Being Available and Reachable: New Media and Cameroonian Transnational Sociality

List of figures

xvii List of figures Figure 1: An adapted map of Germany showing Freiburg………………. xiii Figure 2: An adapted map of Cameroon showing Buea………………… xiv Figure 3: Map of Western Cameroon…………………………………… xv Figure 4: An average call in Cameroon…………………………………. 89 Figure 5a: Finger on the ‘stop’ button in readiness to ‘cut the call……… 90 Figure 5b: A staged thumb-on-the-stop-button………………………… 90 Figure 6: A Cameroonian villager checks a missed call on her phone………………………………………………………………..106 Figure7a: Orange advertises ‘free’ calls from midnight to 4:59am………. 109 Figure 7b: People could talk 24 hrs each day at a cost of 15000FCFA per month…………………………………………………………………....110 Figure 8a: Freiburg: the interior of a cyber café………………………… 111 Figure 8b: Buea: the interior of a cyber cafe before the wooden divide… 112 Figure 8c: Buea: the interior of the cyber cafe after the wooden divide…. 113 Figure 9a: A call box also sells sweets as well as evangelical material…… 125 Figure 9b: This call box sells fruits and chips too……………………….. 126 Figure 9c: A mobile phone simulacrum………………………………….126 Figure 9d: A call box operator take a break at noon…………………….. 127 Figure 9e: A hotel worker advertises her call box service………………... 127 Figure 9f: It cost 100FCFA to call between zero and 59 seconds………. 128 Figure 9g: A call box advertises its services…………………………….. 128 Figure10a: People could call regardless of whatever space they find themselves……………………………………………………………….131 Figure 10b: Migrants mostly call in the weekends………………………. 131 Figure 10c: Migrants are chained to non-migrants through calls………… 132 Figure 11: A migrant dials the codes of a scratched call card into his xviii phone………………………………………………………………….... 134 Figure 12: The commercial area in Molyko is separated by a main road………………………………………………………………..146 Figure 13: Cars with chassis number are often associated with the Bushfallers………………………………………………………………... 146 Figure 14: Gifts destined to migrants…………………………………… 200 Figure 15a: A money transfer agency in Cameroon…………………….. 205 Figure 15b: Money transfer agency in Freiburg…………………………. 205 Figure 16: A photo of a rejected phone…………………………………. 229 Figure 17. ‘Fat’ mobile phones are often likened to Kumba Bread……… 230 Figure 18: Migrants easily monitor their investments through the new media…………………………………………………………………… 232 Figure 19: A photo sent through the internet could forcefully serve as testimony………………………………………………………………...237 ...