Free e-seminar on webcam ethnography, 9-23 October 2012

By Steve Lyon (Durham University) via Media Anthropology Network mailing list

Dear List

The next Media Anthropology Network E-Seminar will be happening very soon. The next e-seminar will be based around a paper by Daniel Miller and Jolynna Sinanan and the discussant will be Daniel Taghioff. The abstract of the paper is below. The paper itself should be available for everyone to download and read on our website about a week before the e-seminar begins on the 9th of October.

9 October – 23 October 2012

WEBCAM AND THE THEORY OF ATTAINMENT
Daniel Miller and Jolynna Sinanan (UCL)

The seminar paper will begin with a summary of a book whose first draft is near to completion, concerning the impact of Webcam (mainly Skype). It provides a first introduction to what we call A Theory of Attainment, which provides the conclusion to this volume. It shows how this theory builds on earlier discussions found in the edited volume Digital Anthropology and in The Internet: An Ethnographic Approach.  The Theory of Attainment is intended to facilitate the anthropology of new media generally, and not just webcam. The theory is then illustrated briefly in relation to two themes: self-consciousness and intimacy. The remainder of the paper is given over to a discussion of our sense of place. It shows how webcam facilitates projects that both de-stabilise and stabilise our relationship to location. Juxtaposing these two opposed developments brings us back in conclusion to the Theory of Attainment.

Discussant: Daniel Taghioff

Best regards,
Steve

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These sessions are free of charge and open to all with a genuine interest in the anthropology of media. To take part in the e-seminar, visit this page.