Published online by Cambridge University Press: 27 July 2012
This article examines the ways in which young men in the city of Inhambane, southern Mozambique, harness communication to express and address experiences of constrained physical and social mobility. It starts with an analysis of a highly valued form of oral communication – bater papo – that youth, especially young men, engage in on a daily basis before turning to mobile phone use. Tying these different forms of communication together is a profound desire to claim membership of, and to participate in, a world that remains elusive for most. However, if mobile phone communication builds on pre-existent forms of communication, it takes on particular aesthetic qualities that speak of, rather than resolve, exclusion. The article argues that, while helping bridge distances in significant ways, mobile phone communication nonetheless, and somewhat ironically, also betrays young men's immobility.
Cet article examine comment les hommes jeunes d'Inhambane, ville située dans le Sud du Mozambique, se servent de la communication pour exprimer leurs expériences de mobilité physique et sociale restreinte, et y faire face. Il commence par analyser une forme très prisée de communication orale appelée bater papo que les jeunes, et notamment les hommes, pratiquent au quotidien, avant de se pencher sur l'utilisation du téléphone portable. Ces différentes formes de communication ont en commun un désir profond d'appartenir et de participer à un monde qui demeure inaccessible pour beaucoup. Si la communication téléphonique mobile se nourrit certes des formes de communication préexistantes, elle revêt cependant des qualités esthétiques particulières qui parlent de l'exclusion plutôt que de la résoudre. L'article soutient que la communication téléphonique mobile, même si elle aide à rapprocher de manière significative, trahit néanmoins aussi et assez paradoxalement l'immobilité des hommes jeunes.
To send this article to your Kindle, first ensure no-reply@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about sending to your Kindle. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.
Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.
Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.
To save this article to your Dropbox account, please select one or more formats and confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you used this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your Dropbox account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.
To save this article to your Google Drive account, please select one or more formats and confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you used this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your Google Drive account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.