Over the last few decades, most research on the digital divide has focused on countries in the global north. However, the growing disparity in access to technology among people worldwide, particularly in global southern countries is mainly overlooked. Digital Inequalities in Global South, edited by Massimo Ragnedda and Anna Gladkova (published by Palgrave Macmillan in 2020), is a book that sheds light on the important issue of the digital divide in the global South. Using case studies from different countries in the global south, the chapters in this edited volume examine “how marginalized communities are now attempting to participate in the information age, despite high costs and the lack of relevant content and technological support” (p. 2). Thus, with the “vision of achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 2030” (p.15), this book seeks to address the growing digital divide in the global south by focusing on the socio-cultural, economic and political factors that often restrict access to technologies. The book consists of sixteen chapters covering four sections: digital inequalities in South Asia, Central and Western Asia, Africa, South America and Caribbean countries and an afterword.

The first section analyzes the digital divide in South Asian countries, particularly India, Nepal, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. In their chapter titled, ‘Widening the Wedge: Digital Inequalities and Social Media in India,’ Padma Rani, Manjushree G. Naik, and Binod C. Agrawal attempt to critically analyze how the popularity of social media has widened India’s digital divide. They argue that in India, the digital divide exists at three levels: those without access to social media, the amount of accessibility to information and communication technologies (ICTs), and associated skills and lastly, “capacity or ability to exploit the internet and to transform its use into tangible outcomes” (p. 98). The other chapters on Nepal, Pakistan, and Bangladesh examine how various social-cultural, political, and economic issues trigger the problems of access to ICTs. In these countries, restricted access to ICTs can be attributed to various sociopolitical and economic factors such as political violence, high-cost Internet services, illiteracy, and lack of proper technological infrastructure.

The book’s second section includes chapters on Central and Western Asia, particularly countries such as Israel, Turkey, and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) (formerly part of the USSR). The chapter on Israel is of great relevance today. In her chapter on ‘Weaponization of Access, Communication Inequalities as a Form of Control: Case of Israel/Palestine,’ Hanna M. Kreitem explores how Israel has been preventing Palestine from accessing various digital technologies since its invasion by gaining control over its telecommunication infrastructure. Kreitem argues that in recent years, Israel “has weaponized its technical capabilities to maintain control over the Palestinian online world through monitoring and surveillance” (p.150), which has further expanded digital inequalities across the region.

In the book’s third section, various authors have examined numerous challenges African countries face that restrict them from participating in and using digital technology. Political instability, gender inequality, language barriers, high-cost network services, and other problems persist in many African nations. For instance, Mutsvairo & Ragneeda (2019), in their study on the digital divide in Africa, argue how these factors exacerbated digital inequality by adversely affecting the availability of the Internet and other digital technology in many African countries.

In the book’s fourth section, various authors have attempted to decolonize the politics of the digital divide in the context of Latin American and Caribbean countries, particularly Brazil, Argentina, Chile and Jamaica. Drawing on dependency theory, the concept of centre-periphery and digital capital (Ragnedda & Ruiu, 2020), Cristian Berrío-Zapata, in his opening chapter titled, ‘The Digital Divide: Observations from the South About a Failed Dialog with the North’ explores the complexities of the digital divide in Latin American countries. Zapata argues how “digital inclusion turned into a discourse and soft power in Latin America” (p. 310) when the U.S. took over the ICT development policies in these countries. The author further argues that the digital divide based on gender and ethnicity has reinforced the accumulation of digital capital among various communities in Latin America. The other chapters in this section also explore the digital inequalities in education in Argentina and the issue of the digital divide in Jamaica by analyzing the ‘institutional and ideological factors that maintain the colonial legacy of inequality” (p. 348).

While this book has covered a wide area of developing countries, one of the shortcomings of this book has been the missing chapter on countries like Bhutan in the first section, which may have provided more thought-provoking insights. For instance, Wangdi & Rai (2023), in their recent study on online education in Bhutan during the Covid-19 pandemic, argue that the country has only 48.1% of Internet users, and most students lack proper digital tools such as smartphones, computers, etc. Despite these shortcomings, this book will significantly interest sociology, anthropology, media studies, and development studies scholars seeking to investigate digital inequalities in the Global South.

References:

Mutsvairo, B., & Ragnedda, M. (2019). Mapping the Digital Divide in Africa: A Mediated Analysis. Amsterdam University Press.

Ragnedda, M., & Ruiu, M. L. (2020). Digital Capital: A Bourdieusian Perspective on the Digital Divide. Emerald Publishing Limited.

Wangdi, T., & Rai, A. (2023). Teaching Online During the Covid Pandemic in Rural Bhutan: Challenges and Coping Strategies. South Asia Research, 43(1), 83–96.

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Samujjal Ray is a PhD scholar in the Department of Sociology, University of Mumbai and teaches Sociology at Bongaigaon College, Assam.