On the liveness of mobile phone mediation: Youth expectations of remittances and narratives of discontent in the Cameroonian transnational family

Abstract

Drawn from multisited fieldwork conducted among Cameroonians in Germany and Cameroon, the article reveals that the liveness of mobile phone communication influences expectations and narratives of remittances in Cameroonian transnational social relationships. These expectations are meaningful within a cultural context where economic resources are expected to flow from migrants to nonmigrants. As this case demonstrates, the general belief in nonmigrants' entitlement to the achievements of those who migrate regardless of their status abroad, also means migrant students are involved in remittances practices. The students are expected to remit and at the same time, they are conscious of their obligation to support people who stay back in the home country. As such, the mobile phone ideally provides an infrastructure through which monetary resources could be coordinated and channeled to Cameroon. While exploring this possibility of remittances transfer, I argue that instant communication contradictorily generates and fuels conflicts mainly as a result of unmet expectations of deploying the phone to directly request money from abroad.

Communication technologies and legitimate consumption: making sense of healthcare remittances in Cameroonian transnational relationships

“…This became evident from my fieldwork among Cameroonians in Freiburg in Germany, and in Buea in Cameroon, in 2009 and 2010, and it continues to surface in my conversations and email exchanges with them. The research formed part of multi-sited fieldwork on the significance of ICT in Cameroonian transnational relationships (Tazanu 2012b). Most migrant participants for the research were drawn from Scratch My Back, an organized group of Anglophone Cameroonians in Freiburg, which functions as a social support system and whose members, in addition to attending monthly gatherings and communal meals, come together to assist one another in times of joy or sorrow.…”

“…Young people believe that migrating out of the country is a promising avenue for accessing and accumulating resources through work abroad. Migrants are expected to succeed in their new contexts and, in turn, share their successes by supporting the family that stays behind (Alpes 2012; Nyamnjoh 2005; 2011; Frei 2012; Tazanu 2012b). Those who migrate mainly to the West to ‘accumulate money or refine their skills’ (Jua 2003: 22–3) are known as bushfallers in the Anglophone part of the country.…”

“…Research on the Cameroonian transnational family has exemplified this emphasis. Findings on the significance of mobile phones on remittance practices dominate these studies (Nyamnjoh 2005; 2011; Alpes 2012; Tazanu 2012b). In his article on the mobile phone and Cameroonian transnational family ties, Nyamnjoh (2005) concludes that migrants generally feel uncomfortable that this medium provides a direct avenue for non-migrants to easily request remittances from abroad.…”

“…These ICT provide a shared ‘communication infrastructure’ (Couldry 2004: 357) for remitters and recipients of funds to interact across borders 1 . There has also been attention paid to the ways in which instant financial requests have altered the relationships between remitters and recipients (Nyamnjoh 2005; 2011; Tazanu 2012b; 2015a; 2015b; Horst 2006; Madianou and Miller 2011; Horst and Miller 2006; Hunter 2015; Hernández-Carretero 2015). Studies show that the theme of remittances features prominently in phone conversations between migrants and non-migrants (see also Drotbohm 2010: 62; Horst 2006: 155; Vertovec 2009: 58; Tazanu 2012b: 199; Mahler 2001).…”

Contacts in a box: Cell phones, social relations, and field research in Africa

“…African migrants are the trite case recycled in popular discourses: the cell phone extends existing diasporas and facilitates new ones. It facilitates social relations beyond the boundaries of village, town, or state, transnationalising the flow of ideas and images, in the process exposing African imaginaries to larger, more global, frames of reference (Tazanu 2015). And the rapid spread of mobile telecommunication allegedly enables new forms of trade, integrating expanding circles of African entrepreneurs into the globe's sprawling economy, boosting growth, and promoting economic self-actualisation (Aker & Mbiti 2010).…”