[Commlist] New Book: China, Africa, and the Future of the Internet

New Book: *China, Africa, and the Future of the Internet*
By: Iginio Gagliardone

https://www.zedbooks.net/shop/book/china-africa-and-the-future-of-the-internet/

China is transforming Africa's information space. It is assisting 
African broadcasters with extensive loans, training and exchange 
programmes and has set up its own media operations on the continent in 
the form of CCTV/CGTN Africa. In the telecommunications sector, China is 
helping African governments to expand access to the internet and mobile 
phones, with rapid and large-scale success. While Western countries have 
ambiguously linked the need to fight security threats with restrictions 
of the information space, China has been vocal in asserting the need to 
control communication to ensure stability and development.

Featuring a wealth of interviews with a variety of actors – from Chinese 
and African journalists in Chinese media to Chinese workers for major 
telecommunication companies – this highly original book demonstrates how 
China is both contributing to the 'Africa rising' narrative while 
exploiting the weaknesses of Western approaches to Africa, which remain 
trapped between an emphasis on stability and service delivery, on the 
one hand, and the desire to advocate human rights and freedom of 
expression on the other. Arguing no state can be understood without 
attention to its information structure, the book provides the first 
assessment of China’s new model for the media strategies of developing 
states, and the consequences of policing Africa’s information space for 
geopolitics, security and citizenship.

—————————

'Impressive and rigorous, /China, Africa and the Future of the 
Internet/ respects different schools of thought regarding the internet 
and development, whilst providing a critique that is schooled and 
convincing. Gagliardone takes an issue of great importance and brings 
fresh and penetrating analysis to it.'
Monroe E. Price, Annenberg School for Communication, University of 
Pennsylvania

'A very original, rigorous and well-cited contribution to the wider 
field of China-Africa studies and the current global conversation on 
internet governance. China, Africa and the Future of the Internet 
provides a useful counter-perspective to the dominant discourse around 
internet governance which tends to focus on the global north, excluding 
the notable developments in internet governance taking place in the 
global south.'
Cobus van Staden, Co-host of the China in Africa Podcast

——————————

ZED Publishers is offering this book at a *discounted price* until 24th 
October 2019
It can be purchased both in paperback, epub, and Kindle versions at half 
of the price (£ 9.50)
https://www.zedbooks.net/shop/book/china-africa-and-the-future-of-the-internet/
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