The Routledge Companion to Media Anthropology

Cover
Endorsement
Half Title
Series Information
Title Page
Copyright Page
Table of Contents
Figures
Contributors
Acknowledgements
Introduction
Media Anthropologies
Histories
Approaches
Media as Infrastructure
Media as Practice
Media as Materiality
Media as Representation
Thematic Considerations
Relationships
Social Inequality and Marginalization
Identities and Social Change
Political Conservatism
Surveillance
Emerging Technologies
References
Part I Histories
1 Media Anthropology and the Digital Challenge
Functionalist Foundations
National Culture
Development Communications
Media as Symbolic Systems
The Emergence of Media Anthropology
The Anthropology of News and Journalism
Indigenous and Activist Media
Digital Challenges
Challenge #1: What’s New About Digital Media?
Challenge #2: Digital Divisions
Challenge #3: Post-Radial Semiotics
Challenge #4: Imagining Communities
Challenge #5: Play, Game and Design
Conclusion
References
2 Indigenous Media: Anthropological Perspectives and Historical Notes
Introduction
Indigenous Media in an Anthropology of Media
Media as Cultural Activism?
Media Anthropologists as Activists
Indigeneity and the Indigenizing of Media Technologies
Sociopolitical Change
Internet for Remote First Nation Communities in Canada
Conclusion
References
3 A Longitudinal Study of Media in Brazil
Prime-Time Society (PTS)
The Stage Model
Liberal Attitudes
TV’s Contraceptive Effect
The Research Continues: Amazon Town TV (ATTV)
Mẽbêngôkre-Kayapó TV
The Next Round
Final Remarks
Notes
References
Part II Approaches
A Media as Infrastructure
4 “Here, Listen to My CD-R”: Music Transactions and Infrastructures in Underground Hip-Hop Touring
Infrastructures of Industry, Touring, and Merchandise Sales
Ethnographies of Underground Hip Hop
Unpacking the CD-R
CD-R Exchanges in Underground Hip Hop
Conclusion
Notes
References
5 “Technology Is Wonderful Until It Isn’t”: Community-Based Research and the Precarity of Digital Infrastructure
Background
“Not Quite Plumb”: Squaring Fundamental Infrastructures and Foundational Knowledge
Imaging Discussion: Exploring Possibilities and the Promise of Technology
Zoom Matters: Technology Literacy and Community Dialogues During a Pandemic
Lessons Learned
References
6 Media Migration
Ethnographic Context
Media Migration Histories
Media Migration Dynamics and Migration Theory
Motivations for Leaving
Migrating to Self-Actualize
Relation to Diaspora
Migratory Return
A Collective Conversation About Media Migration
Types of Media Migration
Departures and Arrivals
Conclusion
References
7 The Digitally Natural: Hypomediacy and the “Really Real” in Game Design
Games and Remediation
Ritual and the Real
From Explicit to Implicit Participation
Conclusion
Notes
References
B Media as Practice
8 Media Practices and Their Social Effects
Practices, Worlds, Effects
Mediatising Effects
Worlding Effects
Who Needs Effects?
Conclusion
Notes
References
9 Television Is Not a Democracy: The Limits of Interactive Broadcast in Japan
The Twenty-First Century Audience
Television Is Not a Democracy
Is Nico Nico Douga the Enemy?
The Future of Television, the Status of Images
Conclusion
Notes
References
10 Producing Place Through Play: An Ethnography of Location-Based Gaming
Play as a Media Practice
Playable Locative Media
Play as a Practice of Place-Making
Social Place-Making With Locative Media
Towards Locative Gaming Platforms: Pokémon Go
Conclusion: Play as a Place-Making Practice
References
11 PhotoMedia as Anthropology: Towards a Speculative Research Method
Introduction
Visual Anthropology as a Practice
Photography as an Object: Observing
Photograph(ing) as a Method: Thinking
Photography as an Intervention: Imagining
Towards a Future-Oriented Media Anthropology
Imaginative Speculation
Techno-reflexivity
Conclusion
Note
References
12 Content-As-Practice: Studying Digital Content With a Media Practice Approach
Introduction
Understanding Digital Content-As-Practice
Human Actors, Practical Sense, and Technological Affordances
From Social Media Algorithms to Routinised Practices
Content-as-Practice and the Holocaust Memorial
Methodological Consequences
Conclusion
Notes
References
C Media as Materiality
13 The Materiality of the Virtual in Urban Space
Media Materiality and Urban Placemaking
Mobile Media in Café Culture
Public Media Mutuality
Digital Materiality and Organizing in Pandemic Brooklyn
The Virtual Matter of Urban Space
References
14 Anthropology and Digital Media: Multivocal Materialities of Video Meetings and Deafness
Digital Media Anthropology
A Video Meeting at SVT Teckenspråk
Being D/Deaf at SVT Teckenspråk
“Artifacts”
Experiences
Practices
Processes
Conclusion
Notes
References
15 Cloudwork: Data Centre Labour and the Maintenance of Media Infrastructure
The Transcendental Media Imaginary
The People in the Cloud
Cloud Pressure
Caring for Data
Conclusion
Notes
References
16 Media Anthropology and Emerging Technologies: Re-Working Media Presence
Shifting Modes of Media and Technological Presence
Interventional Ethnography
Content, Communication, and Presence
Bringing the Experience of Smart Home Technologies to Life
Towards an Applied Media Anthropology
Conclusion
Acknowledgements
References
D Media as Representation
17 #Everest: Visual Economies of Leisure and Labour in the Tourist Encounter
Visibility and Everest in Global Visual Cultures
Digital Communication as Building and Disrupting Relationships in the Everest Tourism Industry
Conclusion: the Aesthetics of Everest for Mediating Aspirations
References
18 Postcolonial Digital Collections: Instruments, Mirrors, Agents
Situating the Postcolonial in Museums
Into the Digital
Three Postcolonial Theories of (Digital) Representation
The Digital as Instrument
The Digital as Mirror Or Mimesis
The Digital as Agent
Postcolonial Digital Projects in Theory and Practice
New Forms of Digital Collecting
Instrumentalizing the Database
Digital Objects and Mimetic Returns
Conclusion
Acknowledgments
Notes
References
19 Ethnographies of the Digitally Dispossessed
Media Anthropology and the Sources of Power/Knowledge
Entering Via Flagged Erasures
Following Sources and Their Characterisation
Analysing the Networks That Traverse Articles
New Centres of Power/Knowledge
Notes
References
Part III Thematic Considerations
A Relationships
20 “Friends From WeChat Groups”: The Practice of Friendship Via Social Media Among Older People in China
Introduction
Mediated Friendship in the Chinese Context
Daily Use of WeChat and WeChat Groups Among Older People in Shanghai
Different Types of WeChat Groups
Friend-making and Guanxi Practice in WeChat Groups
Conclusion
Acknowledgement
Notes
References
21 Mediated Money and Social Relationships Among Hong Kong Cross-Boundary Students
Money as Media
Methods and Social Context
Digital Money Differentials: Payment and Place
Mediating Family Relations: Parental Nurturance and Control of Offspring
Consumptive Relations: “Simple” and “Complex” Payment Repertoires
Conclusion
Acknowledgements
Notes
References
22 Narratives of Digital Intimacy: Romanian Migration and Mediated Transnational Life
Introduction
Digital Intimacies as Discursive Formations
Case Background and Research Methodology: Studying Romanian Transnational Cultural Formations
Mothers’ Diasporic Efforts Toward Cultural Reproduction
How Cultures of Migration Shape Mediated Transnational Relationships
Conclusion
Notes
References
B Social Inequality and Marginalisation
23 Mediating Hopes: Social Media and Crisis in Northern Italy
Introduction
Crisis in Northern Italy
Online Branding and Local Forms of Socialities
Giulia: Social Media and the Practice of Hoping
Laura and Luca: Self-Branding and the Crafting of Meaningful Relationships
Social Media and the Mediation of Hope
References
24 Digital Inequality and Relatedness in India After Access
Inequalities After Access
Understanding Gradations of Use
The Diversity of Digital Practices After Access
Refashioning of Social Hierarchies
Digital Recreation as Social Change
Conclusions
Notes
References
25 In This Together: Black Women, Collective Screening Experiences, and Space-Making as Meaning-Making
Introduction
Distance and Distancing in Black Women’s U.S. Media Histories
A Night Out: Alternatives of Black Media Screening and Engagement
Co-Production of Meaning: Why Screening Events Are Important Sites of Inquiry
Visceral Validation: Reclaiming Space, Body, and Affect
Conclusion: Black Un/Imagining in Collective Screening Spaces
References
26 Black Gamer’s Refuge: Finding Community Within the Magic Circle of Whiteness
Introduction
The Dissolution of Black People Discord
Black Girl Gamers, the Black Spoil Sport, and Possibilities Within the Magic Circle of Whiteness
Conclusion
Notes
References
C Identities and Social Change
27 Inking Identity: Indigenous Nationalism in Bolivian Tattoo Art
Introduction
Tattoo, Identity, and Place
The Politics of Indigeneity
Tattoos With Indigenous Symbolism
From Abstraction to Appropriation?
Conclusion
Notes
References
28 Being Known and Becoming Famous in Kampala, Uganda
Introduction
From Taboo to Tabloid: Sex and Development in Uganda’s Public Sphere
The Producers
The Sensitization Model
Modernity Claims, Morality Claims
Cross-Generational Sex Starts With You!
Notes
References
29 The Hall of Mirrors: Negotiating Gender On Chilean Social Media
Identity Construction On Social Media
Alexa
Normative Gender, Radical Potential
Damned If You Do …
Damned If You Don’t …
Conclusion
Notes
References
D Political Conservatism
30 Media Anthropology and the Crisis of Facts
Introduction
“One to Eight”: The Dominance of Media-Driven Political Right
A Concern With Civility and Incivility
Talk About Racism As Lack of Civility
Ali Does Know How to Use the Toilet
Incivility of Toilet Habits
Freedom to Eroticize Torture
The “Nation in Danger” and the Indifference to Facts
Conclusion
Note
References
31 Conspiracy Media Ecologies and the Case for Guerilla Anthropology
America’s Stonehenge Vandalized
Mediated Conspirituality
The Case for Guerrilla Archaeology
Aftermath
Notes
References
32 Researching Political Trolls as Instruments of Political Conservatism in Turkey: A Historical Framework and Methodological Reflections On a Discourse Community
Introduction
Why Study Political Trolls?
In the Field: Different Historical Moments, Multiple Methods
Trolling as a Discourse Community in the Service of Political Conservatism
Conclusion
Notes
References
33 Performing Conservatism: A Study of Emerging Political Mobilisations in Latin America Using “Social Media Drama” Analysis
Introduction
Morally Centred Social Movements: The State of Affairs
A “Social Media Drama” Analysis for Conservative Mobilisation
Performing Conservatism in Latin America
Performing Conservatism and Co-Creation in Lima
Performing Conservatism in Bogota’s Autonomous Media
Concluding Remarks
References
E Surveillance
34 Algorithmic Violence in Everyday Life and the Role of Media Anthropology
Introduction
Tech-Surveillance and the Question About Profiling
‘There Is So Much More to Me as a Person’: Everyday Negotiations With Algorithmic Profiling, Human Reductionism, and Inequality
Algorithmic Violence, Bureaucracy, and the Role of Anthropology
Conclusion
References
35 Queer and Muslim?: Social Surveillance and Islamic Sexual Ethics On Twitter
Enjoining the Right and Forbidding the Wrong as Social Surveillance
“LGBT Is Disgusting”/“You Are Married to Your Cousin”: Islamic Sexual Ethics On Twitter
Conclusions: Toward a Theory of Contingent Privacy Online
References
36 Queer Sousveillance: Publics, Politics, and Social Media in South Korea
Surveillance Studies and Social Media
Enumeration and Practices of Queer Sousveillance
Conclusion
References
F Emerging Technologies and Contemporary Challenges: Data, AI and VR
37 The Algorithmic Silhouette: New Technologies and the Fashionable Body
Closet Ethnography: Dress, Clothing, and Identity in the Caribbean
Fashioning Silhouettes
Visibility and Misrecognition
Algorithmic Silhouettes in Context
Conclusion
References
38 Unlocking Heritage In Situ: Tourist Places and Augmented Reality in Estonia
Making Apps for Tourist Sites
From Touristic Flânerie to Augmented Heritage
Embodying Imaginings in Tourist Places
Conclusion
References
39 Precarity, Discrimination and (In)visibility: An Ethnography of “The Algorithm” in the YouTube Influencer Industry
Context: The Influencer Industry and Rise of Professional Content Creators
Critical/Ethnographic Approaches to Algorithms in Cultural Work
Algorithmic Hearsay and Folk Theories
Pleasing The Algorithm Gods
Algorithmic Detectives and Conspiracy Theorists
Influencer Practices: Gaming The Algorithm
Feeding the Hungry Algorithm
Stuck Between a Rock and a Hard Place: Algorithmic Optimisation Versus Authenticity
Influencer Experiences: Feeling the Algorithm
The Fear of Algorithmically Induced Invisibility
Algorithmic Discrimination: The Marginalisation of Creators On YouTube
Conclusions
References
40 AI Design and Everyday Logics in the Kalahari
Ethnographies of AI
Explainable Algorithms
Data and the Global Souths
Ethnography, HCI and Africa
Localising Technology Production
Translating Inhabitant Knowledge
Explainable AI in the Kalahari
Engaging With Ju|’hoansi People
At the Intersection of AI, Programming Languages, Probability Theory and Local Predictive Practices
Predictive Logics: Stories and Spinner Games
Conditional Probability: Trees With Holes, Water and Snakes
Numbers Are Stories
Temporal Registers
Conclusion
Acknowledgements
Notes
References
41 Ethnography Of/and Virtual Reality
Defining Immersion
Producing and Consuming Immersion
Critiquing Immersion
Conclusion
Notes
References
Afterword
Achievements
Comparisons
Future Dialogues
Conclusion
References
Appendix
Art
Communication Systems
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
Failures
Games and Gaming
Global South
Labor and Entrepreneurship
LGBTQ+
Methods
Nationalism
Visuality
Media types
Countries
Index