The field of anthropology took a long time to discover the significance
of media in modern culture. In this important new book, Anna Pertierra
tells the story of how a field - once firmly associated with the study
of esoteric cultures - became a central part of the global study of
media and communication. She recounts the rise of anthropological
studies of media, the discovery of digital cultures, and the embrace of
ethnographic methods by media scholars around the world. Bringing
together longstanding debates in sociocultural anthropology with recent
innovations in digital cultural research, this book explains how
anthropology fits into the story and study of media in the contemporary
world. It charts the mutual disinterest and subsequent love affair that
has taken place between the fields of anthropology and media studies in
order to understand how and why such a transformation has taken place.
Moreover, the book shows how the theories and methods of anthropology
offer valuable ways to study media from a ground-level perspective and
to understand the human experience of media in the digital age.
Media Anthropology for the Digital Age will be of interest to students
and scholars of media and communication, anthropology, and cultural
studies, as well as anyone wanting to understand the use of anthropology
across wider cultural debates.
