| ID | 130730 |
| Title Proper | Mobile telephony, mediation, and gender in rural India |
| Language | ENG |
| Author | Tenhunen, Sirpa |
| Publication | 2014. |
| Summary / Abstract (Note) | This article aims to develop the understanding of new media and social change by examining how mobile phones mediate kinship and gender in rural India. I provide a nuanced picture of the contested nature of kinship and gender in the village based on long-term fieldwork in order to explore how mobile phones mediate relationships and ongoing processes of social change. The article illustrates how the physical qualities of phones help strengthen the multiplicity of discourses by mediating relationships and contributing to the multiplicity of speech contexts. Mobile phone use has been encouraged and motivated by kinship relationships and the use of mobile phones has, in turn, transformed these relationships by helping to create new contexts for speech and action. However, instead of the drastic improvements or changes, for instance in economic power relationships, the positive impacts of women's phone use appear subtle and ambiguous: most calls are about the slight redefinition of the home boundaries. |
| `In' analytical Note | Contemporary South Asia Vol. 22, No.2; Jun 2014: p.157-170 |
| Journal Source | Contemporary South Asia Vol. 22, No.2; Jun 2014: p.157-170 |
| Key Words | Mobile Phones ; Gender ; Rural India ; Kinship ; South Asia |