Mobile Phones: The New Talking Drums of Everyday Africa

Contents

Contents List of photos vi Preface vii AN EXCERPT FROM MARRIED BUT AVAILABLE, A NOVEL BY FRANCIS B. NYAMNJOH 1 1 INTRODUCTION: MOBILE COMMUNICATIONS AND NEW SOCIAL SPACES IN AFRICA 11 Mirjam de Bruijn, Francis B. Nyamnjoh & Inge Brinkman 2 PHONING ANTHROPOLOGISTS: THE MOBILE PHONE’S (RE-)SHAPING OF ANTHROPOLOGICAL RESEARCH 23 Lotte Pelckmans 3 FROM THE ELITIST TO THE COMMONALITY OF VOICE COMMUNICATION: THE HISTORY OF THE TELEPHONE IN BUEA, CAMEROON 50 Walter Gam Nkwi 4 THE MOBILE PHONE, ‘MODERNITY’AND CHANGE IN KHARTOUM, SUDAN 69 Inge Brinkman, Mirjam de Bruijn & Hisham Bilal 5 TRADING PLACES IN TANZANIA: MOBILITY AND MARGINALISATION AT A TIME OF TRAVEL-SAVING TECHNOLOGIES 92 Thomas Molony 6 TÉLÉPHONIE MOBILE: L’APPROPRIATION DU SMS PAR UNE “SOCIÉTÉ DE L’ORALITÉ” 110 Ludovic Kibora 7 THE HEALER AND HIS PHONE: MEDICINAL DYNAMICS AMONG THE KAPSIKI/HIGI OF NORTH CAMEROON 125 Wouter van Beek 8 THE MOBILITY OF A MOBILE PHONE: EXAMINING ‘SWAHILINESS’ THROUGH AN OBJECT’S BIOGRAPHY 134 Julia Pfaff 9 COULD CONNECTIVITY REPLACE MOBILITY? AN ANALYSIS OF INTERNET CAFÉ USE PATTERNS IN ACCRA, GHANA 151 Jenna Burrell List of authors 171 v ...