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Critical Agency and Development: Applying Freire and Sen to ICT4D in Zambia and Brazil

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Critical Agency and Development: Applying Freire and Sen to ICT4D in Zambia and Brazil This is a repository copy of Critical agency and development: applying Freire and Sen to ICT4D in Zambia and Brazil. White Rose Research Online URL for this paper: http://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/123079/ Version: Accepted Version Article: Poveda, S. and Roberts, T. (2017) Critical agency and development: applying Freire and Sen to ICT4D in Zambia and Brazil. Information Technology for Development. pp. 1-19. ISSN 0268-1102 https://doi.org/10.1080/02681102.2017.1328656 Reuse Items deposited in White Rose Research Online are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved unless indicated otherwise. They may be downloaded and/or printed for private study, or other acts as permitted by national copyright laws. The publisher or other rights holders may allow further reproduction and re-use of the full text version. 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[email protected] https://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/ Information Technology for Development Critical Agency and Development: applying Freire & Sen to ICT4D in Zambia and Brazil Journal:For Information Peer Technology Review for Development Manuscript ID 11-15-0128-ITD-SI.R3 Manuscript type: Special Issue Development Issues, Adoption and diffusion of IT and Rate of uptake ( Key ords: Development Issues, International ICT dialogues and discourses: Implications for developed and transition economies ( Development Issues Taylor & Francis Page 1 of 32 Information Technology for Development 1 2 3 Critical Agency and Development: Applying Freire & Sen to ICT4D in 4 5 Zambia and Brazil 6 7 1 2 8 Poveda, Sammia ; Roberts, Tony 9 10 Department of Geography, Royal Holloway University of London, Egham, UK 11 12 13 This paper draws upon critical theories and the capability approach. It argues or 14 15 a conceptualisation o development as a process designed to enable people to ree 16 themselves rom structural disadvantage. Amartya Sen has argued that people"s 17 18 #critical-agency"For to question Peer and reject unjustReview social norms is #pivotal" to human 19 20 development and important or tackling inequalities o any kind. Freire"s critical 21 pedagogy, and critical eminism, go urther by providing disadvantaged people 22 23 with the practical means to do this; to identi y the structural root causes o unjust 24 social norms and the critical-agency to challenge and change them. Two 25 26 empirical case studies o ICT4D are presented, rom ,ambia and -ra.il, which 27 draw upon these critical approaches but use them in di erent ways. The paper 28 29 argues that ICT4D must go beyond addressing people"s immediate practical 30 needs or access to ICT tools and skills, to also address their strategic interest in 31 32 identi ying and tackling the root causes o disadvantage. 33 34 35 /eywords0 ICT4D, Critical, Agency, Freedom, ICT, Development. 36 37 38 1 Introd ction 39 40 In luential reviews o the research ield have criticised an under-theorisation o the 41 42 concept o development that ICT4D is intent upon 1Andersson, 2r3nlund, 4 5icander, 43 44 45 2012; 5alsham 4 Sahay, 20078. In de ining its conceptualisation o development this 46 47 paper uses Sen"s 119998 agency-based capability approach as a normative ramework 48 49 but relies on critical theories to address structural issues o power. The use o the 50 51 52 53 1 Current a iliation0 :nited Nations :niversity Institute o Computing and Society 1:N:-CS8, 54 55 Macao SAR, China 56 2 Current a iliation0 Institute o Development Studies 1IDS8, :niversity o Sussex, -righton, 57 58 :/ 59 60 Taylor & Francis Information Technology for Development Page 2 of 32 1 2 3 capability approach in ICT4D is not new but the literature is still limited. Authors who 4 5 have applied the capability approach to ICT4D include 2igler 120118, ,heng and 6 7 5alsham 120088, and /leine 120138. However, as ,heng and Stahl 120118 have 8 9 10 claimed, Sen"s reluctance to address power relationships means that critical theories 11 12 o er some advantages when conceptualising development. It"s the aim o this paper to 13 14 provide a critical conceptualisation o development understood as people"s agency to 15 16 critically determine their own development priorities and to address them through their 17 18 own agency. ThisFor development Peer concept is not Review conceptualised upon technology di usion 19 20 21 as an end in itsel , instead, it considers people"s ability to sel -determine and sel - 22 23 actualise their own conception o the good; concepts shared by the capabilities approach 24 25 and critical theories. 26 27 -uilding on this claim, this paper aims to illustrate how ICTs can be used to 28 29 30 enhance people"s agency to address development challenges. To achieve this, the paper 31 32 draws on two empirical case studies in which organisations introduce new technologies 33 34 and use them to raise member"s critical consciousness and agency to tackle 35 36 development challenges that they experience. -oth case studies draw upon critical 37 38 theories to guide their practice and exempli y how people can use ICTs to sel - 39 40 41 determine and sel -actualise their own development. The next section will review the 42 43 literature to identi y the comparative advantages o the capabilities approach and critical 44 45 theories, be ore presenting the case studies rom -ra.il and ,ambia. 46 47 48 49 2 Literat re Review 50 51 According to Tan.anian President Nyerere 119A3, p.A8, a undamental law in orthodox 52 53 54 development economics was —thinking of development in terms of things, and not of 55 56 people“. Nyerere argued or a human-centred conceptualisation o development in 57 58 which people were the principle agents in their own development, arguing that — eople 59 60 Taylor & Francis Page 3 of 32 Information Technology for Development 1 2 3 can"t be developed, they can only develop themselves“ 1Nyerere, 19A3, p.A8. This 4 5 agency-based approach was at the heart o FreireBs 119A08 work in -ra.il, Fals--orda 6 7 119A98 in Colombia, and Tandon 119818 in India. This was known as human 8 9 10 development, to distinguish it rom orthodox economic development. It constituted a 11 12 distinctly Southern approach 1Tandon, 20088, which was popularised in anglophone 13 14 development studies by Robert Chambers 11983; 19948 amongst others. 15 16 17 18 2.1 The CapabilityFor Approach Peer Review 19 20 Human development was later re-articulated by Sen as part o the capability approach. 21 22 23 Sen 1198C8 argued that a comprehensive understanding o development must extend 24 25 beyond measuring income to include other important aspects o well-being and agency 26 27 that a person has reason to value. In Development as Freedom, Sen 119998 argued 28 29 convincingly that development was Da process of expanding the real freedoms that 30 31 people en(oyE as well as Dthe removal of ma(or sources of unfreedomE 1Sen, 1999, p.38. 32 33 34 Placing human reedoms at the ore ront o analysis orces ICT4D researchers to go 35 36 beyond ICT provision to consider how ICT may, or may not, contribute to expand 37 38 people"s reedoms and abilities to determine their own development. Sen"s 119998 39 40 agency-based conceptualisation o development as freedom represents a valuable 41 42 43 advance on orthodox economic development, as it widens the in ormational basis o 44 45 development evaluation to include other aspects o agency and well-being that 46 47 individuals have reason to value. Agency is de ined here as a person"s ability to act in 48 49 pursuance o their own goals. Sen argues 11999, p.118 that individuals have reason to 50 51 value their own agency in determining and pursuing their own goals rather than being 52 53 54 —the passive recipients of the benefits of cunning development pro(ectsE. 55 56 57 58 59 60 Taylor & Francis Information Technology for Development Page 4 of 32 1 2 3 2.1.1 Adaptive references 4 5 6 The ability to act in pursuance o their own goals is dependent upon a person"s reedom 7 8 and ability to reason, as well as their agency to act. This raises the question o the extent 9 10 to which reasoning is really conscious and ree. According to Stewart and Deneulin 11 12 12002, p.A8 Dno,one is truly autonomous and independent of the influences of the society 13 14 in which they liveE. An individualBs understanding o the world is partly a unction o 15 16 17 the culture that they have been exposed to since birth. Fygotsky 119A88 is amongst 18 For Peer Review 19 scholars who have shown that a personBs ideas, values and belie s are predominantly 20 21 assimilated uncritically rom those narratives that happen to be dominant in a given 22 23 society, which they then internalise unconsciously as i it were their own reasoned 24 25 26 knowledge. Through this process, a person tends to internalise dominant norms and 27 28 values set by those with power and control over social ideological structures such as 29 30 education, religion, and the media 1Althusser, 19A18. Importantly, this may including 31 32 negative ideas about their own gender, race or class 1Davis, 19828, which leads to low 33 34 sel -worth and sel -esteem.
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