Sibel Kusimba (University of South Florida)

Digital Money as Mediator in Social and Financial Networks in Kenya

In Kenya, people use mobile phones and money transfer technologies to send and receive money from friends and relatives, pay for goods and services, and access loans. These new monetary technologies have become necessary to social belonging as everyday ways of mediating relationships, building networks, and accessing resources. In this talk I will discuss ethnographic methods I have used to study these phenomena in the field, and I will also explore how people use mobile money and digital fundraising to fulfill longstanding cultural and social expectations, as well as to express new identities and goals.