Title: (Dé)connexions identitaires hadjeray : les enjeux des technologies de la communication au Tchad /
Authors: Seli, Djimet; Rijksuniversiteit te Leiden.
Year: 2009
Subjects: Cell phone systems Africa.; Communication and technology Africa.; Cell phone systems Social aspects Chad.; Hadjerai (African people); Communication and technology Chad.; Social networks Chad.; Group identity Chad Guéra.; Marginality, Social Chad Guéra.; Information technology Chad Guéra.
Abstract: The recent history of Africa is characterised by the 'revolution' in information and communication technologies (ICT), specifically in the sector of mobile telephony, which reconsiders the challenges pertaining to identity in African societies. In this book, we follow the manifestation of such dynamic forces in the Hadjeray society in Guera, Tchad, a society that has suffered a history of political violence, mobility and failures. The study shows the role of the Chadian government in the implementation of ICT and explains how government logics have amplified. Through the analysis of the changes in the economic and social spheres, occurring due to mobile telephony, we discover the identity issues that are also informed by the feeling of fear, which is part of the Chadian history of violence. However, the ways in which the Hadjeray adopt this new technology also leave them with a means to escape the logic of violence and disruption. It is mostly a dynamic force that occurs amongst the youth who, by making use of mobile networks, discover another mode of identification, between the ethnic group and the more global identity, and find through it a political voice.