Introduction to Digital Anthropology Winter 2020/21

Digital media have changed the way social life is imagined, political actions are crafted, and power relations are enacted. Digital platforms, internet-based devices and digital social media are widespread around the world. They increasingly play a critical role in political, social and economic processes. Playing, learning, voting, dating, loving, migrating, dying, as well as friendship, kinship, politics, and news production and consumption, have all been affected by the diffusion of digital technologies. This course will prepare students to explore digital media by using anthropological methods, theories and themes. The course will develop critical skills to contextualize digital media in relation to everyday cultures of use and social-political structures, and examine how people’s lives converge in offline and online spaces.  The course will focus on four important themes of digital anthropology: digital political cultures, digital leisure, digital media and gender, and digital visualities. Students will be introduced to anthropological methods for the study of digital media, including digital ethnography, mixed methods (data analysis and ethnography), and field interviews. The course will demonstrate the stunning diversity and variation in digital media in different parts of the world. Students will learn how the impact and use of digital media among people are shaped by class, gender and religious backgrounds, and different levels of embeddedness in local and global power structures. 

At the end of the course, students will

demonstrate knowledge of key debates and terms in anthropological explorations of digital media

situate digital media within the broader context of power, ideology and institutions 

think comparatively in terms of general features of digital media and their specific local articulations 

develop knowledge of anthropological methods in exploring digital media

apply anthropological methods, theories and themes to the study of digital media 

The course has no specific prerequisites. 

Grading and participation

Students are encouraged to read the key texts assigned to each class, and prepare responses and questions to participate in classroom discussions. Students will post two guiding questions or summaries for discussion based on the week’s readings on Moodle at least two days before the class meets.  Half way into the semester, students will present a 3-page (double spaced) research proposal that outlines, i. the topic chosen for the study, ii. research questions, iii. background discussion, iv. research methods, v. research ethics compliance, v. how the project contributes to a theme in digital anthropology. Research methods should include i. offline and online participant observation, ii. interviews with at least three people, iii. one more research method (textual analysis of digital content/analysis of visuals/digital content creation). Students will present the research proposal before the class, to gather feedback. Grading is based on the research proposal and the short digital anthropological project they will carry out based on the proposal. Students will deliver the project findings and a theoretical discussion (3000 words for undergraduate students and 5000 words for masters students) in the last two classes. The project paper will discuss the findings of the ethnographic study with a thorough review of relevant scholarship (including at least three readings covered in the syllabus and one new scholarly source).