Despite issues associated with the digital divide, mobile telephony is growing on the continent and the rise of smartphones has given citizens easy access to social networking sites. But the digital divide, which mostly reflects on one's race, gender, socioeconomic status or geographical location, stands in the way of digital progress. What opportunities are available to tame digital disparities? How are different societies in Africa handling digital problems? What innovative methods are being used to provide citizens with access to critical information that can help improve their lives? Experiences from various locations in several sub-Saharan African countries have been carefully selected in this collection with the aim of providing an updated account on the digital divide and its impact in Africa.

Bruce Mutsvairo is a Professor of Journalism at Auburn University, AL, USA. He has authored or edited 8 scholarly books including in 2019 alone:Mutsvairo B, Bebawi S and Borges-Rey, E (2019). Data Journalism in the Global South (Eds). Prefaced by Oscar Westlund, Ester Appelgren and Carl-Gustav Linden. London: Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 978-3-030-25177-2Mutsvairo, B and Muneri C. (2019). Journalism, Democracy and Human Rights in Zimbabwe. Prefaced by Tawana Kupe. Lenham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group. ISBN 978-1-4985-9976-4Mutsvairo B and Ragnedda M. (2019). Mapping the Digital Divide in Africa: A Mediated Analysis. Eds. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press. ISBN 9789462986855.[Massimo Ragnedda](https://www.northumbria.ac.uk/about-us/our-staff/r/massimo-ragnedda/) is Senior Lecturer in Media and Cultural Studies at the University of Northumbria. Prior to joining the University of Northumbria, he worked at the University of Sassari from 2006 to 2012. During this time, he worked as a lecturer and supervisor of research, published widely and delivered presentations in several countries. He holds a PhD from the University of Sassari in Italy.

List of Figures and TablesAcknowledgementsNotes on ContributorsSection I: Foundations and Theory1. Comprehending the digital disparities in Africa - Bruce Mutsvairo & Massimo Ragnedda2. Conceptualizing the digital divide - Massimo Ragnedda 3. From Global to Local, Metropolitan to the village. A Case for definitional and context-oriented approach to examining the 'digital divide' - Tenford Chitanana4. Technology and the democratic space in Africa: A re-examination of the notion of 'digital divide' - Muhammed MusaSection II: Social Inclusion and Digital Exclusion5. The partially digital: Internet and South African youth -Toks Oyedemi6. Online football fandom as a microcosm of the digital participation divide in Zimbabwe - Lyton Ncube7. The discourse of digital inclusion of women in Rwanda's media: A thematic analysis of Imvaho Nshya and The New Times newspapers - Margaret Jjuuko and Joseph Njuguna Section III Cultural, Social and Economic Paradigms 8. The digital divide and film - Beschara Karam9. Digital divide or information divide: Interrogating Telecommunication Penetration measurements in communal African Societies - Chika Anyanwu10. Exploring how mobile phones mediate bonding, bridging and linking social capital in a South African rural area - Lorenzo Dalvit and Mbalenhle Buthelezi 11. Bridging the Digital Gap in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Critical Analysis of Illiteracy and Language Divide - Steven Sam 12. Kenya's 'mobile agriculture' discourse: unpacking notions of technology, modernisation and development - Sara BrouwerIndex