The Kinshasa study

The Kinshasa study will deal with three topics on social media, “the urban” , “gendered engagements with social media” and “mediations with diasporas” by looking into;

(i) the interaction between social media and urban infrastructures (in Larkin’s sense), thus asking how social media (in their materialities and possibilities of producing new constituencies) relate to the emergence of new publics and experiences of “the urban”;
(ii) social media, romanticism and sexualities, focusing on courting practices through social media, and how sexual relationships are managed;
(iii) uses of social media to connect with diasporas. What concerns and interests are handled with the use of new media by Kinois and their diasporic networks? And how is the image of “Kinshasa” constructed via these social media?
 

The data will be gathered by Katrien Pype and a Congolese MA student through participant-observation among the users of social media; interviews with the users, grassroots leaders and figures of authority, and professionals within the sectors of cellular mobile communication (e.g. Mobile carriers and IT professionals, etc.) (Pype 2012).

The data will be gathered between m/yyyy and m/yyyy

Researchers active in DR Congo

 Katrien Pype,
Head of research team, DR Congo.
University of Birmingham

TBA
MA Student
University of Kinshasa