Exchange, obligation, accountability: Moral orders of technology repair in Kampala, Uganda

2026-04-11

AI Summary

This study investigates the moral normative framework underpinning collaborative practices in the mobile phone and computer repair markets of Kampala, Uganda. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork—including participant observation and in-depth interviews—the research systematically identifies three dimensions of moral order: equitable exchange, cross-hierarchical collaboration, and relational accountability. It introduces the concept of a “moral order of repair,” which renders explicit and structures the informal norms embedded within moral economies, thereby elucidating how these norms shape ethical conduct and cooperative mechanisms in technical repair practices. This conceptual framework advances understanding of technology maintenance in non-Western contexts of the Global South and offers a novel perspective for scholarship in the anthropology of technology and moral economy.

Technology Category

• Philosophy and Ethics of AI: Morality & Value-based AI
• Game Theory and Economic Paradigms: Coordination and Collaboration
• Planning, Routing, and Scheduling: Replanning and Plan Repair

Application Category

• Economics, Online Markets and Human Computation: Fairness and ethical considerations in crowd work and in human-in-the-loop AI systems
• User Modeling, Personalization and Recommendation: Accountability, Transparency, and Ethics for personalization
• Responsible Web: Social and technical mechanisms of refusal for web technologies and applications

Abstract

This chapter develops the concept of moral orders of repair, defined as the specific norms, rules, values, and expectations that structure and support joint work and exchange in repair worlds and other spheres of collaborative practice. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork in mobile phone and computing repair markets in Kampala, Uganda, we identify three key dimensions of moral orders: fair exchange, collaboration across hierarchy, and relational accountability. We show how moral orders provide a detailed specification of informal rules gestured as implicit in moral economies, and how these rules inform the practical and ethical work of repair.

Problem

• moral orders
• repair
• fair exchange
• relational accountability
• collaboration

Innovation

• moral orders of repair
• fair exchange
• relational accountability
• collaboration across hierarchy
• ethnography of repair