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Adoption, Consumption and Meanings of the Mobile Phone Among Urban Youth in Botswana - an Ethnographic Study

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Adoption, Consumption and Meanings of the Mobile Phone Among Urban Youth in Botswana - an Ethnographic Study "It's My Mobile": Adoption, Consumption and Meanings of the Mobile Phone Among Urban Youth in Botswana - An Ethnographic Study Author Lesitaokana, William Ofentse Published 2014 Thesis Type Thesis (PhD Doctorate) School School of Humanities DOI https://doi.org/10.25904/1912/2863 Copyright Statement The author owns the copyright in this thesis, unless stated otherwise. Downloaded from http://hdl.handle.net/10072/366323 Griffith Research Online https://research-repository.griffith.edu.au “It’s My Mobile”: Adoption, Consumption and Meanings of the Mobile Phone Among Urban Youth in Botswana - An Ethnographic Study William Ofentse Lesitaokana B.A., M.A., HDR Qualifying (Qual.) School of Humanities Arts, Education and Law Group Griffith University A thesis Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements of the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy June 2014 Abstract The purpose of this thesis is to offer an ethnographic account of the interactive relationship between mobile phones and urban youth in Botswana, a developing country in Sub-Saharan Africa. Although the adoption, consumption and meanings of the mobile phone among youth have received huge mention in the literature in relation to developed nations, to date there is very little similar research from many developing countries in the global South, where young people’s lifestyles are influenced by their distinct traditional cultures and characterised by unique socio- economic challenges such as rural-urban migration, unemployment, poverty and the digital divide. Using the three methods of qualitative research, namely non-participant observations (including diaries) and focus group discussions with twenty-eight urban youth aged between 18 and 25 in Francistown and Gaborone; as well as semi- structured interviews with thirty other people who interacted with youth participants in the study, I have demonstrated that mobile phones have become indispensable in both the general and localised aspects of youth lifestyles in Botswana. Although still developing, Botswana has significantly diffused mobile telephony countrywide, and consequently, many young people have adopted mobile phones to mainly expedite connectedness between them and other users, and enhance their social lifestyles. In particular, young people in Botswana use mobile phones to re-ensconce their traditional values and principles of contacting and connecting with their associates between their home villages, towns and settlements where they habitually migrate; to access public and social services that would have been difficult to access without the mobile phone; and to bridge the digital divide that has remained a serious problem in the country. ii Furthermore, in this study I have identified that the mobile phone has also had implications for the traditional and economic lifestyles of youth in Botswana. There are incidences of theft of mobile phone devices and associated criminal attacks among youth. In addition, new mobile phone behaviours, including inappropriate uses and obtrusive texting, which defy youth traditional upbringing have emerged in Botswana. The conspicuous consumption of the mobile phone by youth in Botswana include their use of smartphone devices to construct social inclusions, and exclusions, from their peers in network groups; and two very distinct gendered identities, one involving college and university females in Botswana using colourful mobile phones and brightly coloured casings for their handsets as symbols of fashion and modernity, and the other involving their male counterparts mostly preferring to own smartphones that are slightly expensive as these handsets gratify their sense of having a contemporary personal identity and status. Moreover, as part of its consumption, people in Botswana, including the youth, have accorded the mobile phone with localised symbolic meanings that epitomise the functional, aesthetic, social and cultural significance of the device in their lives. In reference to their local experiences with the mobile phone, urban youth in Botswana portray the device as communication power, a perfect companion and an umbilical cord. In view of the findings from the study, in the concluding part of the thesis I argue that mobile phones have the potential to alter the social norms and cultural principles of youth in each society; and that although the device is a global technology, its adoption, consumption and meanings among youth in each society is bound up with the traditional lifestyles and socio-economic circumstances of youth being studied. Therefore, I underscore that researchers studying the interactive iii relationship between youth and mobile phones should refrain from applying their findings in a global sense, but rather, they should take into account the specifics of the traditional cultures and socio-economic challenges of youth in each region, as these factors help us better understand the local experiences of youth with mobile phones. Keywords: Adoption, Botswana, consumption, ethnography, meanings, mobile phones, urban youth iv A statement of originality This work has not previously been submitted for a degree or diploma in any university. To the best of my knowledge and belief, the thesis contains no material previously published or written by another person except where due reference is made in the thesis itself. __________________________ (Date)____________ William Lesitaokana (Student) v Acknowledgements Since the first draft of this thesis, I have received valuable support and encouraging feedback from several people. Indeed, the completion of this project would not have been possible without their contributions. In particular, I thank my principal supervisor Professor Andy Bennett for his continued support, and for having coached me to write accurately and clarify my points in a scholarly fashion. I also thank my associate supervisor Dr Christine Feldman-Barrett who provided me with valuable support during the course of this project, and my external supervisor Professor David Kerr who was helpful during the time I conducted fieldwork in Botswana. I am also indebted to all the people in Botswana, including the young people, who participated in this study by availing themselves from their busy schedules and sharing with me valuable information that I used to write this thesis. Both Griffith University and the University of Botswana have supported me with the resources and financial assistance to complete my studies. Thank you to staff at Griffith University as well as my fellow PhD students in the Arts, Education and Law Group (AEL) for generously offering your expertise to me as part of this research. Lastly, I would like to thank my wife Malebogo, son Kgosi, my parents, relatives and friends who have allowed me to spend time away from them during the past three years, and for encouraging me even while we were thousands of miles away from each other. Above all, I am grateful to God for having granted me peace, grace and good health throughout my studies. vi Table of Contents Introduction................................................................................................................ 1 i) Aims and objectives........................................................................................ 1 ii) Research questions.......................................................................................... 1 iii) Statement of problem...................................................................................... 2 iv) Scope of this study.......................................................................................... 6 v) Significance of this study................................................................................ 7 Chapter 1 Botswana in context.............................................................................. 8 1.1 Introduction..................................................................................................... 8 1.2 Botswana in context........................................................................................ 8 1.3 The socio-economic and cultural contexts of youth in Botswana .................. 9 1.4 Access to information and communication technology (ICT) in Botswana................................................................................................... 12 1.5 History of telecommunications in Botswana ................................................ 14 1.6 The mobile telephony landscape in Botswana.............................................. 15 1.7 Conclusion .................................................................................................... 17 Chapter 2 Literature review................................................................................. 19 2.1 Introduction................................................................................................... 19 2.2 Youth and mobile phone studies................................................................... 20 2.3 Mobile phone adoption by youth .................................................................. 22 2.3.1 Facilitating factors of mobile phone adoption.............................................. 23 2.3.2 Factors that influence mobile phone adoption among youth........................ 27 2.4 Mobile phone use among youth.................................................................... 31 2.4.1 Mobile phone use for the purposes of mobile communication..................... 32 2.4.2 The use of the mobile phone as a multimedia hub ....................................... 38
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