Author: Christian Elliott

Behind Many Masks: An Ethnographic Account of a Pandemic Borderlands

Behind Many Masks: An Ethnographic Account of a Pandemic Borderlands

In June of 2020, four months into a global pandemic and a month after I graduated from college (via a YouTube livestream while sitting on the couch in my parents’ living room), I decided to apply to be a U.S. Census Bureau Enumerator. In college I’d learned the decennial count’s importance in determining state and local budgets and, as a bit of a geography nerd, had often used Census Bureau data in G.I.S. mapping projects. Applying felt like a way {+}

Gone in a Quibi: A case for anthropology in business?

Gone in a Quibi: A case for anthropology in business?

Quibi’s demise—just six months after the premium short-form smartphone-focused streaming service went live—made headlines last week. Company founder (and former head of Walt Disney Studios) Jeffrey Katzenberg claimed the COVID-19 pandemic held sole responsibility for Quibi’s $1.8 billion failure. As is usually the case, the reality is much more complicated. The Quibi fiasco makes a good case, I think, for ethnographic research in business. When Quibi launched in early April, my senior year of college had just moved online. Like {+}