11 October 2022
Our Datafication and Digital Rights in East Africa Network is excited to announce the publishing of a comic entitled “Hustling Day in Silicon Savannah”. A product of collaborations between Network partners, the comic focuses on specific socio-economic implications of digital technologies in East Africa.
The story is based on research that the authors (Gianluca Iazzolino and Michael Kimani) have conducted in Kenya, in different roles and from different angles, over the past ten years. During this period, while witnessing the emergence and transformations of Kenya’s digital economy, the hype surrounding narratives of digitally-driven socio-economic inclusion has peaked and cooled.
In the cartoon, the authors and artists address the question: what lies behind the captivating “Silicon Savannah” brand, with which Kenya has drawn the interest of international investors and donors to its booming tech scene? As suggested in the cartoon, the picture is anything but neat.
The two main characters of the story – a taxi driver working for a ride-hailing platform and a broker of fruit and vegetables – are based on several Kenyans who the authors met during fieldwork in and around Nairobi.
The comic follows their paths until the storylines intersect and (literally) collide. The characters embody what dominant Silicon Savannah narratives often neglect: how digital technologies reshape the practice and the significance of hustling.
As suggested in the story, the promises of job creation on digital platforms have been shattered by workers’ over-indebtedness and, as recently shown by the so-called Uber files, a gradual deterioration of working conditions.
At the same time, far from Nairobi’s glitzy corporate headquarters, there is evidence that local entrepreneurs have appropriated digital innovation and adapted it to their needs.
The full comic can be viewed here.
Comic story by Gianluca Iazzolino and Michael Kimani; Art by Maddo – Cartoon Movement