2. Display and Disguise
Julie Archambault · 2017
This chapter situates mobile phones within the regions’ broader communication landscape, namely in relation to other communication technologies such as landlines, letters and the radio, and in relation to a privileged form of oral communication known as bater papo which offers young people the opportunity to develop and showcase their visão. It also explores local responses to some of the challenges of mobile communication in an African context (limited access to electricity, patchy network coverage, illiteracy, and financial constraints) and introduces some of the solutions designed to mitigate these challenges. It discusses, for example, the practice of sending bips which are intentional missed calls that can mean anything from “call me” to “I’m here”. The chapter starts detailing what makes particular phone practices “Mozambican” and concludes with a critical reflection on appropriation and modernization.