By Fie Velghe
Abstract
The recent uptake of mobile phones has been especially remarkable in the developing world. For the first time in history the poorest of the poor can also take part in the telecommunication society. Mobile phone use is embedded in existing socio-economic realities which (re)shape technology as much as technology (re)shapes society. Based on ethnographic fieldwork in an impoverished community in Cape Town, this paper discusses the ways in which and to what extent (device) illiteracy influences the use of the mobile phone and vice-versa. By looking at different cases of mobile phone use of illiterate women, this paper explores the informal learning practices these women engage in, in an attempt to get as much out of their technological device as possible. Trying to circumvent the limitations and frustrations their illiteracy causes, these women have found own ways to appropriate the phone without being able to actually ‘read’ the device. Driven by their media ideologies and by ideas on what mobile phones can possibly offer them, the new communication technology instigates literacy interests and practices that emerge in very informal learning environments. The mobile phone has become a learning tool, nourishing learning practices and in an unprecedented way urging women to explore and learn, and to challenge their illiteracy.
Keywords: mobile phones, illiteracy, informal learning, ‘voice’, communities of practice
How to quote (APA): Velghe, F. (2012). “I wanna go in the phone”. Illiteracy, informal learning processes , ‘voice’ and mobile phone appropriation in a South African township. (Tilburg Papers in Culture Studies; No. 40).
Read the full working paper here: “I wanna go in the phone”. Illiteracy, informal learning processes , ‘voice’ and mobile phone appropriation in a South African township.
