Dangerous Technologies

Dangerous Technologies focuses on the prevalent theft of consumer electronics in post-Apartheid South Africa. Through a material culture perspective, it explores why these objects have commonly been targeted by bandits and subsequently circulated through the criminal underground. The author traces ethnographically how devices travel between various social spheres, delving into the experiences of a range of individuals: from diverse residents who fall victim to criminals, to the bandits who steal electronics for money or drugs, the African migrants who export consignments of stolen electronics to their home countries, the envious residents who buy stolen electronics, and, finally, the police attempting to grapple with the problem. Dangerous Technologies suggests that electronics have widened digital divides between citizens, resulting in underground circuits that seek to violently redistribute enviable electronics to low-income residents who have not been able to formally participate in electronics consumption and use. Due to porous borders, the widespread theft and redistribution of electronics do not only stem from internal inequalities within South African society but also from broader disparities across the African continent. The book furthers knowledge about how and why particularly modern electronics have precipitated violent property crime in democratic South Africa. It is relevant to scholars of social and cultural anthropology, particularly those with an interest in material culture, digital anthropology, and economic and political anthropology, as well as criminologists.

Brandaan Huigen is a Research Fellow in the Department of Anthropology at University College London, UK.

Introduction: Dangerous technologies 1. Crime waves and electronics 2. Glossy electronics as wealth 3. "Robber bait": Living with targeted electronics 4. Tech bandits and burgling work 5. "Kroon": Electronic currency of the underworld 6. Radical redistribution 7. Smuggling gadgets to African villages 8. "Mahala": Consuming stolen electronics 9. Policing electronics theft Conclusion: Desirable technologies.