The Fourth Industrial Revolution and the Recolonisation of Africa

About the Book

The Fourth Industrial Revolution and the Recolonisation of Africa: The Coloniality of Data

Author: Everisto Benyera

Publisher: Routledge

Publication Date: 2021

Pages: 213

ISBN: 978-0-367-74415-1 (hbk), 978-0-367-74420-5 (pbk), 978-1-003-15773-1 (ebk)

Book Summary

Benyera argues the Fourth Industrial Revolution furthers Africa's marginalization through data colonialism. Tech companies harvest African data without regulation, transforming it into capital. This continues historical extraction patterns—from slavery to resource exploitation—now as "coloniality of data." Africa's weak institutions enable this digital recolonization, threatening sovereignty and deepening inequality in the continent's ongoing subjugation by powerful global tech oligarchies today.

Key Concepts

The Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR)

The Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR), a concept popularized by World Economic Forum founder Klaus Schwab, represents the unprecedented fusion of digital, biological, and physical systems through technologies like AI, IoT, blockchain, quantum computing, and biotechnology. It features hyper-connectivity between humans and machines, widespread automation that disrupts traditional labor markets and industries, and raises significant ethical challenges including privacy concerns, algorithmic bias, and digital colonialism—a critique particularly emphasized by perspectives from the Global South.

Coloniality of Data

The book develops the concept of "Coloniality of Data" to describe how the Fourth Industrial Revolution enables a new form of colonization through data extraction. This continues the historical pattern of exploitation that began with slavery and continued through resource extraction during the colonial era.

Digital Recolonization

Prof. Benyera argues that Africa is experiencing digital recolonization as tech companies harvest African data without proper regulation or compensation, transforming this data into capital. This process is enabled by Africa's weak institutions and deepens inequality on the continent.

Book Chapters

Explore the book's chapters by clicking on the chapter tabs above. Each chapter page provides key insights into Prof. Benyera's analysis of the Fourth Industrial Revolution and its impact on Africa.

Chapter 1: Data coloniality: A decolonial perspective of Africa and the 4IR

Introduces the concept of data coloniality and examines how the Fourth Industrial Revolution impacts Africa from a decolonial perspective.

Chapter 2: Historicising Africa's subjugation

Explores the historical context of Africa's subjugation through slavery, colonialism, and now digital colonialism.

Chapter 3: Contextualising the colonial project in Africa

Analyzes how colonial projects in Africa have evolved and continue in new forms through technological means.

Chapter 4: Data mining, harvesting, and datafication

Examines how African data is mined, harvested, and commodified by global tech companies without proper regulation.

Chapter 5: Networks, big data, and data coloniality: Whither Africa's sovereignty?

Questions Africa's digital sovereignty in the age of big data and explores how networks enable data colonialism.

Chapter 6: The 4IR as the mother of all destructions and accumulations

Positions the Fourth Industrial Revolution as a culmination of extractive processes that both destroy and accumulate resources from Africa.

Chapter 7: Mapping Africa's destiny in the fourth industrial revolution

Considers possible futures for Africa in the context of the Fourth Industrial Revolution and potential paths forward.

Chapter 8: Africa's eunuch condition and the omnipresent footprints of the four industrial revolutions

Examines Africa's disempowered position through the lens of all four industrial revolutions and their continuing impact.

Audio Interviews

KPFK Spotlight Africa: The Fourth Industrial Revolution

Listen to Prof. Benyera discuss the Fourth Industrial Revolution and its impact on Africa:

🎧 Listen to Prof. Benyera's Interview

In this interview, Prof. Benyera explores how the Fourth Industrial Revolution is reshaping Africa's relationship with global powers and technology companies. This segment from KPFK Spotlight Africa provides in-depth analysis of data colonialism and its implications for African sovereignty.

About the Author

Prof. Everisto Benyera

Everisto Benyera is Associate Professor of African Politics at the University of South Africa. His research focuses on decolonial perspectives on African politics, with particular emphasis on how global power structures continue to shape Africa's political and economic landscape.

In "The Fourth Industrial Revolution and the Recolonisation of Africa," Prof. Benyera applies a decolonial framework to analyze how technological changes are reinforcing historical patterns of exploitation on the African continent.

His work contributes to the growing body of scholarship that critiques the Fourth Industrial Revolution from perspectives outside the Global North, highlighting concerns about digital colonialism and data sovereignty that are often overlooked in mainstream discussions of technological progress.