Introduction

The social life of music files

Datos Bibliográficos

ID9537327
AutoresRaymok Ketema (University of California System, autor de correspondencia), Raymok M Ketema (University of California), Giordano Marmone (0000-0001-8195-4874, Institute of Ethnology), Katell Morand (0000-0003-1155-9902, Laboratoire d'ethnologie et de sociologie comparative)
Año2026
Volumen96
Número1
Páginas1-13
Fecha de publicación2026-02-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaAfrica (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0001-9720 • E-ISSN: 1750-0184
EditorialCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0001972025101721
OpenAlexW7150105681
IdiomaEN
Referencias citadas38

Since the late 2000s, mobile phones have become an integral part of daily life in Africa, not just in cities but also in rural areas that often lack infrastructure such as all-weather roads or a connection to the electricity grid.As the most widespread digital tool and the main gateway to the internet, the mobile phone is now so embedded in the social life of the continent's populations that it has become a major topic in anthropology; de Bruijn and Nyamnjoh even suggest the emergence of a distinct 'African mobile phone culture ' (2009: 13).Initially grounded in fieldwork conducted in Europe and Asia that examined the social transformations produced by specific technological shifts, scholarly discussions have since expanded to encompass a wider range of geographical contexts and to adopt a more nuanced analytical framework attentive to cultural and historical specificity (Horst and Miller 2006; Archambault 2017; Vokes 2018; Horst 2021). 1 Digital communication and storage technologies have reshaped African social worlds in many ways, introducing new objects into people's daily lives.In this special issue we concentrate on the music file.Whether in audio or video format, these files can be created, manipulated and shared by anyone with a mobile phone.Like other forms of media, music files can exist in multiple places simultaneously, and the relational dynamics they create do not rely on the physical presence of both musical producers and their audience.However, digital files occupy a unique intersection of the material and the immaterial, as explicated by Jonathan Sterne's 'format theory' (2012).Information is captured, inscribed as binary code and stored on a physical

Code (set theory · Digital audio · Inscribed figure · Mobile phone · Musical · Phone · Situated · Social geography · Social life · Tourism · Diverse Musicological Studies · Music History and Culture · Musicology and Musical Analysis