WhatsApp and Everyday Life in West Africa: Beyond Fake News

About the Author Idayat Hassan is Director of the Centre for Democracy and Development, an Abuja based policy, advocacy and research organisation with a focus on deepening democracy and development in West Africa. Idayat is a lawyer and has held fellowships in universities across Europe and America. Her interests span democracy, peace and security, transitional justice, and ICT4D across West Africa and her analysis is regularly sought by the BBC, Bloomberg and Voice of America.Jamie Hitchen is an independent researcher who focuses on politics in the social media age in West Africa. He co-authored a chapter on the use of WhatsApp in Sierra Leone's election to 'Social Media and Politics in Africa' (Zed Books) and has published research on Nigeria's WhatsApp Politics in the Journal of Democracy. He was previously policy researcher at Africa Research Institute and his analysis has been sought by leading international publications including The Economist, Financial Times, BBC and The Guardian. He is an Honorary Research Fellow of the University of Birmingham. Product Description WhatsApp is the most popular messaging platform in over 80% of countries in West Africa, and a daily port of call for a wide range of information and services. This edited collection seeks to examine the impact that this transformative technology has had beyond the much-discussed role it has played in the spread of misinformation, and explore more widely the fundamental changes that WhatsApp has brought to many citizens' lives in social, economic and political contexts.Ranging across subjects including political organisation, religious practice, and family relations, each author in this volume brings direct knowledge and testimony of the impact of WhatsApp across West African society. Review “There are a lot of platitudes about the role of end-to-end encrypted messaging services in society. Yet we know very little about how West Africans use these platforms. This exceptional book fills that gap, leveraging interviews and case studies to shed light on how WhatsApp is shaping politics, the media, trade, and associations. It should be required reading for anyone who wants to move beyond speculation and understand how people are actually using WhatsApp.” ―Shelby Grossman, Research Scholar, Stanford Internet Observatory“WhatsApp and Everyday life in West Africa is a rich source of material on all that is the power and danger of WhatsApp in Africa: how it is used and the impact of such uses, from the easy of spread of disinformation to democratizing the ability to communicate and engage with a wide audience. Hassan and Hitchen's book is a must have reference for activists, academics and civil society organizations working in human rights, civic engagement, democracy, elections, free press and disinformation, sustainable development. Now more than ever, in a time of ideological cleavages and rising authoritarianism as well as in a time of hope that we can reimagine what our societies can be, we must understand how to ensure the benefits of Whatsapp to our global and local communities, outweighs the disadvantages.” ―Ayisha Osori, Director, Open Society Foundations“This book is a refreshing take on how WhatsApp is imbricated in the everyday lives of Africans. The contributors and editors complicate the situatedness of WhatsApp in the cultural, social, economic, religious and political imaginary of African communities. They highlight the silenced stories around digital media use bringing attention especially to how marginalized groups like women use the app to subvert patriarchal restrictions on their participation in the public sphere and navigate their everyday lives while mobilizing for change.” ―Dr. Wunpini Fatimata Mohammed, Assistant Professor of Global Media, University of Georgia, USA“Hassan and Hitchen's edited collection of diverse accounts of WhatsApp use in West Africa provides a much-needed empirical perspective on social media o