Smartphone consumption practices in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic: an ethnographic look at women's appropriations in Maputo – Mozambique

Authors

  • Camila Rodrigues Pereira Universidade Federal de Santa Maria (UFSM)
  • Sandra Rúbia da Silva Universidade Federal de Santa Maria (UFSM)

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18568/cmc.v18i54.2589

Abstract

The article is the result of an ethnographic research carried out with Mozambican women living in the city of Maputo. As an objective, we seek to understand some changes in smartphone consumption practices in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic. Throughout the research, which began with face-to-face fieldwork, in 2019, and moved to a second stage of ethnography for the internet (HINE, 2015), participant observation, observation in social media and in-depth interviews were carried out. Our analysis understands that in a pandemic scenario, smartphones became the enablers of remote learning for university students – despite the inequality of access – and that they helped the research interlocutors to build new sources of income.

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Author Biographies

Camila Rodrigues Pereira, Universidade Federal de Santa Maria (UFSM)

Ph.D. student in Communication at the Graduate Program in Communication of the Federal University of Santa Maria (UFSM) with an internship period at the Pedagogical University of Maputo, Mozambi-que. Master of Communication and Bachelor of Social Communication with a specialization in Advertising and Propaganda at the Federal University of Santa Maria (UFSM). Member of the Research Group in Consumption and Digi-tal Cultures (UFSM/CNPq). Her current research interests are consumption studies, digital cultures, ethnography, and gender studies. In the present paper, the author conducted fieldwork and in-depth interviews, elaborated the theore-tical-methodological discussion and the analysis, and wrote the text.

Sandra Rúbia da Silva, Universidade Federal de Santa Maria (UFSM)

Ph.D. in Social Anthropology from the Federal Uni-versity of Santa Catarina (UFSC) with an internship period at University College London under Daniel Miller’s supervision. Master of Communication and Information from the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS) and Bachelor of Social Communication with a specialization in Advertising and Propaganda from the Regional University of Blumenau. Lecturer in the Department of Communication Sciences and the Graduate Program in Com-munication at the Federal University in Santa Maria (UFSM). Leader of the Research Group in Consumption and Digital Cultures (UFSM/CNPq). Her current research interests include consumption theories, material culture, di-gital cultures, and internet consumption practices for social inclusion. The author supervised the entire research process, participated in the reflection, and revised the paper.

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Published

2022-04-29

How to Cite

Pereira, C. R., & da Silva, S. R. (2022). Smartphone consumption practices in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic: an ethnographic look at women’s appropriations in Maputo – Mozambique. Comunicação Mídia E Consumo, 19(54). https://doi.org/10.18568/cmc.v18i54.2589

Issue

Vol. 19 No. 54 (2022): JANEIRO/ABRIL

Section

Artigos

License

Authors retain the copyright and grant the journal the right to first publication, with the work simultaneously licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution License that allows the work sharing with acknowledgment of authorship and initial publication in this magazine.