ABSTRACT
This chapter analyzes the role of the computer in Global South literature. The computer has been a heavy-duty commitment in the Global South: in an increasingly amplified global economy, the Global South is the birthplace of necessary raw materials, which get disproportionately devalued in Global North centers. The digital is inarguably the sine qua non of contemporary urban life; it is ubiquitous to social life, at once processing a gamut of functions, from paying bills, watching movies to accessing healthcare services—the one-stop social smorgasbord accessible by one touch and a swipe. In simple terms, this essay is invested in the life of the object and the ways in which the object constitutes the social. It demonstrates this through two examples from Alejandro Zambra's “Memories of a Personal Computer” and Aravind Adiga's The White Tiger.
