In this Book

Human No More: Digital Subjectivities, Unhuman Subjects, and the End of Anthropology

Book
Edited by Neil L. Whitehead and Michael Wesch
2012
summary
Turning an anthropological eye toward cyberspace, Human No More explores how conditions of the online world shape identity, place, culture, and death within virtual communities.

Online worlds have recently thrown into question the traditional anthropological conception of place-based ethnography. They break definitions, blur distinctions, and force us to rethink the notion of the "subject." Human No More asks how digital cultures can be integrated and how the ethnography of both the "unhuman" and the "digital" could lead to possible reconfiguring the notion of the "human."

This provocative and groundbreaking work challenges fundamental assumptions about the entire field of anthropology. Cross-disciplinary research from well-respected contributors makes this volume vital to the understanding of contemporary human interaction. It will be of interest not only to anthropologists but also to students and scholars of media, communication, popular culture, identity, and technology.

Table of Contents

Cover

Contents

pp. vii-viii

Introduction: Human No More

pp. 1-10

1: The Mutual Co-Construction of Online and Onground in Cyborganic: Making an Ethnography of Networked Social Media Speak to Challenges of the Posthuman

pp. 11-32

2: We Were Always Human

pp. 33-47

3: Manufacturing and Encountering “Human” in the Age of Digital Reproduction

pp. 49-70

4: The Digital Graveyard: Online Social Networking Sites as Vehicles of Remembrance

pp. 71-87

5: Anonymous, Anonymity, and the End(s) of Identity and Groups Online: Lessons from the “First Internet-Based Superconsciousness"

pp. 89-104

6: Splitting and Layering at the Interface: Mediating Indian Diasporas across Generations

pp. 105-130

7: Avatar: A Posthuman Perspective on Virtual Worlds

pp. 131-146

8: Technology, Representation, and the “E-thropologist”: The Shape-Shifting Field among Native Amazonians

pp. 147-156

9: The Adventures of Mark and Olly: The Pleasures and Horrors of Anthropology on TV

pp. 157-176

10: Invisible Caboclos and Vagabond Ethnographers: A Look at Ethnographic Engagement in Twenty-First-Century Amazonia

pp. 177-198

11: Marginal Bodies, Altered States, and Subhumans: (Dis)Articulations between Physical and Virtual Realities in Centro, São Paulo

pp. 199-216

12: Are We There Yet?: The End of Anthropology Is Beyond the Human

pp. 217-230

Afterword

pp. 231-234

Contributors

pp. 235-236

Index

pp. 237-243
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