Laura's research focuses on the developmental implications of technological change, spanning work on agriculture (tea, coffee, avocados, potatoes and almonds), tourism and Business Process Outsourcing (BPO). Her publications draw on extensive fieldwork and interviews with managers, entrepreneurs, workers, industry representatives and policy-makers. Her work also explores how neoliberal reforms of higher education have had varied impacts across high, middle and low-income countries, shaping the way science and innovation has been organised and commercialised across borders. Ultimately, she wants to answer the question: 'Who captures the benefits of knowledge and technology within the global economy and what can be done to increase and widen control of those benefits?’
Below are some of Laura's recent articles, covering her research on the geopolitics of data governance, the political economy of digital agriculture in Kenya, the development implications of the IT enabled service sector in India, the Philippines and Kenya, and the politics of social policy programs in Sudan. Please click on the images for open access versions of these articles.
A full list of her publications can be found here.
A DC State of Mind? A Review of the World Development Report, 2021: Data for Better Lives.
Hellen Mukiri-Smith, Laura Mann and Shamel Azmeh critically review the recent 2021 WDR on Data within Development. They provide a brief summary of the report, before critiquing it on three grounds, namely that the evidence base behind its recommendations is weak and largely draws on data from high income countries; that its market-centric data governance framework serves the interests of existing incumbents while undermining data rights; and that it misrepresents the nature of global debates on data governance and thus undermines the actual positions taken by representatives from developing countries in such multilateral negotiations.
Misaligned Social Policy? Explaining the Origins and Limitations of Cash Transfers in Sudan
Muez Ali and Laura Mann trace the origins of cash transfers as a form of social policy in Sudan. They explore how the politics of the Ingaz regime reshaped the professional policy-making environment and created a curious kind of intellectual convergence among regime insiders and oppositional groups employed in international organisations. They ultimately argue that elite policy-making networks have become misaligned from popular concerns and struggles.
This piece is part of the FLIA Project, Public Authority and International Development.
Laura is continuing to work with Muez on a new pilot project examining the politics of climate transitions, which focuses on how transitions are being shaped by the varied legacies of neoliberal reforms to higher education and science in different regions of the world.
From Development State to Corporate Leviathan: Historicising the Infrastructural Performativity of Digital Platforms within Kenyan Agriculture
Laura Mann and Gianluca Iazzolino explore the notion that digital agricultural apps and platforms are being used to perform (or make work) neo-classical economics within rural Kenya. They historicize this 'infrastructural performativity' within a longer history of agricultural development paradigms.
This piece is part of the ESRC funded Project, A Tale of Two Green Valleys. You can find other publications and blogposts associated with this project here.
Laura is currently working on a book that builds on this article.
Photo credit: Carlos Ebert
Capturing Value Amidst Constant Global Restructuring? Information Technology Enabled services in India, the Philippines and Kenya
Jana Kleibert and Laura Mann scrutinize claims about service-led development by closely examining the experiences of Indian, Filipino and Kenyan BPO firms operating in the sector. Rather than the service sector representing a clear opportunity to 'leapfrog' industrialisation, the development opportunities of the sector are limited and dwindling. They further demonstrate that newer regions and firms cannot so easily replicated India's success due to both technological changes and the way incumbent firms have reconfigured production processes.
Laura recently wrote a short summary of this piece here.