Disrupting Africa: Technology, Law, and Development

351 Pages·2021·3.691 MB·English

by  Olufunmilayo B. Arewa

disrupting africa
Inthedigitalera,manyAfricancountriessitatthecrossroadsofapotentialfuturethat
willbeshapedbydigital-eratechnologieswithexistinglawsandinstitutionsconstructed
underconditionsofcolonialandpostcolonialauthoritarianrule.InDisrupting Africa,
Olufunmilayo B. Arewa examines this intersection and shows how it encompasses
existing and new zones of contestation that are based on ethnicity, religion, region,
age,andothersourcesofdivision.Arewahighlightsspecificcollisionsbetweentheold
andthenew,includinginthe2020#EndSARSprotestsinNigeria,whichinvolvedyoung
peoplewho engagedwithvaried digital-eratechnologies,provoking aviolentresponse
fromrulersthreatenedbytheprospectofpoliticalchange.Inthisgroundbreakingwork,
Arewa demonstrates how colonial and postcolonial lawmaking and legal processes
continue to frame contexts in which digital technologies are created, implemented,
regulated,andusedinAfricatoday.
Olufunmilayo B. Arewa is the Murray H. Shusterman Professor of Transactional and
BusinessLawattheTempleUniversityBeasleySchoolofLaw.Shewritesaboutmusic,
technology, and Africa, and has worked as a practicing lawyer in emerging growth
company space in Silicon Valley, New York, and Boston. This book, which involved
extensivearchivalresearch,bringstogetherhertrainingasananthropologistandlawyer.

Disrupting Africa
technology, law, and development
OLUFUNMILAYO B. AREWA
TempleUniversity,Philadelphia
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Informationonthistitle:www.cambridge.org/9781107156692
doi:10.1017/9781316661482
©OlufunmilayoB.Arewa2021
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Firstpublished2021
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LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
names:Arewa,OlufunmilayoB.,author.
title:DisruptingAfrica:technology,law,anddevelopment/OlufunmilayoB.Arewa,
TempleUniversity,Philadelphia.
description:Cambridge,UnitedKingdom;NewYork,NY:CambridgeUniversityPress,
2021.|Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
identifiers:lccn2021009263(print)|lccn2021009264(ebook)|isbn9781107156692
(hardback)|isbn9781316610039(paperback)|isbn9781316661482(ebook)
subjects:lcsh:Technologicalinnovations–Lawandlegislation–Africa,Sub-Saharan.|
Lawandeconomicdevelopment–Lawandlegislation–Africa,Sub-Saharan.|Law–
Socialaspects–Africa,Sub-Saharan.|Disruptivetechnologies–Socialaspects–Africa,
Sub-Saharan.|Postcolonialism–Africa,Sub-Saharan.
classification:lcckqc90.a742021(print)|lcckqc90(ebook)|ddc344.67/095–dc23
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isbn978-1-316-61003-9Paperback
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Formyfather(inmemoriam),mymother,andmyhusband,whohelped
makethisprojectpossible

Contents
Preface pageix
Acknowledgments xiii
ListofAbbreviationsandAcronyms xiv
PoliticalMapofAfrica xvi
1 Introduction:ColonialismandAfrica’sFuturePaths 1
2 Colonialism,Governance,andLaw 9
ColonialismandtheArtofGovernment 9
ColonialCorporateGovernanceandLegalCultures 16
Governance,Agency,andColonialLegalSystems 25
ColonialLegalSystems,Courts,andConflictofLaws 28
3 RelationshipsandAccountability 42
Colonialism,StateKnowledge,andFragility 42
Colonialism,DivideandRule,andInternalRelationships 49
ExternalRelationships,Extraction,andPostcolonialRule 62
GovernanceandAccountability 74
4 LegalImperialismandInstitutions 93
TheBerlinConferenceandtheCarvingUpofAfrica 93
CustomaryLaw,EnglishLaw,andColonialConquest 104
ColonialCourts,LegislativeCouncils,andSeparationofPowers 112
PetitionsandthePoweroftheColonialState 121
5 Language,Authority,andLaw 140
ColonialismandLanguage 140
LanguageandtheLaw 148
viii Contents
6 TechnologyDisruptionandDigitalColonialism 156
Technology,Progress,andLaw 156
TheDigitalEconomy,Capacity,andScarcityofOpportunity 160
Platforms,RegulatoryCompetence,andColonialPolicyDesign 164
GlobalTechnologyCompaniesandDigitalColonialism 175
7 NigerianPrinces,Start-UpCompanies,andPotentialFuturePaths 189
Disruption,NigerianPrinces,andStart-UpCompanies 189
Networks,Infrastructure,andBiometrics 196
TheCFAFranc,CurrencyControls,andCryptocurrencies 200
8 Technology,Precarity,andProtest 211
Protest,FutureVisions,andInternetShutdowns 211
FoodSecurityandRuralandUrbanSpaces 220
(In)security,Contestation,andExternalPowers 224
9 Elites,Ornamentation,andFutureVisions 237
StatusandHierarchyinNigeria 237
Colonialism,Intermediaries,andJurisdictionalArbitrage 240
EliteOrnamentationandPovertyinNigeria 245
Migrants,Insurgents,andPostindependenceRealities 247
10 ColonialPortfolios,Monopolies,andCompetition 252
PolicyDesignandtheRacialImagination 252
EaseofDoingBusinessandCompanyLawReform 255
IntellectualPropertyLaw,LocalKnowledge,andMarginalization 261
ColonialPortfolios,Culture,andCopyright 265
Colonialism,MonopolyGames,andCompetition 270
11 Conclusion:Ghosts,Dreams,andFuturePaths 284
BalletinLagos,SocialMedia,andGlobalAudiences 284
FlexibleRegulatoryApproachesandIntegratedInnovationEcosystems 287
NollywoodasModel 290
DigitalFinanceinKenya 291
PotentialFuturePaths 294
SelectBibliography 299
Index 326
Preface
I am a daughter of two diasporas from Africa. The first, an involuntary one of
enslavedpeople,broughtmymother’sancestorstotheNewWorld.Thetransatlan-
ticslavetradecauseddisruptionsinAfricaandintheNewWorldthatcontinueto
reverberatetoday.InAfricaduringtheslavetrade,disruptionwaspresentinareasin
WestAfrica,theCongoregion,andotherplacesthatwereprimarysourcesofslaves.
MyfatherwasborninNigeriainpresent-dayOndostateinwhatwasatthetimethe
westernregionofNigeria,thenaBritishcolonialpossession.HecametotheUnited
StatesaroundthetimeofNigeria’sindependencein1960.HiscomingtotheUnited
States reflected new patterns of migration at the end of the colonial period when
large numbers ofpeoplefromNigeriaand otherAfrican countries went abroad to
study with the idea that these people would return to their home countries.
Migration for my father and others has been driven insomeinstances by a search
for available education, work, or other opportunities. Nigeria is now the largest
sourceofimmigrantsfromAfricatotheUnitedStates.Myfather,likemanyothers,
didnotreturnpermanentlytoNigeria.
AsapersonofNigerianAmericanheritage,IgrewupwithavisionofNigeriaas
a source of potential future greatness. My late father was proud of his Nigerian
heritage.LikemanyNigeriansinthemostrecentpostcolonialdiaspora,heworked
hard and was highly educated, eventually becoming a professor. He is not an
anomaly. Nigerians are one of the most well-educated immigrant groups in the
UnitedStates.
Myfather instilled inusaconceptionofNigeriaandotherAfricancountriesas
having great,but as yet unrealized,potential.As someone once reflected tome in
a conversation about Nigeria: Nigeria is a continuing paradox, a country of enor-
mous capacity and potential that never seems realized. Despite this significant
1
capacity, which is not always the case in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), the potential
thatmyfatherhopedtobeNigeria’sfuturepathhasneverbeenrealizedandmore
importantly,isnotlikelytoberealizedwithoutsignificantlegalandotherreforms
thatinvolvedisruptionofpastapproaches,policies,andlaws.