Dead Media Objects and the Experience of the (Once) Modern. Ethnographic Perspectives from the Living Rooms of Kinshasa’s Old Aged

Bibliographic Data

ID20107152
AuthorsK Pype (0000-0002-7766-1902, Institute of Anthropological Research in Africa, Leuven, Belgium, corresponding author)
Year2018
Volume83
Issue2
Pages218-236
Publication date2018-03-15
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueEthnos (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0014-1844 • E-ISSN: 1469-588X
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/00141844.2015.1119177
OpenAlexW2342484515
LanguageEN
Citations received9
References cited30

This article departs from the observation that in many living rooms of elderly Kinois\n(inhabitants of Kinshasa), old and defunctive radio and television sets are put on\ndisplay. When their primary function, to inform, has been rendered obsolete, we are\nfaced with the question why people continue to display these objects, often next to\nnewer models, in their living rooms. The main argument is that Information and\nCommunication Technologies (ICT) commodities, old and new, defective and\nrepaired, are primarily social objects that are embedded in complex webs of\npractices and expectations which unsettle the taken-for-granted associations\nbetween technology and time. ICT objects are shown to be metonyms of dynamics\nin social relationships between owners of these ICT goods and others; and, although\nseemingly paradoxically, these same objects, even when damaged, inhabit promises\nfor a better future. The article thus offers an alternative perspective on electronic\nmodernity, and in particular, the role of Africa therein

Aesthetics · Argument (complex analysis) · Art · Ethnography · Function (biology) · Information and Communications Technology · Media studies · Modernity · Perspective (graphical) · Political science · Sociology · Visual arts · Aging, Elder Care, and Social Issues · Anthropological Studies and Insights · Anthropology · Law · Water Governance and Infrastructure

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