Seeking the non-developmental within the developmental: Mobile phones in the globalized migration context

The meta-narrative of globalization has become embedded in the modern-day lexicon; and has permeated the key development discourses of the day. For the purposes of this examination, globalization has been defined along five major dimensions, supported by an advanced techno-sociological infrastructure: the internationalization of financial investment flows including FDIs (foreign direct investment); of increasingly networked cross-border trade comprising imports and exports; of an overarching media sky-scape of multinational organizations and services; of hitherto unimaginable labor movement and migration across nations; and finally, of information flows and communication connectivity on an unprecedented global scale (Robertson, 2004; Castles, 2003). The interrelatedness of these dimensions makes it difficult to tease out any one dimension of this phenomenon while explaining a specific socio-cultural or economic scenario. Nonetheless, this chapter, focusing on the developmental impact of new communications technologies (specifically, of mobile phones) on international migrants, is situated mainly along the intersection of two dimensions of globalization mentioned: labor migration and the globalization of information and communication technologies (ICTs).