Paper short abstract:

The discipline of anthropology is adapting to a transforming social and technological climate. These adaptations expose problematic historical disciplinary values. This paper offers lessons from visual, embodied and design anthropology to consider the inherent loyalties of ethnographic project.

Paper long abstract:

Computers reflect our ideals of order and logic. Current computers are transforming from systems of specialised knowledge (code) to user-oriented interface (icon) and this transformation has many impacts on how anthropologists consume, create and communicate knowledge. Visual, embodied and design anthropology are growing in popularity, and their popularity exposes traditional disciplinary orientations and tensions. This paper explores the relationship between engaging with people and the process of production of anthropological knowledge. Representational conventions and disciplinary ideologies are considered in relation to disciplinary history and in the light of contemporary applications of anthropological method. Through the lens of loyalty we consider how history has shaped the process of ethnographic representation and how it might offer some insights to the challenges of adapting to a rapidly transforming technological and ideological landscape. This paper addresses the question of how anthropologists might deal with our historical shortcomings and increase our relevance and accessibility. It offers lessons from visual, embodied and design anthropology to consider the inherent loyalties of the ethnographic project.