AO: The authors think about “capacity” in terms of relational, “arising not only in negotiations and trans- actions between African and non-African experts, but also in materiality, in time, in technopolitics and geopolitics, in the cohesion and dissolution of collectives, in points of contact between labor and dreams.”
AO: They argue that the capacity to dream is an important aspect of “capacity” which anticipates change and moves towards different, improved futures. They hold that form of capacity must be “appreciated, maintained ‒ and built in order to energize medical and scientific activity – as political and social action – for improved health.” (354). I appreciate this perspective of capacity but also note that concepts of “techutopias” are already heavily used within tech circles in Africa (which are heavily caught up in “Africa Rising” narratives that perhaps the health and care sector is not. See a lot of the work related to “dreaming up the future” of Africa (via tech). I think there needs to also be further nuance to these “dreams” to denote where many of these imaginaries are stemming from (e.g. Wakanda??).
AO: The authors are strong in their macro and nano descriptions of the notions of capacity and historicize the concept.
