Date of Award
Summer 8-15-2022
Degree Name
Bachelor of Arts (BA)
Advisor(s)
Vivian Lu, Ph.D.
Second Advisor
Christopher Toulouse, Ph.D.
Abstract
In one of the most isolated parts of Kenya, on an island in Lake Victoria, small-scale farmers are using newfound internet access in a unique and innovative way. New Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) are transforming agriculture around the world, and due to a political, infrastructural, and entrepreneurial environment conducive to ICT innovation, Kenya leads the African continent in this field, known in the media as “Digital Agriculture”. In the face of the climate crisis and environmental degradation, people living on and around Mfangano Island are using self-managed volunteering platforms, crowdfunding sites, and social media in order to network with people around the world and procure capital through these networks. These funds procured through volunteers and people online are then used to develop the farmers’ communities, improve upon their farming practices, and reinforce their resilience to climate change. My research is based on ethnographic fieldwork that I performed for one and a half months in the summer of 2021 on Mfangano Island, Kenya, and surrounding islands.
Recommended Citation
Smith, Ian James Muir, "Digital Agriculture in Africa: An Ethnographic Study of Global Online Networking and Resource Mobilization on Mfangano Island" (2022). Senior Theses. 101.
https://research.library.fordham.edu/international_senior/101
