Networked Sociality of Migrant Workers: Mobile Connectivity, Narrative and Network among Wa Migrant Youth
Resource
國立臺灣大學考古人類學刊, 86(2), 5-42
Journal
國立臺灣大學考古人類學刊
Journal Volume
86
Journal Issue
2
Pages
5-42
Date Issued
2017-06
Date
2017-06
Author(s)
Liu, T.K.
Abstract
Troubled by poor economic conditions in their rural homelands in China’s southwest border areas, many Wa youth seek work in urban manufacturing districts of Guangdong Province in southeast China. They now rely on smartphones to connect with the social media site QQ. Through narratives and the sharing of online posts and forwarded messages, these Wa youth actively engage with mobile communications and interpersonal networking when on the move. Born in the 1990s, these Wa migrant youth also experienced the years of the booming development of the information and communication technologies (ICTs) in China. Their mobile networking and networked sociality are fragmented in that they are often prohibited from answering any phone calls and connecting to QQ during work hours or they have to discontinue using their QQ platforms after leaving the factories or returning to their homelands due to financial problems. Through the active use of mobile media, their networking ties are partly ethnic-constructed, partly class-based, and partly language-centered. They develop QQ chatgroups based on ethnic ties among Wa coworkers and villagers, who are from the same ethnic homelands or work in the cities. Moreover, they often share digital narratives of work fatigue, which are originally written by Han workers, on their QQ chatgroups. Finally, living in multilingual and multiethnic work environments in the cities, language use is another key aspect for understanding Wa migrants’ identity construction. Frequently, Wa migrant youth create unique phonetic changes in mobile texting and messaging to express their language-centered regional identities by typing the sounds of a regional Chinese variety and Wa using standard Chinese words. In this way, Wa migrant workers create a unique way to distinguish themselves from Han migrant workers.
Subjects
網絡社會性
手機連結性
社群媒體
網絡
佤族移工
networked sociality
mobile connectivity
social media
network
and Wa migrant workers
Type
journal article
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