Phoning Anthropologists: The mobile phone's (re-)shaping of anthropological research

Communication technologies are increasingly playing a significant role in social and cultural interaction. Studies on the impact of information and communication Technologies (ICTs) on social life are emerging but focus mainly on western, urban contexts. With their inspiring study about the use of the cell phone in Jamaica, Horst & Miller (2006) called for an anthropology of communication, an innovative field that needs more elaboration. However, their study focuses on ‘Others’ as communicators. But what about the interaction between those others and their researchers as mediated by the phone? This seems to have been ignored. So far, there has been no analysis of the impact of the mobile phone on anthropological research as such. This chapter aims to address the consequences of the social appropriation of the mobile phone by both informants and researchers as end-users.