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Mobilities in rural Africa: new connections, new challenges

Porter, G.

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Authors



Abstract

Fluid interdependencies of mobility—physical and virtual—are growing rapidly in sub-Saharan Africa: The remarkable expansion of mobile phone networks is bringing a tangible new dimension of connectivity into mobility, transport, and access equations on the ground. This article draws on in-depth field research, including co-investigation with two groups often disadvantaged in their physical mobility, youth and older people, to explicate some current African developments and their departure from prevailing Western-based conceptualizations of space–time interactions (regarding the potential for space–time flexibility and microcoordination afforded by mobile phones). Despite the fact that face-to-face interaction is often of great significance in Africa, when the value attached to personalized relationships is balanced against factors of widespread poverty and irregular, sometimes very dangerous transport, the potential for phone substitution appears greater than in many Western contexts. Better distance management through phone use could be particularly closely associated with populations with very low disposable incomes or those whose physical mobility is limited; for instance, by disability, infirmity, age, or gender.

Citation

Porter, G. (2016). Mobilities in rural Africa: new connections, new challenges. Annals of the Association of American Geographers, 106(2), 434-441. https://doi.org/10.1080/00045608.2015.1100056

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Sep 10, 2015
Online Publication Date Jan 4, 2016
Publication Date Jan 4, 2016
Deposit Date Oct 14, 2015
Publicly Available Date Mar 28, 2024
Journal Annals of the Association of American Geographers
Print ISSN 0004-5608
Electronic ISSN 1467-8306
Publisher Association of American Geographers (AAG)
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 106
Issue 2
Pages 434-441
DOI https://doi.org/10.1080/00045608.2015.1100056
Keywords Copresence, Motorcycle-taxi transport, Phones, Physical mobility, Poverty.

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Copyright Statement
© 2015 The Author(s). Published with license by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC © G. Porter This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. The moral rights of the named author(s) have been asserted.






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