ABSTRACT

This article presents ethnographic accounts of the mobile phone mediated experiences of connection and intimacy among young low-income women in Dhaka, Bangladesh. It argues that mobile phones are a ‘pathway to empowerment’ insofar as the ever-evolving social practices of ‘wrong-number friendships’, long-distance courtship, and the management and manipulation of new contacts on mobile phones broaden the range of social interactions, enable expressions of aspirational mobility, and contribute to the evolution of a sense of self. It also explores how the affective power of mobile phone communication in intimate relationships alters perceptions of distance and creates forms of ‘immobile mobility’. Thus, this article builds on research that argues that the material affordances of a mobile phone challenge social and cultural gender norms and power dynamics. Moreover, by drawing out how mobility, gender and class intersect with the social and emotional experiences of low-income women in Bangladesh, it goes beyond existing literature and offers a more nuanced perspective on the notion that access to technology among marginalised and disempowered groups leads to poverty alleviation and greater equality.

摘要

本文介绍了孟加拉国达卡的年轻低收入女性通过手机介导的联系和亲密体验的民族志记录。它认为，手机是一种“赋权途径”，因为不断发展的“错误号码友谊”、长途求爱以及手机上新联系人的管理和操纵等社会实践扩大了社交互动的范围。 ，能够表达有抱负的流动性，并有助于自我意识的发展。它还探讨了亲密关系中手机通信的情感力量如何改变对距离的感知并创造“固定移动”的形式。因此，本文建立在研究的基础上，该研究认为手机的物质可供性挑战了社会和文化性别规范和权力动态。此外，通过描绘流动性、性别和阶级如何与孟加拉国低收入妇女的社会和情感经历相交，它超越了现有文献，并提供了一个更微妙的观点，即边缘化和无权群体获得技术导致减贫和更大的平等。