"Media anthropology in Europe and the US...
Media anthropology in Europe and the US
I’ve just posted this message to the Media Anthropology Network mailing list:
Dear All
Jay Ruby raised a very important question for discussion about a month ago re:
media anthropology in the US v Europe (see his message below), followed up by
Philipp Budka’s reference to national traditions of anthropological research.................
Encounters and conflicts within and between disciplines: Experimental philosophy and ethnography
An interesting discussion has been taking place on Savage Minds titled, “Philosophers discover lost tribe in jungles of free will” by Chris Kelty. The discussion and debate that ensues there centres on the development of what some call “experimental philosophy” (with a digest available here). This movement, shortened to X-Phi, involves using quantitative research, especially opinion polling, to address certain questions in philosophy, with some additional interest in cognitive science and evolutionary biology as well. This new movement seems to have gained ground since 2000, and Kwame Anthony Appiah dubs it the “new new philosophy” in an article in The New York Times Magazine (Dec. 9, 2007). I was interested to learn that there was a philosophy calling itself “experimental,” since I thought of all philosophy as “experimental” in broad terms (with its famous thought experiments). X-Phi might do better by relabeling itself grounded philosophy, or G-Phi.
X-PHI CONTROVERSYFieldwork preparation
Over the next three days I’ll be going to two blogmeets: All-Blogs “100 Days” this evening, and a Nuffnang Exclusive Private Screening of the movie Hancock.I’m looking forward to them, to meet some bloggers and have some interesting conversations; though I always approach these events with a little trepidation, as I am not very good at socialising and I usually feel a bit out of place… At the All-Blogs meets, which are mostly SoPo and journalist-types, I am a non-Malaysian; and at the Nuffnang events, I’m an old fart! However, everybody is always welcoming and I always end up enjoying them
Fieldwork reveals how slot machines are exploiting people
In November, a referendum on the legalizing of slot machines in Maryland will be held. In the Washington Post, anthropologist Natasha Dow Schüll tells us how slot machines are exploiting people.
Natasha Dow Schüll has been on fieldwork in Las Vegas among gamblers and the designers of the slot machines. Her book Machine Life: Control and Compulsion in Las Vegas will be published by Princeton University Press in early 2009.
Hobart, M. (forthcoming) What do we mean by ‘media practices’?
Hobart, M. (forthcoming) What do we mean by ‘media practices’? In Bräuchler, B. and J. Postill (eds) Theorising Media and Practice. Oxford and New York : Berghahn.
Mark Hobart calls in this essay for the adoption by media scholars of a ’radical’ version of practice theory that does away with entrenched static notions such as structure or system with deep roots in Western thought. He is critical of what he regards as Nick Couldry’s (this volume) privileging of media as an ‘anchor’ (Swidler 2001) of social practices, and asks that we abandon the idea that scholars have a privileged vantage point from which to study media power regardless of ordinary people’s own discursive practices.Ethnographies of flickr
I put a query to the Media Anthropology Network mailing list on behalf of Lye Tuck-Po and to my surprise it seems that a number of ethnographies of the photo/video sharing site flickr have been published. See references here.
Philosophers Discover Lost Tribe in Jungles of Free Will
Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about the concept of responsibility, and this has necessarily entailed (determined even) my encounter with contemporary (mostly American) moral philosophy. It’s not a domain I would ever seek out, being much more comfortable in the idioms of social theory and continental philosophy, but it’s hardly alien. However, a funny thing happened on my way to the agora, which is that I discovered that a small selection of philosophers have recently gone “experimental.”
Language-games, in/dividuals and media uses
Helle-Valle, J. (forthcoming) Language-games, in/dividuals and media uses. In Bräuchler, B. and J. Postill (eds) Theorising Media and Practice. Oxford and New York: Berghahn.
Media, knowledge production and the concept of culture
Spitulnik, D. (forthcoming) Thick context, deep epistemology: a meditation on wide-angle lenses on media, knowledge production and the concept of culture. In Bräuchler, B. and J. Postill (eds) Theorising Media and Practice. Oxford and New York: Berghahn.
Media, migration and ethnic relations in the Nordic countries
By John PostillKelty quotes, social drama, and a turf war!
Christopher Kelty discusses the online popularity and exposure a group of “experimental philosphers” have had using “2.0″ communication strategies. It brings up how the division and distance between those who embrace “new kinds of scholarly communication” and “those who ignore such techniques” is increasing. The discussion also touches on the falling walls of academia - in that some philosophical research projects look a lot like anthropology projects [and vice verca]. He comments:
"A well-informed critique of wartime anthropology for the military"
Approximately half of all anthropologists in the United States contributed their expertise to the World War II effort. In his new book Anthropological Intelligence: The Deployment and Neglect of American Anthropology in the Second World War, anthropologist David Price explores the wide range of roles they played through dozens of accounts profiling their work.
Questioning the “Top Misconceptions” About the “Human Terrain System”
One component of the Human Terrain System website is a page titled “Top Misconceptions,” in which the authors, presumably Montgomery McFate and/or Steve Fondacaro and/or Laurie Adler, argue with a series of “misconceptions” about their program, without actually quoting the sources of these alleged misconceptions. It might be a useful exercise to scrutinize the choice of terms, ideas, and concepts in what the HTS intends as a corrective. There are several other pages on the HTS website that restate the main elements of one another, with the FAQ extending or in essence repeating some of the ideas found below. A more comprehensive analysis would require an equally critical scrutiny of each of the other pages, while guarding against the repetition that is built into that site.
All of the lines that follow that are in italics are from the original document, and the regular text is my writing.
Fredrik Barth, practice theory and Danish teleworkers
Kjaerulff, J. (forthcoming) A Barthian approach to practice and media: internet engagements among teleworkers in rural Denmark. In Bräuchler, B. and J. Postill (eds) Theorising Media and Practice. Oxford and New York: Berghahn.
Michael Wesch and Media Literacy
Michael Wesch is an anthropologist who focuses on digital ethnography, student learning, and how new media and technology are changing the way we interact with each other and the world. He has a new lecture covering Media Literacy, an hour from a “master teacher” as one review says. So enjoy:
