"It's My Mobile": Adoption, Consumption and Meanings of the Mobile Phone Among Urban Youth in Botswana - An Ethnographic Study
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Author(s)
Primary Supervisor
Bennett, Andy
Other Supervisors
Feldman-Barrett, Christine
Kerr, David
Year published
2014
Metadata
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The purpose of this thesis is to offer an ethnographic account of the interactive relationship between mobile phones and urban youth in Botswana, a developing country in Sub-Saharan Africa. Although the adoption, consumption and meanings of the mobile phone among youth have received huge mention in the literature in relation to developed nations, to date there is very little similar research from many developing countries in the global South, where young people’s lifestyles are influenced by their distinct traditional cultures and characterised by unique socio-economic challenges such as rural-urban migration, unemployment, ...
View more >The purpose of this thesis is to offer an ethnographic account of the interactive relationship between mobile phones and urban youth in Botswana, a developing country in Sub-Saharan Africa. Although the adoption, consumption and meanings of the mobile phone among youth have received huge mention in the literature in relation to developed nations, to date there is very little similar research from many developing countries in the global South, where young people’s lifestyles are influenced by their distinct traditional cultures and characterised by unique socio-economic challenges such as rural-urban migration, unemployment, poverty and the digital divide. Using the three methods of qualitative research, namely non-participant observations (including diaries) and focus group discussions with twenty-eight urban youth aged between 18 and 25 in Francistown and Gaborone; as well as semi-structured interviews with thirty other people who interacted with youth participants in the study, I have demonstrated that mobile phones have become indispensable in both the general and localised aspects of youth lifestyles in Botswana. Although still developing, Botswana has significantly diffused mobile telephony countrywide, and consequently, many young people have adopted mobile phones to mainly expedite connectedness between them and other users, and enhance their social lifestyles. In particular, young people in Botswana use mobile phones to re-ensconce their traditional values and principles of contacting and connecting with their associates between their home villages, towns and settlements where they habitually migrate; to access public and social services that would have been difficult to access without the mobile phone; and to bridge the digital divide that has remained a serious problem in the country.
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View more >The purpose of this thesis is to offer an ethnographic account of the interactive relationship between mobile phones and urban youth in Botswana, a developing country in Sub-Saharan Africa. Although the adoption, consumption and meanings of the mobile phone among youth have received huge mention in the literature in relation to developed nations, to date there is very little similar research from many developing countries in the global South, where young people’s lifestyles are influenced by their distinct traditional cultures and characterised by unique socio-economic challenges such as rural-urban migration, unemployment, poverty and the digital divide. Using the three methods of qualitative research, namely non-participant observations (including diaries) and focus group discussions with twenty-eight urban youth aged between 18 and 25 in Francistown and Gaborone; as well as semi-structured interviews with thirty other people who interacted with youth participants in the study, I have demonstrated that mobile phones have become indispensable in both the general and localised aspects of youth lifestyles in Botswana. Although still developing, Botswana has significantly diffused mobile telephony countrywide, and consequently, many young people have adopted mobile phones to mainly expedite connectedness between them and other users, and enhance their social lifestyles. In particular, young people in Botswana use mobile phones to re-ensconce their traditional values and principles of contacting and connecting with their associates between their home villages, towns and settlements where they habitually migrate; to access public and social services that would have been difficult to access without the mobile phone; and to bridge the digital divide that has remained a serious problem in the country.
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Thesis Type
Thesis (PhD Doctorate)
Degree Program
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
School
School of Humanities
Copyright Statement
The author owns the copyright in this thesis, unless stated otherwise.
Item Access Status
Public
Subject
Mobile phone use, Botswana
Urban youth, Botswana
Mobile phone connectedness, Botswana
Social life, Botswana