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The Transsion Approach: Translating Chinese Mobile Technology in Africa

The Transsion Approach: Translating Chinese Mobile Technology in Africa

Paperback

Series: Geopolitics of Information

Business GeneralGeneral ComputersGeneral Racism & Ethnic Studies

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ISBN10: 0252089049
ISBN13: 9780252089046
Publisher: University of Illinois Press
Published: Dec 23 2025
Pages: 224
Weight: 0.70
Height: 0.51 Width: 6.01 Depth: 8.91
Language: English
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.

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