The Transsion Approach: Translating Chinese Mobile Technology in Africa (The Geopolitics of Information) - Softcover

Miao Lu

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0252089049 ISBN 13: 9780252089046

Publisher: University of Illinois Press, 2025

Synopsis

Technology translation as a framework for understanding tech flows today, and tomorrow How do we explain China's tech rise in Africa? As Africa's top phone seller, the Shenzhen-based company Transsion has profoundly shaped the continent's digital transformation by providing affordable yet feature-rich mobile phones for the economically disadvantaged. Miao Lu draws on rich fieldwork in China and Ghana to delve into the company's operations and growing influence. Critiquing technology transfer, Lu focuses on design, marketing, and repair to illustrate the multi-layered technology translations between China and Ghana. Borrowing the metaphor of deep ploughing, Lu examines the rural-centric and lower-class–oriented approach of translating mobile technology. Transsion challenges the cultural imagination of big tech. But the company is also evolving into a regional power that's adept at marginalizing small players and increasing local dependence. Lu's analysis explores the complexity that Shenzhen can act as Silicon Valley's "South" and Africa's "North" simultaneously. The middle space created by Transsion bridges globalization from above and below, which opens the door to new possibilities and inequalities.

About this title

About the Author

Miao Lu is an assistant professor in the Department of Cultural Studies at Lingnan University.

Edition details

• Publisher: University of Illinois Press
• Publication date: 2025
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0252089049
• ISBN 13: 9780252089046
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 224