Fabricating Silicon Savannah

This book provides a comprehensive overview oftechnology start-up arenas in Nairobiand examinestheir global place.These start-upsare popularly perceived as representing future prosperity that is incorporated in the present.The author examineshow developing country arenas lay bare the power asymmetries and taken-for-granted assumptions that determine which technoscientific imaginaries become globalized and universal, and are supported by legitimizing narratives, logics and institutions. A framing of 'catch-up' or 'leapfrogging' for technoscientific development that is based on capitalist modernity is regarded as incontrovertible-so much so that alternative values and approaches to technology production are rarely contemplated. This book documents how actors in Nairobi's startup arena relate to these imaginaries and the affects, enactments and places that they produce.