Although questions of modernity are often at the forefront of debates in Francophone studies, current scholarship has largely neglected the representation of technology, including its fundamental role in community formation, development, and globalization for African and Caribbean authors. Yet an examination of how postcolonial Francophone literature represents technology transfer from the metropolis to the former colonies is crucial for understanding how these authors approach questions of modernity, extricate themselves from the vestiges of colonial rule, and propose a means of integrating their cultures into a global community.

The goal of this book project is thus to examine how technology, as both the product of a culture and a means of transforming it, brings individuals into close proximity to one another, produces objects that circulate between the metropolis and the colonies, and creates images that represent the peoples and territories of distant countries. As the “inter” prefix of the title suggests, this book project also examines how technological innovations act as intermediaries between colonizers and colonized, urban and rural cultures, French and African or Caribbean communities, and individuals networked together into a global society.