Author: Crystal Abidin

Three Lies of Digital Ethnography

Three Lies of Digital Ethnography

anthro{dendum} welcomes guest blogger Gabriele de Seta, contributing the final post in the Private Messages from the Field series edited by Crystal Abidin and Gabriele de Seta. Three Lies of Digital Ethnography by Gabriele de Seta We ethnographers cannot help but lie, but in lying, we reveal truths that escape those who are not so bold. (Fine, 1993, p. 290) Let’s start with a conclusion: Ethnographers lie. This might not be a widely shared proposition, but I experience it often in my {+}

We Have Never Been Digital Anthropologists

We Have Never Been Digital Anthropologists

anthro{dendum} welcomes guest blogger Rebekah Cupitt, contributing the third post in the Private Messages from the Field series edited by Crystal Abidin and Gabriele de Seta. We Have Never Been Digital Anthropologists by Rebekah Cupitt Ethnography: A Chimera Ethnography is the methodological chimera of Anthropology, composed of a snake (the researcher, who insinuates into other people’s lives), a lion (the fieldwork, the daunting practice through which we fall bodily into an ‘other’s’ world), and a goat (the task of writing, that has {+}

Somewhere Between Here and There: Goldilocking Between Fieldwork and Academia

Somewhere Between Here and There: Goldilocking Between Fieldwork and Academia

anthro{dendum} welcomes guest blogger Crystal Abidin, contributing the second post in the Private Messages from the Field series edited by Crystal Abidin and Gabriele de Seta. Somewhere Between Here and There: Goldilocking Between Fieldwork and Academia by Crystal Abidin One of my fondest memories from fieldwork is learning how to survive an eyelash curler. More specifically, I sat for two agonizing hours at a rather public and populated ice-cream parlour on a weekday night in Singapore, with three friends who took turns {+}

A Digital Bermuda Triangle: The Perils of Doing Ethnography on Darknet Drug Markets

A Digital Bermuda Triangle: The Perils of Doing Ethnography on Darknet Drug Markets

anthro{dendum} welcomes guest blogger Alexia Maddox, contributing the first post in the Private Messages from the Field series edited by Crystal Abidin and Gabriele de Seta. A Digital Bermuda Triangle: The Perils of Doing Ethnography on Darknet Drug Markets by Alexia Maddox Media reports sensationalize the dark web as a seedy digital location where drugs, guns, hitmen and child pornography circulate through eBay-style marketplaces that are only accessible to your hacker types. Here, elusive fringe behaviors proliferate in plain sight, {+}

Private Messages from the Field: Confessions on Digital Ethnography and Its Discomforts

Private Messages from the Field: Confessions on Digital Ethnography and Its Discomforts

anthro{dendum} welcomes guest bloggers Crystal Abidin and Gabriele de Seta who will be editing a series of blogposts titled Private Messages from the Field. To kick off the series, today’s post features an introduction and backstory to this collection of essays. Private Messages from the Field: Confessions on Digital Ethnography and Its Discomforts by Crystal Abidin & Gabriele de Seta Here’s a first confession about ethnographic work: All professional things have personal beginnings. We are today writing this introduction as editors {+}