‘Working the Mobile’: Giving and Spending Phone Credit in Port Vila, Vanuatu

Abstract

In keeping with previous Melanesian traditions of gift giving, ‘working the mobile’ has become a form through which young people perform their Melanesian personhood – developing a social life and social success through the act of giving. Indeed, for many of these urban young men, like ‘Big Men’ before them, giving and sharing, and not giving and not sharing, is the necessary ‘work’ for a successful social life. Moreover, such innovative use of phone credit demonstrates the resilience and creativity of Port Vila young men who are increasingly marginalised and ignored in their communities.