Digital practices of e-waste businesses in the Global South - The case of Cape Town in South Africa (2024-2027)
Digital practices of e-waste businesses in the Global South - The case of Cape Town in South Africa (2024-2027)
Project Description:
The project investigates how digital practices shape the organization and development of e-waste businesses in Cape Town. Many actors in the e-waste economy - particularly informal waste pickers - operate under precarious conditions and face profound socio-economic and infrastructural challenges. Against the backdrop of ongoing digitalization, the project explores to what extent and in what ways these actors adopt and use digital tools such as mobile phones, social media, and online platforms in their daily business practices.
By combining approaches from ICT for Development (ICT4D) and Global Value Chain research, the project examines how information and communication technologies (ICT) influence business practices, value-chain integration, and upgrading potentials. It explores both the opportunities for more inclusive and transformative development and the risks of new forms of exclusion through digital divides and shifting power relations.
Publications:
Dannenberg, P.; Schenck, C. (2021): Die Elektroschrott-Wertschöpfungskette in Südafrika, Geographische Rundschau, 2021 (12), 22-27
Project duration: 2024-2027
Project Head: Prof. Dr. Peter Dannenberg
Investigator: Simon Becker (PhD student)
International Partners: Prof. Catherina Schenck (DSTI/NRF/CSIR/SARChI Chair in Waste and Society at the University of the Western Cape), Jonathan Kwangulero (Master student at the University of Western Cape)
Funding: DFG research grant
Research activities: Empirically, the study draws on mixed methods, including surveys and qualitative interviews with actors across the e-waste value chain.
International reference: South Africa