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Investigating how women negotiate and navigate relationships through use of cell phones: a case study of Basotho women in Maseru
This study is a guise at how cell phones are becoming power, identity and trend tools, through which women navigate and negotiate intimate relationships, particularly romantic and family relationships. I explore the threads that weave together the materiality of presence, space and the constantly ch...
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| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English |
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Social Anthropology
2014
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| _version_ | 1867613320299675648 |
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| access_status_str | Open Access |
| author | Sello, Kefiloe |
| author2 | Nyamnjoh, Francis |
| author_browse | Nyamnjoh, Francis Sello, Kefiloe |
| author_facet | Nyamnjoh, Francis Sello, Kefiloe |
| author_sort | Sello, Kefiloe |
| collection | Thesis |
| description | This study is a guise at how cell phones are becoming power, identity and trend tools, through which women navigate and negotiate intimate relationships, particularly romantic and family relationships. I explore the threads that weave together the materiality of presence, space and the constantly changing definition of culture. This study also explores identity and authentication of personhood, which come along as relationships are being negotiated and navigated. All these are traced through three Basotho women from Maseru based in Cape Town, whose lives I shadowed for three months. I argue that cell phones provide women a stance to negotiate and navigate relationships through offering them a space and position that goes beyond and challenges norms that have been in place before. Cell phones are placed in the theoretical framework of domestication and, more particularly, of cultural appropriation. They are regarded not only as devices to communicate, but also as material objects which cause economic problems and may affect social relations through the uneven disposition over such objects. As in many other African countries, the growth of cell phone usage in Maseru is higher than in Western countries, reflecting the particular appreciation of these devices. I also argue that personhood is authenticated through and by use of cell phones which have offered women the stage to showcase their lives without necessarily being present in the showcase. This argument is particularly valid for my case study because of the new ground that it breaks into as far as women and cell phone technologies are concerned in Maseru. Not only does this lead to understanding the 21st century woman in Maseru, but I believe it can lead to other studies such as negotiating power relations between men and women via cell phones . |
| format | Thesis |
| id | oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/6793 |
| institution | University of Cape Town (South Africa) |
| language | eng |
| last_indexed | 2026-06-10T12:34:14.045Z |
| license_str | Not specified — see source repository |
| provenance_str_mv | Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository |
| publishDate | 2014 |
| publishDateRange | 2014 |
| publishDateSort | 2014 |
| publisher | Social Anthropology |
| publisherStr | Social Anthropology |
| record_format | dspace |
| source_str | UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository |
| spelling | oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/6793 Investigating how women negotiate and navigate relationships through use of cell phones: a case study of Basotho women in Maseru Sello, Kefiloe Nyamnjoh, Francis This study is a guise at how cell phones are becoming power, identity and trend tools, through which women navigate and negotiate intimate relationships, particularly romantic and family relationships. I explore the threads that weave together the materiality of presence, space and the constantly changing definition of culture. This study also explores identity and authentication of personhood, which come along as relationships are being negotiated and navigated. All these are traced through three Basotho women from Maseru based in Cape Town, whose lives I shadowed for three months. I argue that cell phones provide women a stance to negotiate and navigate relationships through offering them a space and position that goes beyond and challenges norms that have been in place before. Cell phones are placed in the theoretical framework of domestication and, more particularly, of cultural appropriation. They are regarded not only as devices to communicate, but also as material objects which cause economic problems and may affect social relations through the uneven disposition over such objects. As in many other African countries, the growth of cell phone usage in Maseru is higher than in Western countries, reflecting the particular appreciation of these devices. I also argue that personhood is authenticated through and by use of cell phones which have offered women the stage to showcase their lives without necessarily being present in the showcase. This argument is particularly valid for my case study because of the new ground that it breaks into as far as women and cell phone technologies are concerned in Maseru. Not only does this lead to understanding the 21st century woman in Maseru, but I believe it can lead to other studies such as negotiating power relations between men and women via cell phones . 2014-09-02T09:44:50Z 2014-09-02T09:44:50Z 2014 Master Thesis Masters MSocSc http://hdl.handle.net/11427/6793 eng application/pdf Social Anthropology Faculty of Humanities University of Cape Town |
| spellingShingle | Sello, Kefiloe Investigating how women negotiate and navigate relationships through use of cell phones: a case study of Basotho women in Maseru |
| thesis_degree_str | Master's |
| title | Investigating how women negotiate and navigate relationships through use of cell phones: a case study of Basotho women in Maseru |
| title_full | Investigating how women negotiate and navigate relationships through use of cell phones: a case study of Basotho women in Maseru |
| title_fullStr | Investigating how women negotiate and navigate relationships through use of cell phones: a case study of Basotho women in Maseru |
| title_full_unstemmed | Investigating how women negotiate and navigate relationships through use of cell phones: a case study of Basotho women in Maseru |
| title_short | Investigating how women negotiate and navigate relationships through use of cell phones: a case study of Basotho women in Maseru |
| title_sort | investigating how women negotiate and navigate relationships through use of cell phones a case study of basotho women in maseru |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/11427/6793 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT sellokefiloe investigatinghowwomennegotiateandnavigaterelationshipsthroughuseofcellphonesacasestudyofbasothowomeninmaseru |