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1 Introduction (1) ΍ ΍ϮϘΒΗϭ Ε΍έΎΒόϟ΍ ϒόπΗϭ ϑϭήΤϟ΍ ϰΤΘδΗ ϢϜϨϣ ήοΎΤϟ΍ ΐϳΎϐϟ΍ ϑήθΑ ΎϣϭΩ ϢΘϧ . minkum tistaHii al-Huruuf wa taDH‘af al-‘ibaaraat wa tabquu antum dawman bi-sharaf alghaaib al-HaaDHir ‘While the letter is timid and may weaken the phrase, you are forever kept in absent but present honor’ This Arabic poem, which appeared in a text message1 sent to one of my students at the University of Khartoum in Sudan, carries an illocutionary force, by performing the meaning expressed in the message content itself. It was explained to mean that a person may be absent with his body, the message,2 while not as good as the person, brings the absent person present with his soul. The capacity of the mobile phone to bring the “absent-present” (Gergen 2002), where physical presence is dissociated from mental presence, as this poem performs, is having a profound affect on people’s lives by bridging physical barriers, but also redefining taken-for-granted notions of place and belonging in the world. Mobile phones have been praised for “liberat(ing) individuals from the constraints of their settings” (Katz & Aakhus 2002) to facilitate being in multiple locations at one time. This can mean, for work situations, multitasking, or in emergencies, calling the police, or, in simple everyday relations between family and friends, a heightened and flexible means for staying in touch. Even such mundane changes seem to have oppositional effects: increased independence on the one hand, and increased sense of belonging or contact on the other. This thesis is an exploration of this capacity of the mobile phone: its simultaneous 1 Data will be presented in three lines: The first being an exact copy of the text-message, the second, a Latin alphabet transliteration of the Arabic script (see Appendix 1 for transcription conventions), the third line an English translation. 2 Here al-Huruuf ‘the letter (alphabetic)’. Chapter 1 2 ability to allow people to individuate themselves with respect to their designated social and/or physical “place” and to bring people together in new ways, create new social space and bring the absent-present to the University of Khartoum, which, quite symbolically, resides in a lush garden in downtown Khartoum, near the confluence of the Blue and White Niles at the geographic center of Northern Sudan. Northern Sudan is a fascinating place, in large part defined by its large distances , history of mobility and the necessity of long-distance communication (de Bruijn & Brinkman 2008) along the Nile on the one hand and between the Nile Valley and the peripheral areas which radiate out from the Nile. Its strength as a cultural unity, in large part comes from its long history as an Islamic region, in spite of the breadth of ethnic and racial diversity in its population. Such a virtual unity, based on common faith, the umma ‘Islamic community’, is reflected in the urban landscape of Khartoum, inhabiting public space, where the minarets of mosques emerge from the red dust as the tallest structures above the city. However , the new pinnacles of cellular towers are now emerging alongside the minarets , changing the landscape of Khartoum. They are iconic with their shape as well, as a means to transcend human capacities, the errors and awkwardness of physical limitations. Like earlier communication technologies in Sudan, e.g. steamers on the Nile or the telegraph, their influence is not only practical, but a means for exchanging ideas, emotions, cultural practices, connecting people and allowing for shared experiences, as well as being a symbol of modernity, independance and progress. On the ground, Khartoum, like other African cities, is a jumble of features and contradictions: you may take a rickshaw imported from India, order a chocolate milkshake from an Ethiopian waiter, you might sit next to a women in a black face-covering niqaab, or one from the South, permitted to wear short sleeves and no head covering; you’ll see Qaddafi’s new egg-shaped high rise hotel looming above the poverty-stricken urban sprawl, and looking for authentic Sudanese crafts in the old Sudanese market, souk Omdurman, you’ll find most everything imported from China. Such coexistences characterize city life, where people exist at multiple levels and interact face-to-face with people and objects outside of their known or designated relations. Interactions via the telephone, in contrast, are commonly thought of as private and personal. They are meant to put specific people in contact when face-to-face interaction is not possible. While the students at the University of Khartoum migrate from all directions, near...

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