Introduction:

Bruijn, Mirjam de; Nyamnjoh, Francis B.; Brinkman, Inge

doi:10.2307/j.ctvk3gmgv.6

Cited by 35 publications

(21 citation statements)

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“…Young and older people's stories from either end of stretched families offer an entrée into a world where the connectivities now presented by the mobile phone bring a different kind of closeness and knowing, new images and understandings of home and away, new hopes and opportunities – but not the elimination of persistent fears (Nyamnjoh 2013a; 2013b). Meanwhile, the growing potential to defy distance and time, by making increasingly low-cost connections to home feasible from distant places, even far beyond the African continent, is inevitably reflected in both changing migration trajectories and associated mobility practices (de Bruijn et al 2013).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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

Porter¹,

Hampshire²,

Abane³

et al. 2018

Africa

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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.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…De Bruijn et al . (2013: 11) use the term ‘strings of people’, but this encompasses migrant networks that extend more widely than family.…”

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confidence: 99%

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

Porter¹,

Hampshire²,

Abane³

et al. 2018

Africa

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“…Young people's use of mobile phones has expanded dramatically across sub‐Saharan Africa over the last decade in both urban and rural contexts (de Bruijn, Nyamnjoh & Brinkman, ; Porter et al ., ). In their 2012/2013 Africa Development Indicators report, the World Bank noted that over 80 per cent of urban people in Africa had access to mobile phones; this may well be an underestimate.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mobile Phones and Education in Sub‐Saharan Africa: From Youth Practice to Public Policy

Porter

Hampshire

Milner

et al. 2015

J of Intl Development

104

103

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Young people's use of mobile phones is expanding exponentially across Africa. Its transformative potential is exciting, but findings presented in this paper indicate how the downside of mobile phone use in African schools is becoming increasingly apparent. Drawing on mixed-methods field research in 24 sites across Ghana, Malawi and South Africa and associated discussions with educational institutions, public policy makers and network providers, we examine the current state of play and offer suggestions towards a more satisfactory alignment of practice and policy which promotes the more positive aspects of phone use in educational contexts and militates against more damaging ones.

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“…Since mobile phones have become ubiquitous in African communication landscapes, their layered meanings, functions and dynamics in the most mundane aspects of everyday life have been widely debated (Archambault 2012; 2013; De Bruijn et al 2009; McIntosh 2010; Pype 2017a; Zegeye and Muponde 2012). In these studies, little attention has been paid to the commercial uses of mobile phones, especially the smartphone, which offers access to the internet as well as online media platforms.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Navigating (im)mobility: female entrepreneurship and social media in Khartoum

Steel¹

2017

Africa

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Through Facebook and other social media, a growing number of well-educated women in Khartoum are marketing and selling typically female personal care and beauty items online. These ‘tajirat al-Facebook’ (or Facebook traders) are the new entrepreneurs of Sudan who work from home to run their businesses and widen their social circles. Relying on the urban infrastructure of mobile phones, delivery boys, digital connectivity and online platforms, they navigate public life from the intimate sphere of the home or harem to become successful businesswomen who continuously transcend conventional gender norms and classic divisions between public and private, online and offline, and work and family. By addressing the day-to-day socio-economic practices of these traders, this article casts innovative light upon the broader discussions surrounding the role of women in economic life in Africa. It is argued that the mobile phone, and the smartphone in particular, has opened up a range of opportunities for women to enhance their social and economic manoeuvring space and to negotiate power within, and beyond, the domestic realm. New communications technologies have paved the way for a new kind of entrepreneurship in which the commercial goals of profit making are intimately entwined with the broader practices of sociality and diversion from boredom.

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Introduction:

Cited by 35 publications

References 0 publications

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

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

Mobile Phones and Education in Sub‐Saharan Africa: From Youth Practice to Public Policy

Navigating (im)mobility: female entrepreneurship and social media in Khartoum

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