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    Being Available and Reachable: New Media and Cameroonian Transnational Sociality
    Being Available and Reachable: New Media and Cameroonian Transnational Sociality
    Being Available and Reachable: New Media and Cameroonian Transnational Sociality
    Ebook255 pages6 hours

    Being Available and Reachable: New Media and Cameroonian Transnational Sociality

    By Mbeanwoah Tazanu

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    About this ebook

    The book investigates what have become of Cameroonian transnational family and friendship ties in the age of the mobile phone and the internet that make people readily available and reachable. Most theoretical literature states that these tools of sociality cement transnational social relationships through instantaneous interaction. To capture the different experiences and impressions on the significance of these media in easing communication for migrants and non-migrants, Tazanu draws on ethnographic accounts based on his fieldwork in Freiburg (Germany) and Buea (Cameroon). He argues that it is mainly the migrants who maintain or are expected to maintain ties with non-migrants back in Cameroon through calls and material support. The main finding of the study is that cell phones and the internet have facilitated discontents, grudges, insults, fights, avoidance, arguments and estrangement of relationships much more than they have contributed to binding friends or families through direct mediation. Underlying these aspects of distanciation are the high expectations and sometimes contradictory motives for instant virtual interaction. Non-migrants accounts suggest that direct availability and reachability should lead to uninterrupted transnational interaction and also that the cultural practices of remittances from migrants are easily requested and coordinated. Such motives are generally contrary to migrants wishes, willingness or ability to support friends and families in Cameroon. These unexpected outcomes arising from rapid speed of interaction questions the advantages that are often associated with instant sociality across space and time. The finding is a call for the cultural background and life-world experiences of media users to be taken into consideration when theorising the significance of information technology in the debate on media globalisation.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherLangaa RPCIG
    Release dateJun 27, 2012
    ISBN9789956727223
    Being Available and Reachable: New Media and Cameroonian Transnational Sociality

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