. 13.
https://aisel.aisnet.org/globdev2016/13