Running head: MOBILE MOMBASA 1 Mobile Mombasa: Female Youth Cultural Productions, Global Media and Communication Technologies on the Coast of Kenya By Chelsea Hansen University of Florida 1 1 Young women gathered in a living room with cell phones, a typical scene of socialization. MOBILE MOMBASA 2 Acknowledgments: Thank you to everyone who made my stay in Mombasa so memorable and exciting. To Mama Ken and Miss Grace for showing me around and taking care of me. To Wakesho and Njiti for feeding me. To Sijah for entertaining me. To Mary for being my constant companion. To all of “The Crackers” for their insights, time, and friendship. To Ednah for picking me up at the airport. To Mwalimu Rose for helping me to organize the trip and giving me the opportunity to meet and become part of her family. To Dr. Brenda Chalfin for guiding me through the experience of doing anthropological research, for reading and editing drafts and patiently going along with last minute deadlines. To the University Scholars Program for helping me fund this project. To my parents for their unending emotional (and financial) support.To David and Ori, my post-human informants. To 250 for his spiritual inspiration. Thanks, you all rock mad hard! MOBILE MOMBASA 3 Table of Contents Abstract 4 Chapter One Introduction: Formulating and Ethnographic Study and Entering a Community 5 Chapter Two Community: Virtual Sociality and New Strategies of Connection 37 Chapter Three Identity: Conceptualizing the Self through Technology 72 Chapter Four Conclusion: Summary of findings and Thoughts for Future Research 92 Epilogue 99 References 105 MOBILE MOMBASA 4 Abstract Information and communication technologies play a significant role in much of the developing world including Africa. Furthermore, Africa is currently experiencing what is termed a “youth bulge,” resulting in a myriad of cultural productions. This research demonstrates how female youth in Mombasa have incorporated communication technologies into their daily lives in innovative ways thus creating for themselves a space of youth expression. Rather than focusing on these technologies as they have been implicated in strategies of development, this research highlights the social roles of communication technologies in the lives of youth. More specifically, this paper argues that the increasing popularity of cell phones and Facebook serves to revitalize social connections and provides an avenue for youth self-creation and reflection. MOBILE MOMBASA 5 Chapter 1 Introduction: Formulating an Ethnographic Study and Entering a Community 2 2 Chelsea at Fort Jesus, a fearless anthropologist ready to conquer her ethnography. MOBILE MOMBASA 6 Formulating an Ethnographic Study 3 When I first started to consider doing research in Kenya I had no idea what to expect. It is difficult to formulate a research proposal when you have never been to a place and do not know what you will find or what your access to the community will be. I began meeting with Dr. Chalfin to formulate a broad research plan that would be open to adaptation as necessary. She pointed me towards several articles to read in order to formulate some ideas about the types of research I could do. Studying communication technologies was not something that occurred to me until I had been in Mombasa for about a week or two. Towards the end of my stay I sent Dr. Chalfin a summary of my findings and the direction that my research had taken. She assured me that “research proposals can only get one so far. Responding to the conditions of fieldwork is essential for relevant research”(Dr. Brenda Chalfin, personal correspondence, June 10, 2009). Therefore, this research has largely been a personal experiment in learning to be responsive to the conditions of the field and understanding that things will never necessarily turn out as 3 Map of Kenya retrieved from http://ourdems.org/kenya/pix/KenyaMap.jpg MOBILE MOMBASA 7 expected. It has also forced me to consider myself as an anthropologist, which has been both frustrating and exhilarating and continues to be an ongoing negotiation. Although researching communication technologies did not occur to me until I had arrived in Mombasa, I did go into my research with the intention of studying youth cultural productions. The reasoning for this is attributed largely to two factors. First, my original interest in studying youth arose simply because of their vast demographic importance within Africa as a whole. Most of sub-Saharan Africa is experiencing what is termed a “youth bulge,” meaning that people aged 15 to 24 constitute up to 40 percent of the population. This demographic structure is typically found in populations with both high rates of fertility and mortality (Gavin, 2007, p.69). The second reason I chose youth as the focus of my research was more pragmatic and was simply because it was the community I had the greatest access to as an anthropologist. In making plans for my trip my Swahili professor, Dr. Rose Lugano, told me that she had a niece and a nephew around my age who would be available to travel with me and show me around. Her niece, in particular, became invaluably important to the development of my research. Once Dr. Lugano gave me the names of her niece and nephew I immediately found them on Facebook, at her suggestion, to introduce myself. Therefore, although I did not consciously realize it at this point, the foundations for my research into communication technologies among the youth in Mombasa had actually begun before I even left the U.S. When I arrived in Nairobi Dr. Lugano had arranged for her sister and brother-in-law to pick me up from the airport. I spent the afternoon at their home, and later that evening they drove me to the train station so I could continue on to Mombasa. I had asked them to pick out a cell phone for me so that I would be able to contact my host family when I arrived in Mombasa, and so that I could enjoy a general sense of connectedness while traveling. I gave them no MOBILE MOMBASA 8 specifications, as I was unfamiliar with the cell phone situation in Kenya at the time, and simply trusted their judgment. When I arrived they had for me a sleek Nokia with a camera, MP3 player, and Internet capabilities.4 They had also gotten me a SIM card (phone number/service provider) from the local service provider, Safaricom. I had no idea that these seemingly mundane details would in fact come to form the basis of my research. What I came to discover, and even participate in as a youth myself, is that for the middle class and upwardly mobile youth in Mombasa the cell phone is one of the most important objects of material culture in their lives. In fact, throughout Kenya cell phones have led to tremendous growth in the communications sector with an estimated 7.3 million subscribers as of October 2006. This number is staggering when one considers that in 1999 there were merely 24,000. (Van Buren, 2008, p. 604). 4 I often joke with my parents about how much nicer my cell phone in Kenya was compared to the one I have here in the U.S. MOBILE MOMBASA 9 Brief Historical Overview of Mombasa and the Kenyan Coast 5 Before I begin discussing my own experiences and observation in Mombasa, some brief information on the area may be helpful. As this was meant merely to be an historical overview, all of the information presented here, except where cited otherwise, was pulled from Robert Maxon’s East Africa: An Introductory History (2009). I have therefore not used citations throughout this section unless to indicate an additional source. Mombasa is a bustling urban center on the eastern coast of Kenya. It is the second largest city in Kenya smaller only than the capital of Nairobi. As of the 1999 census it held a population of 660, 800, however, it was projected that by 2005 the population would be approximately 817,000 so it is likely that by now the population is much greater (Europa Regional Surveys, 2008, p. 608).6 Geographically, Mombasa is an island formed from old estuaries that have turned 5 Map of Mombasa, image retrieved from: http://www.eapc09.org/assets/images/mombasa_map.jpg 6 Current and reliable census data was hard to find broken down by city, but after examining several sources there was enough consensus for me to accept these figures. Furthermore, it was unclear if data took into consideration only Mombasa Island or the entire city of Mombasa. MOBILE MOMBASA 10 into deep inlets. Therefore, the city of Mombasa consists of this island (Mombasa Island) as well as the northern and southern coastal regions surrounding it. I myself stayed on the northern coast, best known for the area of Nyali, a region famous for its upscale tourist resorts and a high concentration of Europeans. The major religions are Islam and Christianity (with some other African religious traditions and Hinduism as well) and it is not uncommon to see a church and a mosque right down the road from one another, a true testament to Mombasa’s important historical role as a place where the East and the West have met.7 Historical evidence suggests that as early as the end of the eight century a Swahili speaking people had emerged in small towns along the East African coast influenced largely by trade across the Indian Ocean. Small trading towns began to develop along the coast including Mombasa by 1000A.D. In addition to trade in goods, contact with regions across the Indian Ocean exposed the East African Coast to Islam which was largely accepted there by the thirteenth century.