The Anthropology of Media
A Reader
Blackwell Readers in Anthropology
1. Edition January 2002
432 Pages, Hardcover
Wiley & Sons Ltd
ISBN:
978-0-631-22093-0
John Wiley & Sons
The Anthropology of Media: A Reader
* Brings together key writings in the emergent field of the
anthropology of media for the first time
* Integrates key themes in the anthropology of media by means
of editorial commentary
* Explores the theoretical issues that have arisen from
ethnographic studies of media
offers a critical overview of how mass media represents and
constructs both Western and non-Western cultures. Moving beyond
earlier anthropological preoccupation with ethnographic film and
drawing on the recent explosion of creative studies of culture and
media, this volume heralds the emergence of a new field - the
anthropology of media - and brings its key literature
together for the first time.
Acknowledgments.
Timeline of Media Development.
Introduction: Kelly Askew and Richard R. Wilk.
Part I: Seeing/Hearing is Believing: Technology and
Truth:.
1. The Medium is the Message: Marshall
McLuhan.
2. The Technology and the Society: Raymond
Williams..
3. Mead and Bateson Debate: On the Use of the Camera in
Anthropology: Margaret Mead and Gregory Bateson.
4. The Ambiguity of the Photograph: John Berger.
5. Save, Save the Lore!: Erika Brady.
Part II: Representing Others:.
6. The Gaze of Western Humanism: James C. Faris.
7. The Color of Sex: Postwar Photographic Histories of Race
and Gender: Catherine Lutz and Jane Collins.
8. The Imperial Imaginary: Ella Shohat and Robert
Stam.
9. Complicities of Style: Dave MacDougall.
Part III: Representing Selves:.
10. Hollywood and the USA: Hortense
Powdermaker.
11. Yoruba Photography: How the Yoruba See Themselves:
Stephen F. Sprague.
12. Relationships: Daniel Miller and Don Slater.
13. Mediating Culture: Indigenous Media, Ethnographic Film,
and the Production of Identity: Faye Ginsburg.
Part IV: Active Audiences:.
14. Radio Texture: Between Self and Others: Jo
Taachi.
15. The Tongan Tradition of Going to the Movies:
Elizabeth Hahn.
16. Rambo's Wife Saves the Day: Subjugating the Gaze and
Subverting the Narrative in a Papua New Guinean Swamp: Don
Kulick and Margaret Willson.
17. 'It's Destroying a Whole Generation': Television and
Moral Discourse in Belize: Rick Wilk.
18. National Texts and Gendered Lives: An Ethnography of
Television Viewers in a North Indian City: Purnima
Mankekar.
Part V: Power, Colonialism, Nationalism:.
19. Image-Based Culture: Advertising and Popular Culture:
Sut Jhally.
20. The Global and the Local in International
Communications: Annabelle Sreberny-Mohammadi.
21. In Rascally Signs in Sacred Places: The Politics of
Culture in Nicaragua: David E Whisnant.
22. The Objects of Soap Opera: Egyptian Television and the
Cultural Politics of Modernity: Lila Abu-Lughod.
Resource Bibliography.
Index.
Timeline of Media Development.
Introduction: Kelly Askew and Richard R. Wilk.
Part I: Seeing/Hearing is Believing: Technology and
Truth:.
1. The Medium is the Message: Marshall
McLuhan.
2. The Technology and the Society: Raymond
Williams..
3. Mead and Bateson Debate: On the Use of the Camera in
Anthropology: Margaret Mead and Gregory Bateson.
4. The Ambiguity of the Photograph: John Berger.
5. Save, Save the Lore!: Erika Brady.
Part II: Representing Others:.
6. The Gaze of Western Humanism: James C. Faris.
7. The Color of Sex: Postwar Photographic Histories of Race
and Gender: Catherine Lutz and Jane Collins.
8. The Imperial Imaginary: Ella Shohat and Robert
Stam.
9. Complicities of Style: Dave MacDougall.
Part III: Representing Selves:.
10. Hollywood and the USA: Hortense
Powdermaker.
11. Yoruba Photography: How the Yoruba See Themselves:
Stephen F. Sprague.
12. Relationships: Daniel Miller and Don Slater.
13. Mediating Culture: Indigenous Media, Ethnographic Film,
and the Production of Identity: Faye Ginsburg.
Part IV: Active Audiences:.
14. Radio Texture: Between Self and Others: Jo
Taachi.
15. The Tongan Tradition of Going to the Movies:
Elizabeth Hahn.
16. Rambo's Wife Saves the Day: Subjugating the Gaze and
Subverting the Narrative in a Papua New Guinean Swamp: Don
Kulick and Margaret Willson.
17. 'It's Destroying a Whole Generation': Television and
Moral Discourse in Belize: Rick Wilk.
18. National Texts and Gendered Lives: An Ethnography of
Television Viewers in a North Indian City: Purnima
Mankekar.
Part V: Power, Colonialism, Nationalism:.
19. Image-Based Culture: Advertising and Popular Culture:
Sut Jhally.
20. The Global and the Local in International
Communications: Annabelle Sreberny-Mohammadi.
21. In Rascally Signs in Sacred Places: The Politics of
Culture in Nicaragua: David E Whisnant.
22. The Objects of Soap Opera: Egyptian Television and the
Cultural Politics of Modernity: Lila Abu-Lughod.
Resource Bibliography.
Index.
"In its bold presentation of an emergent subfield -
anthropology of media - this comprehensive collection is a
timely resource for students and others interested in
cross-cultural research on mass communication. Destined to become a
standard text, it explores a wide range of theoretical ideas and
spotlights fascinating case studies. Highly recommended!" Harald
E. L. Prins, Society for Visual Anthropology (1999-2001)
"Provides a unique collection of classic and vanguard,
theoretical and substantive studies that demonstrates the
centrality of anthropology to contemporary media studies. By a
judicious selection of fascinating papers this volume is able to go
beyond any single study to reveal the many different ways an
anthropology sensitive to political and economic environments can
investigate the production, consumption, and consequences of media
by creators and users. As such it makes the ideal foundation for
teaching a subject that has now clearly come into its own."
Daniel Miller, University College London
anthropology of media - this comprehensive collection is a
timely resource for students and others interested in
cross-cultural research on mass communication. Destined to become a
standard text, it explores a wide range of theoretical ideas and
spotlights fascinating case studies. Highly recommended!" Harald
E. L. Prins, Society for Visual Anthropology (1999-2001)
"Provides a unique collection of classic and vanguard,
theoretical and substantive studies that demonstrates the
centrality of anthropology to contemporary media studies. By a
judicious selection of fascinating papers this volume is able to go
beyond any single study to reveal the many different ways an
anthropology sensitive to political and economic environments can
investigate the production, consumption, and consequences of media
by creators and users. As such it makes the ideal foundation for
teaching a subject that has now clearly come into its own."
Daniel Miller, University College London
Kelly Askew is Assistant Professor in the Department of
Anthropology and the Center for Afroamerican and African Studiesat
the University of Michigan. She is the author of Performing the
Nation: Swahili Music and Cultural Politics in Tanzania
(2002).
Richard R. Wilk is Professor and Chair of the Department
of Anthropology at Indiana University. He is the author of several
books, including Household Ecology (1991) and Economies
and Cultures (1996), as well as over a hundred papers and
articles on topics as diverse as Maya archaeology, research ethics,
and global consumer culture.
Anthropology and the Center for Afroamerican and African Studiesat
the University of Michigan. She is the author of Performing the
Nation: Swahili Music and Cultural Politics in Tanzania
(2002).
Richard R. Wilk is Professor and Chair of the Department
of Anthropology at Indiana University. He is the author of several
books, including Household Ecology (1991) and Economies
and Cultures (1996), as well as over a hundred papers and
articles on topics as diverse as Maya archaeology, research ethics,
and global consumer culture.
