Calling my name : sound, orality and the cell phone contact list

This chapter analyses the digital inscription of names and identities in mobile phones contact list. Drawing upon research on mobile phones in Jamaica, it examines how the construction of mobile phone contact lists is informed by Jamaican’s historical relationship names and naming as part of auditory practice and imagination. Moving beyond an assumption of instrumental relationships between contacts and social networks, it highlights how the combination of the predesigned structure and the increasing capabilities of cellular phones to incorporate digital images, videos, and music intersects with culturally specific relationships to sound, orality, and performance.