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Ringing the living and the dead

Mobile phones in a Sepik society

Bibliographic Data

ID11618989
AuthorsB Telban (0000-0003-3944-9035, Research Centre of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts, corresponding author), Daniela Vávrová (0000-0002-3721-1333, James Cook University)
Year2014
Volume25
Issue2
Pages223-238
Publication date2014-06-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueThe Australian Journal of Anthropology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1035-8811 • E-ISSN: 1757-6547
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/taja.12090
OpenAlexW2069005373
LanguageEN
Citations received25
References cited13

Since Digicel services began to operate in remote areas of Papua New Guinea in mid‐2007, enthusiasm for mobile telecommunication devices has become a pan‐New Guinean phenomenon. During our last fieldwork period, between December 2010 and December 2011, no mobile phone network existed among the Karawari people in the East Sepik Province of Papua New Guinea. However, their expectations were high and some individuals had already purchased mobile phones, which they used as torches, radios, and cameras. In Ambonwari village, people were convinced that Digicel would soon build its tower on their land and enable them to ring both the living and the dead. The dead had already interfered with calls and some people were suspected of possessing phone numbers of their deceased relatives. In our article we explore the relationship between mobile phones, the increasing fascination with phone numbers, and the ways in which the Ambonwari perceive, interpret, and engage with the world

Enthusiasm · Ethnology · Internet privacy · Media studies · Mobile phone · New guinea · Phone · Sociology · Telecommunications · Anthropological Studies and Insights · Computer Science · History · Human Mobility and Location-Based Analysis · Pacific and Southeast Asian Studies · Psychology

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Unique citing works25
Citations per year2,27
Citation span2015 - 2026 (12)
Citation velocitycurrent
Highly citedNo
Citation typesNeutral: 25

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