Connecting with home, keeping in touch: physical and virtual mobility across stretched families in sub-Saharan Africa

Abstract

There is a long history of migration among low-income families in sub-Saharan Africa, in which (usually young, often male) members leave home to seek their fortune in what are perceived to be more favourable locations. While the physical and virtual mobility practices of such stretched families are often complex and contingent, maintaining contact with distantly located close kin is frequently of crucial importance for the maintenance of emotional (and possibly material) well-being, both for those who have left home and for those who remain. This article explores the ways in which these connections are being reshaped by increasing access to mobile phones in three sub-Saharan countries – Ghana, Malawi and South Africa – drawing on interdisciplinary, mixed-methods research from twenty-four sites, ranging from poor urban neighbourhoods to remote rural hamlets. Stories collected from both ends of stretched families present a world in which the connectivities now offered by the mobile phone bring a different kind of closeness and knowing, as instant sociality introduces a potential substitute for letters, cassettes and face-to-face visits, while the rapid resource mobilization opportunities identified by those still at home impose increasing pressures on migrant kin.

The Promise and Peril of Mobile Phones for Youth in Rural Uganda: Multimethod Study of Implications for Health and HIV

“…Consistent with previous literature, we found that phones were critical for engaging in social and economic interactions [ 1 , 5 , 45 ]. From hairstylists to boda boda drivers, a mobile phone was required to conduct daily business, and this was more common for older participants as compared with younger participants.…”

“…In a region where many roads are unpaved and people have limited economic and health resources, mobile phones are changing the ways that young people form social connections [ 5 , 43 - 45 ], and these changing social dynamics have implications for sexual relationships [ 3 ]. This study demonstrates how mobile phone ownership is critical for engaging in economic, social, and sexual behaviors in the Rakai region.…”

Mobile phones, gender, and female empowerment in sub-Saharan Africa: studies with African youth

“…Data-collection in 2012-2015 commenced with in-depth interviews with young people about their phone experiences. Using a story-based approach, we gathered information on diverse themes, from education, healthcare and inter-generational relations, to livelihoods, religious and political life (Hampshire et al, 2015(Hampshire et al, , 2016Porter et al, 2015Porter et al, , 2016Porter et al, , 2018aPorter et al, , 2018b. Separate 'call register' interviews focused on the mostly more mundane arena of phone and sim card contact lists, and recent calls, texts, missed calls, and interactions on social network sites.…”

Youth Livelihoods in the Cellphone Era: Perspectives from Urban Africa

“…Another suggestion, which sits particularly well in the current era of social protection, cash transfers and campaigns for the basic income grant, is that social assistance might be extended and also provided for the chronically unemployed as a basic income grant, among other things, to reduce the burden on urban-based migrant youth (Hall, Ebrahim, De Lannoy, & Makiwane, 2015, p. 81). This makes sense, given that many urban young people are currently trapped in poverty, often exacerbated by the need to send money back to rural homes (which arguably prevents them from investing in training or business expansion) (Porter et al, 2018). However, this is a complex issue, as Ferguson (2015, p. 160) recognises.…”