© 2009 Dillon Mahoney ALL RIGHTS RESERVED THE ART OF CONNECTION: NEGOTIATING THE DIGITAL DIVIDE IN KENYA’S CURIO INDUSTRY By DILLON MAHONEY A dissertation submitted to the Graduate School-New Brunswick Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Graduate Program in Anthropology written under the direction of Angelique Haugerud and approved by _____________________________ _____________________________ _____________________________ _____________________________ _____________________________ New Brunswick, New Jersey May 2009 ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION THE ART OF CONNECTION: NEGOTIATING THE DIGITAL DIVIDE IN KENYA’S CURIO INDUSTRY By DILLON MAHONEY Dissertation Advisor: Angelique Haugerud How does the social and economic context in which new communication technologies are introduced shape the ways small-scale traders understand, gain access to, and use them? How does the digital divide in access to communication technologies reproduce or counter pre-existing inequalities? This dissertation is based on 26 months of participant observation in Kenya since 2001, when I investigated the competition and economic precariousness found among art traders, exporters, and art-producing organizations and cooperatives. In this dissertation I focus on the recent effects of cell phones and the internet. To clarify the contemporary importance of mobile communication technologies for Kenyans working in the shadow of the coastal tourism industry, I discuss the history of social inequality in Mombasa, the consolidation of curio art traders and cooperatives in the port city, and Kenya’s political economy of ICT access. Following the removal of the roadside kiosks housing my initial sample of 2001, I investigated the strategies of small- scale art vendors as they struggled to survive economic change. This dissertation captures the story of the rise of the cell phone entrepreneur and the related decline of the cooperative societies around which Kenya’s curio industry had long been structured. For ii economically disadvantaged actors, cell phones and email have become important for negotiating disparities in access not only to technologies, but also to jobs, capital, personal networks, and political representation. I argue that when state policy is not conducive to the formalization, legalization, and development of small-scale traders, ICTs can heighten social insecurity and economic precariousness among these businesspeople. Because the responsibility to manage risk has been abandoned by the Kenyan state and left to individual citizens and informal social and ethnic networks, the story of the digital divide among my research participants became one of ups and downs, repeated connection and disconnection, and intense competition. I demonstrate how the use of ICTs has left its mark on the individual men and women who drive Mombasa’s curio industry, as well as the art itself. iii Preface I first visited Kenya in January 2001 as a college junior studying abroad with the School for International Training’s Kenya Coastal Studies program in Mombasa. This dissertation is in many ways a continuation of the independent study project I conducted in April 2001 with curio vendors working along the roadside outside of Mombasa’s Fort Jesus. While my initial focus was not limited to the curio trade or the effects of cell phones or the internet – such technologies were only just beginning to become readily available in Mombasa at the time – as I continued conducting research as a graduate student at Rutgers University, it became clear to me that an assessment of the effects of new communication technologies on Mombasa’s curio industry would not only be thought provoking but also highlight the major struggles, contradictions, and lived experiences of Kenyans, many of whom I knew as friends before participating in this research. My most important thanks go to those curio traders and artisans who, unpaid, gave me their time and energy, their life stories, their views of their country and world, and substantial advice on how to structure my research project. It is to these individuals that this dissertation is dedicated. Since my first days in Kenya, I have received valuable support and mentorship from the School for International Training’s staff based in Mombasa, and especially Athman Lali Omar, who has been a wonderful friend and advisor. This research could not have been conducted without my language skills, for which I thank Reuben and Lydia Jemase for their outstanding support and friendship, as well as Charles Bwenge and John Mtembezi Innis. iv Very special thanks go to Angelique Haugerud at Rutgers University for taking me on as an advisee and serving as a dedicated advisor throughout my dissertation process. This dissertation would not have been possible without her superb editing and mentoring. I would also like to thank my supremely supportive dissertation committee members, Dorothy Hodgson, David Hughes, Louisa Schein, and Christopher Steiner for their brilliant insights and the time they dedicated to reading drafts of this dissertation and discussing the material with me. I also thank other faculty at Rutgers University, especially Laura Ahern, James W.K. Harris, Fran Mascia-Lees, and Richard Schroeder. I thank the Kenyan Government for granting me permission to conduct research in Mombasa District, and Isaac Nyamongo of the Institute for African Studies at the University of Nairobi for a strong and helpful academic affiliation. I am very grateful to the staff from the Kenya National Archives in Nairobi and the National Museums of Kenya for help, support, and feedback. I am particularly indebted to Mudathir ahmed Abdulkarim, Purity Kiura for always providing me with a place to stay in Nairobi, Haleem Hassan for twice saving my laptop from a virus, and Mzalendo Kibunjia. Fieldwork and language training in Kenya conducted in June and July of 2003 were funded by Princeton University’s Program in Urbanization and Migration as well as a Bigel Award and a Special Opportunity Grant for Pre-dissertation Research from Rutgers University. Research conducted from September 2005 through August 2006 was funded by a Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research Fellowship. Follow-up research conducted in May through September 2007 and June through August 2008 was funded by a Bigel Award and a University and Bevier Fellowship, both from Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. v Portions of this work have been presented at annual meetings of the American Anthropological Association and the African Studies Association in addition to conferences at Rutgers University, Princeton University, and in Mombasa, Kenya. I thank fellow participants and audience members for helpful comments and suggestions. Finally, my academic colleagues, close friends, and family were supportive throughout the dissertation process, providing me with important intellectual, financial, and moral support. I am particularly indebted to my parents and sister, James, Marilyn, and Nora Mahoney; Albert Badokufa; Chelsea Booth; Jennifer Chong; Joseph Debiec; Neema Deche; Andrew Eisenberg; Megan Ference; Andrew Gerkey; Kennedy Gitu; John Goodson; Christopher Kelliher; Jacqueline Kowa; Emily McDonald; Sarasij Majumder; Noelle Molé; Boaz Moseti; Harrison Munga; Shir ũ Mwangi; Benjamin and Celine Neimark; Moses Oganda; Jeremy Prestholdt; Ryan Quinlan; Debarati Sen; and Bradley Wilson. vi Table of Contents Page Abstract ii Preface iv List of Tables x List of Maps xi List of Photos xii Chapter 1 The Art of Connection: A Theoretical Framework 1 Mombasa: A City of Connection 11 African Art as Global Commodity 19 Project Design, Language, and Methods 25 Profile of Study Participants 33 Social Change, Identity, and Ethnicity 39 ICTs and Political Crisis in Contemporary Kenya 44 A Note on Naming 54 Chapter Outline 55 Chapter 2 Mombasa Marginalized: Claims to Land, Labor and Legitimacy in a Tourist City 60 Mvita, “the Swahili,” and Coastal Marginality 65 Belonging in Mombasa 78 Majimbo -ism 85 “Civilizing” Old Town 89 Religion and the Political Division of Coastal Muslims 97 Kaya Bombo and the Targeting of Migrants 103 vii Ethnic Essentialism on the Kenyan Coast 108 Organization and the Fort Jesus Curio Group 110 Organization and Cooperation 121 Conclusion 126 Chapter 3 Cooperatives and the City: Consolidation, Fragmentation, and Tourism in Mombasa 129 The Human Geography of Kenyan Tourism and Handicrafts 132 The Cooperative Society 141 Consolidation in Mombasa 147 The 1990s - Insecurity and Economic Collapse 157 Nassir’s Demolitions and “City Cleaning” 164 The Economic Fallout of the Kiosk Demolitions 174 Conclusion 189 Chapter 4 Curio Vendors and the Kenyan State: Negotiating Formality in Mombasa 192 Kenya’s “Informal” or Jua Kali Sector 195 President Kibaki the Economist 201 The Rise and Fall of the “Free Mark” 214 Traders, Artisans, Formalization, and Mobility 219 Case 1: Fort Jesus and the National Museums of Kenya 229 Case 2: Regulating Beach Vendors 231 Case 3: Licensed Exporting and “Clearing and Forwarding” 235 Conclusion 240 viii Chapter 5 The Digital Divide and Kenya’s Curio Industry: The Political Economy of Technologies and Competition 242 Africa and ICTs in the 21st Century 246 Telecommunications and ICT Liberalization in Kenya 249 ICTs and the Curio Industry 261 Individuals versus Cooperatives 276 Magongo Market and Akamba Industry 281 Conclusion 289 Chapter 6 From Ethnic Brands to Fair Trade Labels: The Illusion