Phones, Small Talk and Disputes. Transnational Communications and Community Cohesion among Roma Migrants in the Outskirts of Paris

Abstract

This paper is an ethnographic exploration of the various roles of phone communications among Romanian Roma migrants in the outskirts of Paris. Speech practices play a fundamental role in their daily sociability and have been deeply transformed since members of this group are scattered throughout Western Europe. Drawing on material culture and consumption studies, this research shows how the contemporary uses of communication tools generate a virtual co-presence among transnational households, and enable migrants to develop a sense of collective ubiquity. After outlining the methodological frame and context of the research, the author analyzes the uses Roma migrants make of their mobile and landline phones, as international communications became a strategic stake in the field of “ethnic business”. Then she goes through the details of phone communications and their different aims, insisting on the role of conflicts for both the families and the community.