Special issue  

This article questions an essentialist view of modern water, finding new relevance regarding models of blended finance that rely on transparent data of digital systems to close the financing gap in water provision. Ethnographically tracing the implementation of pay-as-you-go (PAYGo) water dispensers in two settings in Kenya, I show that the transparent performance data form part of the enactment of only one water reality amidst multiple waters in relation to their sociotechnical environments.

My ethnographic work in a technological pilot project in southern Tanzania provides insights into the test of an AI system to foster agriculture based on digital information in order to boost the development of rural areas. The experimental combination of a development project and the testing of a digital technology perpetuates the metaphor of Tilley's "Africa as a living laboratory", especially in the postcolonial context, and calls for a critical approach to these ventures.

We follow the refuge crop policy adopted worldwide to delay the evolution of pest resistance in insects to genetically engineered cotton. We aim to deconstruct the prevalent narrative of accusing farmers for not complying with insect resistance management strategies as we adopt the perspectives of subaltern actors involved in the refuge policy assemblage. Methodologically, we applied a literature review, document analysis and descriptive and interpretative statistics, and cluster analysis.