Sticht the dress and the web: young women, fashion and digital economies in Yaounde, Cameroon

Sticht 服装和网络：喀麦隆雅温得的年轻女性、时尚和数字经济

• 批准号: ES/X00659X/1
• 负责人: Ewa Majczak
• 金额: $ 14.34万
• 依托单位: London School of Economics and Political Science
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Fellowship
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2022 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=ES%2FX00659X%2F1
• 关键词: Sticht; dress; web; young; women

My research focuses on how new media technologies influence gender inequalities in society, and how access to mobile phone cameras changed young Cameroonian women's future aspirations and work opportunities. During my doctorate, I worked with young women from lower socioeconomic backgrounds in the capital city, Yaoundé, who were enrolled in or had completed university education, but not in the field of new technologies. I engaged in participant observation and interviewed them about the use of mobile phones, particularly their cameras, in relation to their future aspirations and work prospects. This research revealed that rather than aspiring to work in the areas they studied, young women see their futures as intimately tied to images they make with their phone cameras, in advertising and modelling, and especially in fashion.My research shows how new media technologies can alter gender inequalities in access to productive work. By displaying and sharing the images of their dress styles, young women manifest their skills and find work opportunities in their desired areas. Young women change their economic position in a gerontocratic and patriarchal society by circumventing dependence on patrimonial networks through which paths of social mobility run. Using new media technologies as channels of distribution for their images and styles, they build matronage networks. Testifying to this phenomenon, international media and business investment forecasts have highlighted African fashion as one of the top five areas to look out for in 2022. Yet even as mediatised success stories about the emergence of female African fashion brands in digital economies circulate internationally, small-scale initiatives operating locally are on precarious ground. This precarity owes, amongst other factors, to a lack of institutional support: the economic, infrastructural and promotion assistance that could compensate for the instability of matronage networks. My research shows the need to spread awareness about small-scale initiatives and their challenges, and to establish policy schemes to support young women in this new sector.During the fellowship, I will publish two academic articles that seek to influence scholarly debates on African fashion and gender. I will also organise a workshop to disseminate my research findings to audiences in Cameroon and beyond. This international workshop will focus on the transformation of African fashion through digital technologies and the impacts of this change on local female economies. The workshop will engage interdisciplinary scholars, policymakers and fashion practitioners from my research, and will be open to the public. It will be co-run with Dr Felicite Djoukouo, and hosted by the National Museum (Yaoundé), with participation by the National Ministry for Women's Empowerment, UNESCO and UN Women. I will organize the workshop in conjunction with a forthcoming exhibition at the V&A Museum on African fashion, allowing for remote online participation. The aim of the workshop will be to share knowledge and generate awareness about possibilities and challenges that digital economies in fashion create for young women, and map out ways to transform their precarity into stable sources of income.The outcomes of the workshop will be threefold. First, by highlighting local initiatives and their gendered economies, the workshop will introduce a missing perspective on African fashion for V&A Museum audiences. Second, it will result in a publication at the intersection of visual arts and academia, which will foster new debates on African fashion and female digital economies. Third, the workshop outcomes will be translated into a policy briefing on supporting female empowerment through partnerships in digital fashion. This will have a powerful role in altering the economic position of young women from lower socioeconomic backgrounds.

我的研究重点是新媒体技术如何影响社会中的性别不平等，以及手机相机的使用如何改变喀麦隆年轻女性的未来愿望和工作机会。在攻读博士学位期间，我在首都仰光与社会经济背景较低的年轻女性一起工作，她们在大学就读或完成了大学教育，但不是在新技术领域。我进行了参与式观察，采访了他们关于手机的使用，特别是他们的相机，与他们未来的愿望和工作前景。这项研究表明，年轻女性并不渴望在她们所学的领域工作，而是把自己的未来与她们用手机相机拍摄的照片、广告和模特，尤其是时尚界的照片紧密联系在一起。我的研究显示了新媒体技术如何改变在获得生产性工作方面的性别不平等。通过展示和分享她们的着装风格，年轻女性展示了她们的技能，并在她们想要的领域找到了工作机会。年轻女性通过避开社会流动路径所依赖的世袭网络，改变了她们在老年统治和父权社会中的经济地位。他们利用新媒体技术作为他们的形象和风格的传播渠道，建立了管理网络。国际媒体和商业投资预测将非洲时尚列为2022年最值得关注的五大领域之一，证明了这一现象。然而，尽管非洲女性时尚品牌在数字经济中崛起的成功故事在国际上广为流传，但在当地运营的小规模项目却处于不稳定的境地。除其他因素外，这种不稳定是由于缺乏体制支持：经济、基础设施和促进援助，以弥补电信网络的不稳定。我的研究表明，有必要传播对小规模倡议及其挑战的认识，并制定政策计划，以支持这个新部门的年轻女性。在奖学金期间，我将发表两篇学术文章，试图影响关于非洲时尚和性别的学术辩论。我还将组织一个研讨会，向喀麦隆和其他地区的听众传播我的研究成果。本次国际研讨会将重点关注通过数字技术改变非洲时尚，以及这种变化对当地女性经济的影响。研讨会将邀请跨学科的学者、政策制定者和时尚从业者参与我的研究，并向公众开放。它将与Felicite Djoukouo博士共同运营，由国家博物馆（yaound<e:1>）主办，国家妇女赋权部、教科文组织和联合国妇女署参与。我将与即将在V&A博物馆举办的非洲时尚展览一起组织这个研讨会，允许远程在线参与。研讨会的目的是分享知识，提高对数字经济在时尚领域为年轻女性带来的可能性和挑战的认识，并制定将不稳定转化为稳定收入来源的方法。讲习班的成果将有三个方面。首先，通过强调当地的倡议和他们的性别经济，研讨会将为V&A博物馆的观众介绍非洲时尚的一个缺失的视角。其次，它将在视觉艺术和学术界的交叉点产生一份出版物，这将促进关于非洲时尚和女性数字经济的新辩论。第三，研讨会成果将转化为关于通过数字时尚伙伴关系支持女性赋权的政策简报。这将在改变社会经济背景较低的年轻妇女的经济地位方面发挥强有力的作用。