Reimagining digital development
An intersectional feminist critique of “tech solutionism” in India and Kenya
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 21114605 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Jamila Mehdiyeva (Hamad bin Khalifa University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Pages | 1-13 |
| Publication date | 2026-06-23 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Development in Practice (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0961-4524 • E-ISSN: 1364-9213 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/09614524.2026.2689992 |
| OpenAlex | W7165676285 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 21 |
Despite widespread enthusiasm for digital technologies as pathways to empowerment, critical scholarship shows that innovation alone cannot dismantle entrenched inequities. This article synthesises intersectional feminist and postcolonial critiques of “tech solutionism” through India’s Aadhaar biometric system and Kenya’s M-Pesa mobile money platform, arguing that mechanisms promising efficiency simultaneously reproduce gendered, racialised, and classed exclusions. Through critical narrative synthesis of 211 sources, I advance a proposed framework operationalising participatory co-design, reflexive implementation with privacy safeguards, and equity-oriented evaluation. This conceptual contribution reimagines digital development as collaborative and justice-oriented rather than techno-optimistic, offering a heuristic tool requiring empirical validation
Citizen journalism · Enthusiasm · Feminism · Narrative · Reflexivity · Scholarship · Cultural Studies · ICT Impact and Policies · ICT in Developing Communities · Innovation and Socioeconomic Development
The Costs of Connection
Data Feminism
Risk Sharing and Transactions Costs
The long-run poverty and gender impacts of mobile money
Time to challenge the spurious hierarchy of systematic over narrative reviews?
Algorithmic injustice
Domination and the Arts of Resistance
Writing Narrative Literature Reviews
Technocolonialism
Big Data from the South(s)
Introduction
Tackling online gender-based violence; understanding gender, development, and the power relations of digital spaces
Experimentation in humanitarian locations
Aadhaar
The digital revolution in financial inclusion
Mobile Money
Rethinking access
Situated Knowledges
Exploring the usage and impact of "transformational" mobile financial services
| Highly cited | No |
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