Deck 13: Visual and Media Anthropology

Question 1

What does it mean to say that Twitter users "performatively tag" their posts?

A) The addition of a tag is a performance designed to show the true meaning of the tweet.
B) Tagging is done to make posts easier to find later.
C) Tagging is performative since it requires physical activity at a keyboard.
D) Tagging posts is only done for the most important topics.

Answer 1

A

Question 2

How does the geographic space of Ferguson differ from #Ferguson as a field site?

A) #Ferguson conveys a slice of reality tied to globalized media through individual experiences.
B) More comments were made in Ferguson than in #Ferguson.
C) #Ferguson provides a space for anthropologists to conduct fieldwork.
D) Ferguson is isolated from global opinions and activism.

Answer 2

A

Question 3

How does watching a live stream of #Ferguson differ from listening to a radio broadcast?

A) A radio broadcast is continuous and therefore more detailed.
B) Watching a Twitter feed brings an element of polyvocality-many voices at once.
C) Twitter is unable to convey subtleties as well as radio or other media.
D) The use of hashtags prevents readers from focusing on a single issue.

Answer 3

B

Question 4

Hashtag campaigns such as #IfTheyGunnedMeDown, #HoodiesUp, and #WeAreTrayvonMartin focused on:

A) Raising awareness of violent incidents involving police.
B) Creating narratives to support popular media reporting.
C) Building coalitions of protestors in nearby towns.
D) Showing solidarity and the importance of photographic context.

Question 5

Why is social media relevant to struggles against continued state-sanctioned violence against racialized populations?

A) It is a key site for contesting the representations and silences of popular media.
B) It is available equally to all Americans.
C) Twitter posts remain active for months or years after an event.
D) It is a site where protesters can communicate without police knowledge.

Question 6

How are insiders and outsiders defined on Jamacians.com?

A) The forum moderators define members based on years of activity.
B) Tourists and people living outside Jamaica are outsiders, native Jamaicans in Jamaica are insiders.
C) There is a blurry line between these categories.
D) Tourists sometimes know more about parts of Jamaica than do native Jamaicans.

Question 7

Of the boards on the site, which does Williams describe as the most explosive?

A) The Jamaicaholics forum
B) The General Discussion forum
C) The Discover Jamaica forum
D) The Trip Reports forum

Question 8

The boardites on Jamaicans.com participate in:

A) Producing representations of Jamaica.
B) Transforming representations of Jamaica.
C) Consuming representations of Jamaica.
D) All of the above.

Question 9

Policing of behavior on the website comes from:

A) Paid moderators toward individuals trolling the boards.
B) Community members in Jamaica fighting misrepresentations.
C) Tourists correcting one another's behavior.
D) All directions, partly due to the anonymity of the boardites.

Question 10

Southern white poverty following the Civil War and the late 19^th century eugenics movement contributed to:

A) The loss of childhood agency.
B) The concept of genetically deficient "white trash."
C) Continued poverty throughout the US.
D) The creation of prevailing attitudes toward single mothers.

Question 11

The idea that children are passive recipients of culture, sequestered in a time of innocence, is an example of:

A) Culture being following universal patterns of psychology.
B) Human biology finding expression in culture.
C) Cultural processes reproducing the industrial labor force.
D) A universal cultural experience.

Question 12

What does it mean to say that TLC frames participants as moral subjects?

A) They are coded in ways that reference white, working-class culture.
B) Audience members must rely on their own morality to characterize subjects.
C) The subjects, particularly mothers, behave in ways that index morality.
D) Viewers are given cues that pageant contestants represent desired morality.

Question 13

Television and internet space combine to provide both scrutiny of working-class people and discipline in what has been termed:

A) Structural violence.
B) An "electronic panopticon."
C) Liminal space.
D) Disciplinary media.

Question 14

What does Dr. Singh see as one problem with participatory video ethnography?

A) The process does not generate any significant insights.
B) Organizing the ethnography is too time consuming.
C) People may see their everyday life and practices as mundane and not worthy of representation.
D) The video format is useful for disrupting hegemonic thinking.

Question 15

What is Dr. Nakamura's view of public anthropology?

A) It is the responsibility of anthropologists to educate the public.
B) Public anthropology is very similar to applied anthropology.
C) Visual anthropology is always public.
D) Public anthropology implies transparency regarding informants.

Question 16

What does Dr. Nakamura see as an area for training for future visual anthropologists?

A) Methods for ensuring informed consent
B) Video editing and filmmaking
C) Copyright law
D) Production of ethnographic texts

Question 17

Many of the readings in this Part 13 deal with "policing," in multiple senses of that word. Based on the readings in this section, describe two anthropological approaches to policing. Use evidence from the text to support your analysis.

Question 18

How has the rise of the internet contributed to anthropological methods? Is this an improvement, a distraction, or a value-neutral change? Support your position with evidence from the text.

Question 19

Visual anthropology involves the creation of photographs, film, videos, and other analytic representations. How is a visual representation different from a traditional ethnographic representation? What are the advantages of a visual format?

Question 20

In the spirit of media anthropology, write a short blog-post length essay (about 300 words) on media anthropology and the internet. Draw from the readings in this section, but stay away from academic jargon.

Question 21

Hashtag ethnography has the advantage of polyvocality. When an anthropologist conducts a hashtag ethnography, does she have an obligation to receive informed consent from the people she is quoting? Why or why not?