Introduction

The Anthropology of Media is an emerging subfield of Anthropology. It concerns the study of the media and activities related to the media, from an anthropological perspective. This most often is taken to mean using ethnography in the study of media, and taking theoretical approaches from anthropology, such as interpretive approaches or practice based approaches.

Methodology

What is distinctive about an Anthropology of Media is the use of ethnography. Within Media Studies, Media Ethnographies have been of increasing interest. However these have often not followed anthropological approaches to ethnography like participant observation and long term fieldwork (six months to two years of fieldwork is not uncommon for Anthropology PhDs.) These differences mean that Anthropologists who take an interest in the media see themselves as a subfield distinct from ethnographic approaches in Media Studies and Cultural Studies.

Theory

The theories used in the Anthropology of Media range from practice approaches, attributable to theorists such as Pierre Bourdieu, as well as discussions of the appropriation and adaptation of new technologies and practices. Theoretical approaches have also been picked up from visual anthropology and from Film theory as well as from studies of ritual, performance studies, e.g. dance and theatre. Theoretical discussions have also been picked up from studies of consumption, audience reception in Media Studies, new media and network theories, theories of globalisation, theories of international civil society, and discussions of participatory communications, and governance from development studies. Since the Anthropology of Media is a fairly inter-discipliniary area, there are a whole range of other influences not yet mentioned here.

Ethnographic contexts

The types of ethnographic contexts explored in the Anthropology of Media range from the production of media: ethnographies of newsrooms in newspapers, journalists in the field, film production and so on, as well as reception studies, following audiences in their responses to media. Other types include cyber anthropology ( a relatively new area of internet research, as well as ethnographies of other contexts which happen to include media, such as development work, social movements, health education. This is in addition to many classic ethnographic contexts, where media such as radio, the press, new media and television have started to make their presences felt.

Links

Open Directory Project (ODP) entry on the Anthropology of Media:
http://dmoz.org/Science/Social_Sciences/Anthropology/Cultural_Anthropology/Media_Culture/

European Association of Social Anthropologists (EASA) Media Anthropology Network:
http://www.media-anthropology.net

Ma Programme in the Anthropology of Media at SOAS
http://www.soas.ac.uk/studying/courseinfo.cfm?courseinfoid=10

Introductory Books

Media Anthropology
http://www.sagepub.com/booksProdDesc.nav?contribId=530641&prodId=Book226842

Anthropology of Media reader
http://www.amazon.com/Anthropology-Media-Reader-Blackwell-Readers/dp/0631220941

Media Worlds: Anthropology on new Terrain
http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0520232313/ref=sib_dp_pt/002-6183149-2467254#reader-link

Review of the last two books:
http://www.aaanet.org/aes/bkreviews/result_details.cfm?bk_id=3038