Glocal intimacies: theorizing mobile media and intimate relationships

Abstract

This article develops the concept of “glocal intimacies,” capturing the role of mobile media in how people enact and reconfigure their increasingly global experiences of social relationships. It establishes the two foundational assumptions of this concept: the interplay of local and global cultures and the transformative role of mobile media. It then identifies the three key dimensions that characterize glocal intimacies: digital access, contextual localities, and sociotechnical dynamics. To provide empirical flesh to how these dimensions intersect, it comparatively discusses two ethnographic projects on privileged Filipinos and their mediated familial and romantic relationships.