The Global Smartphone
Beyond a youth technology
Daniel Miller, Laila Abed Rabho, Patrick Awondo, Maya de Vries, Marília Duque, Pauline Garvey, Laura Haapio-Kirk, Charlotte Hawkins, Alfonso Otaegui, Shireen Walton, and Xinyuan Wang
The smartphone is often literally right in front of our nose, so you would think we would know what it is. But do we? To find out, 11 anthropologists each spent 16 months living in communities in Africa, Asia, Europe and South America, focusing on the take up of smartphones by older people. Their research reveals that smartphones are technology for everyone, not just for the young.The Global Smartphone presents a series of original perspectives deriving from this global and comparative research project. Smartphones have become as much a place within which we live as a device we use to provide ‘perpetual opportunism’, as they are always with us. The authors show how the smartphone is more than an ‘app device’ and explore differences between what people say about smartphones and how they use them.
The smartphone is unprecedented in the degree to which we can transform it. As a result, it quickly assimilates personal values. In order to comprehend it, we must take into consideration a range of national and cultural nuances, such as visual communication in China and Japan, mobile money in Cameroon and Uganda, and access to health information in Chile and Ireland – all alongside diverse trajectories of ageing in Al Quds, Brazil and Italy. Only then can we know what a smartphone is and understand its consequences for people’s lives around the world.
Praise for The Global Smartphone
‘Interesting ethnographic insights into the use of the smartphone.’
European Journal of Communication
'ethnographically rich... lavishly illustrated not only with color photographs but with links to helpful, short videos the authors filmed'
*Journal of Anthropological Research
'Laced with ethnographic vignettes, images and screenshots of devices, and infographics of smartphone usage across sites and written in a highly accessible language devoid of heavy academic jargon, The Global Smartphone makes for an interesting read. This book offers a much needed contribution to the literature on smartphone adoption amongst older populations. It will be of interest to scholars working in the field of aging and gerontology, elder care, social change, media and communication. Being published open access will ensure its reach to a wider audience.'
Anthropology and Aging
Daniel Miller
is Professor of Anthropology at UCL. Laila Abed
Rabho is a researcher at the Harry S. Truman Institute for the Advancement of
Peace. Patrick Awondo is Postdoctoral Researcher at UCL
Anthropology and a lecturer at the University of Yaoundé 1. Maya de Vries
is Postdoctoral Researcher at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Marília Duque
is a researcher at ESPM (Escola Superior de Propaganda e Marketing) São Paulo. Pauline Garvey is Associate Professor in the Department of
Anthropology, Maynooth University. Laura Haapio-Kirk is a PhD student
at UCL Anthropology and RAI/Leach Fellow in Public Anthropology. Charlotte Hawkins is a PhD
student at UCL Anthropology. Alfonso
Otaegui is Postdoctoral Researcher at the Pontifical Catholic University of
Chile. Shireen Walton is Lecturer in Anthropology at Goldsmiths,
University of London. Xinyuan Wang is
Postdoctoral Researcher at UCL.
Chapter summaries
List of figures List of abbreviations
List of contributors
Series Foreword
Acknowledgements
1 Introduction
2 What people say about smartphones
3 The smartphone in context
4 From apps to everyday life
5 Perpetual opportunism
6 Crafting
7 Ageing and smartphones
8 The heart of the smartphone – LINE, WeChat and WhatsApp
9 General and theoretical reflections Appendix
Bibliography
Index
Anthropology and Aging
'ethnographically rich... lavishly illustrated not only with color photographs but with links to helpful, short videos the authors filmed'
Journal of Anthropological Research
‘Interesting ethnographic insights into the use of the smartphone.’
European Journal of Communication
Format: Paperback
Size: 234 × 156 mm
320 Pages
105 colour illustrations
Copyright: © 2021
ISBN: 9781787359628
Publication: May 06, 2021
Series: Ageing with Smartphones
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