The Cell Phone: An Anthropology of Communication. Heather A. Horst and Daniel Miller. Oxford: Berg Publisher; ix+211 pages; ISBN 1-84520-401-8; $29.95US (paper).
The rise of the cell phone has fostered a radical change in Third W orld com m unication possibilities by offering a new means of com m unication to populations historically deprived of land lines and Internet access. The Cell Phone: An Anthropology of Communication presents the results of an ethnographic study on the impact of the cell phone on two low-income Jam aican communities over the course of a year. The project was funded by the British Department for International Development as part of a broader initiative to study the potential of the cell phone for participating in development. The study exam ines the economic assumption that the cell phone alleviates poverty through contributing to Gross Dom estic Product and income generation.
W eaving through an analysis of the telecom m unications m arket in Jam aica with interviews and questionnaires, the study shows that the importance of the cell phone does not result from a single economic, technological or social factor, but combines state regulation of the market, technology and people's choice (164). The study highlights the popularity and im portance of the cell phone for low-income Jamaican com m unities through analyses of its presence in areas of crime, health, education, sexual relationships, transnational relationships and in sustaining and extending social networks and solving personal crises. In particular, Horst and Miller describe how the cell phone participates in the maintenance of large social networks through short phone conversations. Such a practice of "link-up"

164

Atlantis 32.2, 2008 PR www.msvu.ca/atlantis

(81-102) should not be interpreted as a form of minim al sociality or greater individual networking, but also as a way of fostering a potential for deeper relationships, should the occasion arises.
The central finding regarding the relationship between the cell phone and poverty is that contrary to other Third W orld countries, the cell phone in low-income com m unities in Jamaica is not a source of income generation. Rather, the cell phone m akes it possible for people living in poverty to survive, mainly through asking others for financial help to solve financial crises (165-66). The cell phone participates in a process where money is not saved for capital accumulation, but is filtered back through donations to alleviate crises of poverty. Such a finding highlights the im portance of taking into account local situations, practices and values for policy developments, and Horst and Miller show how ethnographic work can address the shortcomings of top-down approaches com m only used by national and international policy-m aking institutions, and can answer the need to analyze how general conditions of poverty, welfare and technological development are enm eshed with local situations and aspirations. Furthermore, ethnography offers a way to bring more scrutiny to the often unintentional and fortuitous effects of policies (176).
Horst and Miller offer a compelling and detailed account of the complex setting within which the cell phone is embedded in low-incom e Jam aican com m unities, highlighting how econom ic and political factors, social aspirations and cultural values are inseparable from technological development and have profound and specific social and personal im pacts. In so doing, the strength of their approach lies in the invitation to think beyond strict categorization and direct causality models.
Ganaele Langlois York/Ryerson Universities