Cite as:
Okune, Angela. 2018. "Thomas Hervé Mboa Nkoudou." In STS in "Africa" Personal Careers. In STS in "Africa" in Formation, edited by Angela Okune and Aadita Chaudhury. In STS Across Borders Digital Exhibit, edited by Aalok Khandekar and Kim Fortun. Society for Social Studies of Science. August.
STS Across Borders seeks to showcase STS from different regions, diasporas, and genealogies by exploring different ways STS developed across time and space, and the structures, infrastructures, and systems that have allowed–or worked against–the cultivation of STS modes of thinking. Digital collections developed as part of STS Across Borders are hosted in an evolving archive, infraStrucTureS.
Thomas studies the maker movement in francophone African countries to understand under what conditions the maker movement can be tools for sustainable development and how these spaces might foster innovation which fits with local needs.
The topic of Thomas’ research was born in Bangkok during his first meeting with the Open and Collaborative Science in Development Network (OCSDNet). “Hermes [Huang] and Denisa Kera ran a workshop on how to build a microscope and I saw how you can use a broken phone camera to build a microscope and observe small micro-organisms. That changed my mindset. I [had] spent 5 years at the University of Cameroon learning biochemistry / molecular biology but I was not able to use a microscope because we didn’t have microscope. Why can’t our decision-makers take this opportunity, this low-cost technology to improve their practice and understanding of biology? So, I decided to focus my PhD on open science and narrow it in on maker spaces and the DIY movement.”
How can I build indigenous educational resources for my community? How can digital be used to fill the gap between the lack of equipment and the indigenous knowledge that already exists?
AO: This paper by Thomas Hervé Mboa Nkoudou looks at the principles and values of maker movements from the perspective of its adoption in Africa.Read more
AO: This blog post by Thomas Hervé Mboa Nkoudou reflects on some of the rich discussions that took place from May 6 - 10, 2018 in Dakar, Senegal on the theme: "Non-aligned Utopias: Digital Imaginaries." During the panel discussion, representatives of fab...Read more