The Routledge Companion to Media Anthropology provides a broad overview of the widening and flourishing area of media anthropology, and outlines key themes, debates, and emerging directions.

The Routledge Companion to Media Anthropology draws together the work of scholars from across the globe, with rich ethnographic studies that address a wide range of media practices and forms. Comprising 41 chapters by a team of international contributors, the Companion is divided into three parts:

• Histories
• Approaches
• Thematic Considerations.

The chapters offer wide-ranging explorations of how forms of mediation influence communication, social relationships, cultural practices, participation, and social change, as well as production and access to information and knowledge. This volume considers new developments, and highlights the ways in which anthropology can contribute to the study of the human condition and the social processes in which media are entangled.

This is an indispensable teaching resource for advanced undergraduate and postgraduate students and an essential text for scholars working across the areas that media anthropology engages with, including anthropology, sociology, media and cultural studies, internet and communication studies, and science and technology studies.

Chapters 7, 12 and 15 (CC-BY-NC-ND) and Chapter 6 (CC-BY-ND) of this book are freely available as downloadable Open Access PDFs at http://www.taylorfrancis.com.

About the Author

Elisabetta Costa is Assistant Professor in Media Studies at the University of Groningen, the Netherlands.

Patricia G. Lange is Associate Professor and Chair of Critical Studies at California College of the Arts, USA.

Nell Haynes is a faculty member in the Department of Global Studies at Saint Mary's College, USA.

Jolynna Sinanan is a Lecturer in Social and Digital Anthropology at the University of Manchester, UK.

Reviews

"Media anthropology, just like the media itself, is a fast-moving field of enquiry, especially in the light of new digital technologies. What makes this volume essential is the way it effectively brings the reader up to date with some of the most exciting and insightful developments as well as new approaches. It also provides a very effective balance between the depth one associates with ethnographically based studies and the breadth that is required in encompassing a field that ranges from infrastructure and practice to materiality and inequality."

Daniel Miller, Professor, UCL Department of Anthropology, London

"This rich and engaging volume successfully redefines the field of media anthropology for a digital world, while respecting and building upon the pioneering work that established the field. Over 40 ethnographers explore contemporary phenomena and the cultural practices around them - from gaming to YouTube, fashion to tourism -- while interrogating the global realities of inequality, injustice, and surveillance. Especially timely is the focus on the role of media in the rise of extremism and the crisis of truth, offering a stark warning for the future."

Elizabeth Bird, Professor Emerita, Department of Anthropology, University of South Florida

"This important collection brings together many of the world's significant and emerging voices in media studies, digital research, and anthropology. It offers a comprehensive overview of where media anthropology has come from, how it has developed, and where it is going. Contributions include reflections on key moments in the development of media anthropology, consideration of the methodological, theoretical, and political opportunities that media anthropology has brought to academic research, and a vision of the near future that media anthropology offers new generations of students and scholars. The transregional and multigenerational scope demonstrates how media anthropology has developed and evolved, both within and beyond the disciplines from which it began."

Anna Cristina Pertierra, Professor, School of Design, University of Technology Sydney

Book Information
ISBN 9781032007786
Author Elisabetta Costa
Format Paperback
Page Count 618
Imprint Routledge
Publisher Taylor & Francis Ltd
Weight(grams) 880g