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Contents
- LANGAA RPCIG
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- Additional Information
iii Table of Contents Acknowledgment………………………………………………………...vii Abstract………………………………………………………………… ix List of Acronyms………………………………………………………...xi Location of Field Sites………………………………………………….. xiii List of Figures…………………………………………………………... xvii Introduction to Being Available and Reachable………………………… xix Chapter I: Ethnographic Background………………………………. 1 Introduction……………………………………………………………..1 Colonial History: Coastal Plantations and Migration…………………… 2 Meaning of Migration and Staying Back………………………………… 9 Plantation Workers, Practices of Remittances and Conflicts……………. 11 Ties After Migration: Rural-urban Linkages and Solidarities……………. 15 Brief History of Contemporary Migration Out of Cameroon…………… 19 Telephone and Internet History in Cameroon…………………………... 21 Chapter II: Theoretical and Conceptual Framework………………. 25 Introduction……………………………………………………………..25 Anthropological Approach to New Media and Relationships……………25 Connectedness, Closeness and Instant Sociality………………………… 27 New Media and Transnationalism………………………………………. 28 New Media and Social Liveness………………………………………… 30 Conclusion………………………………………………………………34 Chapter III: Methodology……………………………………………..35 Introduction……………………………………………………………..35 Fieldwork in Freiburg……………………………………………………35 Access, Credibility and Ethical Considerations…………………………. 36 Fieldwork in Buea………………………………………………………. 40 Access, Credibility and Ethical Considerations…………………………. 41 Research Participants, Methods and Types of Data…………………….. 44 Reflections on the Tandem Model……………………………………… 48 Position as Researcher…………………………………………………...51 Multi-sited Ethnography: Integrating Results from Different Sites………54 Conclusion………………………………………………………………56 iv Chapter IV: Sensory Experiences and Selected Practices of CrossBorder Sociality……………………………………………………….. 57 Introduction……………………………………………………………..57 Expectations and the Compulsions to Get in Touch…………………… 58 The ‘Feel’ of the Media and Choice: Internet, Mobile Phones and Calls…………………………………………………………………….. 61 Selected Practices of Transnational Sociality…………………………… 67 Beeping: Wordless Sociality……………………………………………... 69 Call Requests and Promises: ‘Call me Back’ and ‘I’ll Call you Back’…… 79 Bush and Pays Calls: Answer and Talk…………………………………. 83 New Media Literacy and Sociality……………………………………… 93 Conclusion………………………………………………………………98 Chapter V: New Media Technology and Sociality………………… 101 Introduction……………………………………………………………..101 Sociality, Cost and Access to Technology………………………………. 102 Spaces of Sociality……………………………………………………… 108 The Cyber Cafes…………………………………………………………110 The Call Centres………………………………………………………... 120 Placeless Spaces………………………………………………………… 122 Call Boxes………………………………………………………………. 124 Call Cards in Freiburg…………………………………………………... 129 Conclusion………………………………………………………………135 Chapter VI: Visual Imagery, Virtuality and Trans-border Imaginations…………………………………………………………... 137 Introduction……………………………………………………………..137 Migrant-focused Visual Imagery…………………………………………138 Bush Photos, Success, Denials and Concealments……………………… 139 Urban Visibility of Returned and Visiting Migrants…………………….. 144 Summing up Visual Imagery……………………………………………..148 On Virtuality: Deceit and Suspicion?........................................................ 149 Not Being There, ‘Truth’ and Rationality in Deceit…………………….. 150 Deceit and the Person…………………………………………………... 155 The Nation-state, Imaginations of Distance and Sociality……………… 156 Conclusion………………………………………………………………161 [34.200.248.66] Project MUSE (2024-03-28 18:11 GMT) v Chapter VII: Social Closeness, Distance and Discontent…………. 163 Introduction……………………………………………………………..163 Social Distance, Friendship and Family Ties…………………………… 164 Friendship: Bushfallers, Relationships and Break-ups………………….. 167 Family Examples: A Family within the Family…………………………. 176 Sharing Contacts: The Glee and Pain of Numbers……………………… 180 Experiences of Power Asymmetries…………………………………….. 186 Opportunism in Mediated Ties…………………………………………. 191 The Burden of ‘False’ Impressions: Focus on Non-migrant Youths………………………………………………………………….. 194 Conclusion………………………………………………………………196 Chapter VIII: New Media and Material Expression of Transnational Social Ties…………………….………………………………………...199 Introduction……………………………………………………………. 199 Morality and Obligation: ‘Settling’ Non-migrants………………………. 201 The ‘Right’ to Request………………………………………………….. 201 Obligation to Support, Guilt and ‘Duress’……………………………… 206 Morally-correct Requests……………………………………………….. 210 Consciousness of Economic Position……………………………………214 On Pride, Dignity and Remittances…………………………………….. 215 Unspoken but Covert Expectations…………………………………….. 218 Expectations and Disenchantment………………………………………222 Illusions of Life Transformation………………………………………... 224 New Media, Investment and Scepticism…………………………………230 Demands for Instant Solutions: ‘We do not have Immediate Solutions here’…………………………………………………………………….. 238 Family Squabbles……………………………………………………….. 242 Irritated Predator? A Recent Migrant Complains……………………….. 249 Conclusion………………………………………………………………252 Chapter IX: Conclusion and Suggestions…………………………… 255 Thinking beyond Calls………………………………………………….. 255 Being Available and Reachable…………………………………………. 256 New Media, Inequality and Sociality……………………………………. 259 New Media, Bind and Grind of Relationships…………………………... 262 Conclusion………………………………………………………………266 vi References……………………………………………………………… 269 ...