The article provides an ethnographic description of social life in and around phonie houses in Kinshasa. An analysis of the management of phonie conversations, which usually take place in the presence of the operator and customers, who themselves often participate actively in the radio conversations, provides a deeper insight into how urban residents literally live with the village. This leads to an exploration of various “agents of interference” in Kinshasa’s social landscape. These are social roles that build a bridge between different worlds, but often embody risk and danger. As a result, the emphasis in the analysis is primarily on interference, a technical and social experience familiar to many, not only in Kinshasa, but wherever where long-range connectivity is lived.

Paper presented at the meeting of the Section of Human Sciences held on 9 May 2017. Text received on 27 July 2017 and submitted to peer review. Final version, approved by the reviewers, received on 22 June 2018.