Seminar: ‘I love my phone more than my girlfriend’: Locating the mobile phone in relationships of young Malawians

This seminar will examine how the rapid adoption of mobile phones across Africa is reshaping the complexities of family life in Malawi. The findings emerged from a study of mobile-phone use by children and young people and show how mobile-phone communication is reconfiguring notions of distance and proximity among family members. The ways in which mobile phones affect the co-production of youthful identities, social norms and family practices will also be explored, for example among urban-based young people who are using their mobile phones to maintain ties with rural-based grandparents. The seminar will seek to contribute to policy formulation and identify strategies to promote the positive elements of mobile phone adoption by young people and their families in Malawi and beyond, while minimizing any potentially negative impacts. Analytically, attention will also be paid to gender and intergenerational relations.