Intermediaries as Key Protagonists in Transnational Internet Networks

Special Report: Information and Communication Technology in Africa
The Case of Cybercafés in Bamako
By Béatrice Steiner
English

Contrary to what the authors of discourses on Internet usage recommend, email exchanges are often carried out with help from an intermediary third party. At least, this is what can be observed in the Internet cafes in Bamako (Mali), where myriad actors step in between the customers and their correspondents. This paper profiles these intermediaries and the place they occupy in transnational networks, as well as the various “capitals” (in Bourdieu’s use of the word), that this function confers on them.

Keywords

  • intermediary
  • kinship
  • junior
  • Mali
  • capital
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