Being cool or being good: researching mobile phones in Mozambique
<p>Drawing on my fieldwork experience in Inhambane, Southern Mozambique, where I conducted research on mobile phone use amongst youth, my paper tackles issues of acceptance and rejection. As I sought to gain acceptance amongst youth I found myself participating in various controversial and, at...
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| Format: | Journal article |
| Language: | English |
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Anthropology Matters
2009
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| Subjects: |
| _version_ | 1797089422507769856 |
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| author | Archambault, J |
| author_facet | Archambault, J |
| author_sort | Archambault, J |
| collection | OXFORD |
| description | <p>Drawing on my fieldwork experience in Inhambane, Southern Mozambique, where I conducted research on mobile phone use amongst youth, my paper tackles issues of acceptance and rejection. As I sought to gain acceptance amongst youth I found myself participating in various controversial and, at times, dangerous activities that made me the victim of intense gossip and outright rejection by some. The fact that I came to the field accompanied by my husband and daughter only made matters worse. In this paper, I present the challenges of “being cool”, while also “being good”, and the repercussions of my research choices on my social standing. I then discuss how, instead of compromising my research, this predicament had a positive outcome by revealing social dynamics that might otherwise have remained hidden, namely the importance of concealment and the ambiguous role mobile phones play in deceit.</p> |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-07T03:03:57Z |
| format | Journal article |
| id | oxford-uuid:b1e1925c-5c70-44f7-958a-9cda2b6edc65 |
| institution | University of Oxford |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-07T03:03:57Z |
| publishDate | 2009 |
| publisher | Anthropology Matters |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | oxford-uuid:b1e1925c-5c70-44f7-958a-9cda2b6edc652022-03-27T04:07:26ZBeing cool or being good: researching mobile phones in MozambiqueJournal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:b1e1925c-5c70-44f7-958a-9cda2b6edc65AnthropologyEnglishOxford University Research Archive - ValetAnthropology Matters2009Archambault, J<p>Drawing on my fieldwork experience in Inhambane, Southern Mozambique, where I conducted research on mobile phone use amongst youth, my paper tackles issues of acceptance and rejection. As I sought to gain acceptance amongst youth I found myself participating in various controversial and, at times, dangerous activities that made me the victim of intense gossip and outright rejection by some. The fact that I came to the field accompanied by my husband and daughter only made matters worse. In this paper, I present the challenges of “being cool”, while also “being good”, and the repercussions of my research choices on my social standing. I then discuss how, instead of compromising my research, this predicament had a positive outcome by revealing social dynamics that might otherwise have remained hidden, namely the importance of concealment and the ambiguous role mobile phones play in deceit.</p> |
| spellingShingle | Anthropology Archambault, J Being cool or being good: researching mobile phones in Mozambique |
| title | Being cool or being good: researching mobile phones in Mozambique |
| title_full | Being cool or being good: researching mobile phones in Mozambique |
| title_fullStr | Being cool or being good: researching mobile phones in Mozambique |
| title_full_unstemmed | Being cool or being good: researching mobile phones in Mozambique |
| title_short | Being cool or being good: researching mobile phones in Mozambique |
| title_sort | being cool or being good researching mobile phones in mozambique |
| topic | Anthropology |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT archambaultj beingcoolorbeinggoodresearchingmobilephonesinmozambique |