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Article

French

ID: <

10.4000/tc.8475

>

·

DOI: <

10.4000/tc.8475

>

Where these data come from
Marginal reassemblies at the heart of the “hardware spMecque”

Abstract

This article is based on ethnographic fieldwork carried out in China between 2014 et 2016, which explored the fate of what is generally termed « e-waste ». Its sheds light on the recycling of used and defunct high-end smartphones, a relatively little known — yet large-scale — phenomenon. I put forward that this phenomenon compels us to bring nuances to, if not revise, several dominant representations of the global consumer electronics industry. The article shows that craftspeople and tradespeople engaged in the subsector of smartphone refurbishing have a fundamentally different approach to business from that of big brands such as Apple and Samsung, as well as an idiosyncratic operating mode and organization. Yet, the subsector occupies a key position within the global electronics industry, be it only on account of its geographic location.

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