Exploring the Intersection between Physical and Virtual Mobilities in Urban South Africa: Reflections from Two Youth-Centered Studies

2018 
The mobile phone is transforming African mobile lives at a variety of scales, from the minutiae of individual spatial orientations to expansive global connectivities. Now-possible fluid interdependencies between corporeal mobility and virtual mobility have the potential to reframe and reshape lives, especially for young people, who typically have limited financial resources yet are often at the vanguard of mobile phone adoption. This chapter explores the intersection between physical and virtual mobilities among young people in two smaller South African urban centres, drawing on mixed-methods field research, the first study conducted with young people 9 to18 years, the second with a wider age group extending from 9 to 25 years. It focuses on the transport and related physical mobility challenges young people face in reaching locations (and people) important in their lives, and the role that access to mobile phones is now having in mediating those challenges and associated access patterns in these sites. Particular attention is given to the role of gender in the shaping and reshaping of mobility and access patterns: precarity, safety and security are significant themes.
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