(De)colonization of the digital environment: The internet and new(er) media as places of contemporary anthropological research and how to approach them ethnographically
The last decades of the twentieth century brought several twists and turns in anthropological practice and theory. New constellations of geo-political and social circumstances on a global scale have also reshaped the terrain landscapes traditionally visited by anthropologists of the classic...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Institute of Ethnography, SASA, Belgrade
2020-01-01
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| Series: | Glasnik Etnografskog Instituta SANU |
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| Online Access: | http://www.doiserbia.nb.rs/img/doi/0350-0861/2020/0350-08612002419R.pdf |
| Summary: | The last decades of the twentieth century brought several twists and turns in
anthropological practice and theory. New constellations of geo-political and
social circumstances on a global scale have also reshaped the terrain
landscapes traditionally visited by anthropologists of the classical epoch,
exploring distant, other, and different cultures. Bringing anthropology
home, by shifting the focus of interest from traditional to contemporary
societies and cultures, has opened new terrains which can also be digital.
Marked as places where meaningful human activities take place, with
consequences and responses to them, we can move through digital
environments, we can spend time wandering or exploring, talking, getting to
know each other, loving and being, experiencing them as an integral part of
our world. With that in mind, in this paper, I will present the development
of the idea of places in the digital environment as the terrain of
contemporary anthropological research. By defining key concepts and
contextualizing them, I will seek to outline the landscape and features of
the new(er) media universe, which the internet and social media are a part
of, and which make up the digital environment. Then I will present the path
of (de)colonizing the digital, reflected in its becoming a real
anthropological terrain, which can be explored by multi-sited ethnography,
and the settlement of the digital environment, i.e. by designating them a
social space. |
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| ISSN: | 0350-0861 2334-8259 |