Paper short abstract:

Among Somalis in Kenya, the mobile money platform M-Pesa is widely used alongside traditional financial institutions, allowing greater flexibility for the cultivation of social networks. This paper seeks to understand how mobile telephony, and M-Pesa in particular, is re-shaping Somali monetary practices and the moral meaning of money

Paper long abstract:

Since the collapse of the central Somali state, the Somali diaspora in the Horn of Africa has been relying on communication technologies and remittances to cultivate social networks and livelihoods. Among Kenya's large Somali population, mobile telephony has become rapidly popular because it allows greater flexibility in both communicating and remitting. The latter is done through M-Pesa, a mobile money platform to transfer and store money. The purpose of this submission is to examine the usage of M-Pesa among Somalis in Nairobi. In particular, it endeavours to understand how this innovation is integrated within the Somali repertoire of financial institutions. Based on an ethnography conducted in the mostly Somali inhabited estate of Eastleigh, it discusses the implications of mobile money for the hawala, a trust-based remittance system widespread among Somalis, arguing that the interplay of M-Pesa and Somali financial arrangements informs monetary practices which bring to the fore the moral meaning of money. Illustrating the strategies deployed by the actors to cultivate multiplicity and preserve financial alternatives in a volatile environment, this paper aims to contribute to the reflection on the mutual influence of ICTs and ingrained notions of value.