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- Convenors:
-
Gabriel Stoiciu
('Francisc Rainer' Institute of Anthropology)
Mihai Burlacu (Transilvania University, Brasov)
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- Format:
- Panel
Short Abstract:
During and after the COVID-19 pandemic, digital contexts were emplacements where new forms of being appeared, were decontextualized and then recontextualized. Accordingly, ethnographic research started to focus on the ways in which identity and alterity were created and recreated in such contexts.
Long Abstract:
Becoming a part of virtual reality offers the opportunity of reconsidering one’s own identity (Habermas, 2011) and, furthermore, of exploring the various identities of other individuals (Maan, 1997) who are more or less familiar to us in the real world. In order to better engage in an ethnographic approach aimed at virtual communities, a researcher must first get rid of the customs of real world and start a reflection on the social impact of the digital technologies on the identity of oneself and others. During and after the COVID-19 pandemic, digital contexts (e.g. in-game virtual worlds) were emplacements where new forms of being appeared, were decontextualized and then recontextualized. Accordingly, ethnographic research started to focus on the ways in which identity and alterity were created and recreated in such contexts. In our panel we encourage papers dedicated to the study of the ways in which anthropologists had to probe beyond their frame of reference in order to reveal: (a) experiential storytelling in the various games’ virtual worlds (Murray, 2017); (b) expressive and reflexive users’ engagement in social media (Michael and Chen, 2005); (c) how interactive storytelling is used to link narrative elements that bridge the gap between users and their virtual worlds (Gaudenzi, 2019).
Accepted papers:
Session 1Paper Short Abstract:
Using the specific case of the virtual platforms as a primary mode of delivering mental health services in Romania during the pandemic, my paper calls for an interdisciplinary approach meant also to reevaluate more generally the ethics of digital platforms.
Paper Abstract:
The rapid expansion of digital technologies and platforms, particularly in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, has fundamentally reshaped how identities are constructed, perceived, and negotiated in virtual spaces. This transformation underscores the need for a critical ethical framework to address the implications of this digital shift. In virtual environments, users engage in dynamic processes of identity formation and storytelling, often transcending traditional societal norms. These interactions raise pressing ethical questions about privacy, authenticity, consent, and the potential for manipulation within these platforms.
In particular, I aim to focus on how the pandemic catalyzed a global shift in psychiatric care, accelerating the adoption of online platforms as a primary mode of delivering mental health services. This transition has redefined therapeutic dynamics, offering accessibility and continuity of care during a period of widespread physical isolation. However, it has also introduced challenges related to privacy, the therapeutic alliance, and equitable access to technology.
My paper will explore the evolution of online psychiatric approaches, focusing on the opportunities and limitations of digital platforms. Key discussions will include: the ethical considerations of virtual care, the impact of technology on patient-provider relationships, and strategies to address disparities in access to online psychiatric services.
Using the specific case of the platforms as a primary mode of delivering mental health services in Romania during the pandemic, my paper calls for an interdisciplinary approach meant also to reevaluate more generally the ethics of digital platforms, emphasizing the responsibility of all the actors involved in the evolving digital world.
Paper Short Abstract:
With the assumption that the new media tools can be politically powerful models for youth to express their political concerns, this proposal further argues that there is an unprecedented shift towards new technologies among third-world youth
Paper Abstract:
Today, youth activism has recently adopted an established media model of contemporary political mobilization in unwriting modes of rhetoric styles. This act of unwriting tends to boost young people’s empowerment, serving as a new forum for political socialization within cyberspace, highlighting a discursive turn in producing (sub)cultures. Youths seek to assert their voices through today's hybrid and grassroots media platforms, which enables them to politically address their cruxes while also wielding influence as agents of change. This deconstructive act aims to decenter the tradition of the accepted paradigm, giving young individuals multiple platforms to voice up about new public matters and a chance to hold politicians accountable for their campaign promises concerning issues involving larger power structures and public concern. This also seeks to restore social justice and dismantle hegemonic frameworks about young women by empowering them to demand more significant involvement in decision-making processes. This research proposal attempts to investigate how youth political activism on social media confirms and challenges youth political participation by unwriting the emphasis on the internet as a facilitator of political activism and hinting at the existing spaces of formal and informal youth political engagement. As an attempt to analyze and discuss the interplay of new media, culture, politics, and youth, the present proposal is theoretically guided by global and local research to critically review the existing literature to show how the constant challenges and pressure of technological innovation and globalism are putting on many countries’ democratic conditions.
Paper Short Abstract:
"Phantom feel" is a sensory phenomenon experienced in virtual reality that allows for cybernetic extension of one's proprioceptive faculties. This paper will show the utility of phantom feel in the field, in the writing of ethnography, and within one's own ontology as ethnographer.
Paper Abstract:
"Phantom feel", or "phantom sense", is a sensory phenomenon experienced by virtual reality users allowing for the cybernetic extension of one's proprioceptive faculties. Lexically tied to, and in valence with, concepts of "game feel" in the enjoyment of videogames and "realfeel" - a term for the perception of realism within a simulation, borrowed from the popular videogame Cyberpunk 2077 - 'phantom feel' is a faculty learned within nascent metaverse platforms that prefigures identity construction. This paper will draw upon three years of virtual world ethnography to show the utility of phantom feel and related phenomena, such as moe emotion, not simply in understanding emergent posthuman and postbody behaviours among research populations but also in the writing of ethnography and one's own ontology as an ethnographer.
Paper Short Abstract:
An artificial intelligence chatbot, but also a visual generative system dedicated to learning about cultures and societies and exercising a constant comparison protocol would contribute significantly to deepen the ethnographic epistemology. Nevertheless, it is very important to take into consideration the susceptibly of such information systems to political or ideological bias.
Paper Abstract:
. While metaverse can be seen as another fascinating realm to be explored, gaining knowledge from the encounter with an AI has the potential of instilling not only an epistemological, but also an ontological shift to the researcher’s worldview. A generative AI could impersonate a character or a typical individual, bringing the methods and hypothesis testing to new levels for contemporary cultural, physical and ethnolinguistic anthropology. Alternatively, it could constitute, in an ingenious way, the very subject of a historic or forensic research. Even with an amoral machine, the ethical aspects of research remain of no less importance. On the contrary, new challenges concerning privacy and transparency are raised – evidently not only in social sciences, but in all areas of science and knowledge. In this instance, anthropology (which was conceived as a discipline based on tolerance and respect for others) could serve as a provider of a code of conduct. This reflexive epistemological study represents not only an assessment of the potential which resides in working as an anthropologist with the AI or working with the AI as an anthropologist. It aims to provide a glimpse to what an AGI would bring to the table – an omniscient, omnipresent train of thought who would perhaps conduct anthropological research as a study of ancestors.
Paper Short Abstract:
In November 2018, a series of fake events was initiated on social media by Estonian-speaking users. The “actions” were announced exactly like any other Facebook event, yet were not actually intended to be performed. The aim of the presentation is to discuss the event-organising game as a special vernacular practice from a folkloristic perspective.
Paper Abstract:
The Internet and its social media platforms provide a space for grassroots creative products and activities to gain visibility and receive wider attention. At the same time, the ready-made platform offers users the chance to engage with these opportunities in creative and playful ways. Pages can be created on FB to coordinate events and invite participants.
It was common in the 2010s for users to create events that were never meant to take place in reality. The most famous of such was the Storm Area 51 event, planned for September 2019.
A year earlier, in 2018, such fake events spread among Estonian-speaking user groups, mainly teenagers school children (at least 50 fake events have been documented). The basic material for observation was collected using internet ethnography. Particular interest was taken into what kind of content the young people posted on their fictional event pages. Specifically, what pop culture references, real-life situations (both unusual and routine) were incorporated, and how these elements were connected to the humorous nature of the events. However, among non-committal readers of the posts, the humorous content caused confusion and, in some instances, prompted intervention from adults.
The observation of the fictional journey to Blåkulla (a mythical place in Sweden) Cocq, C. & Skott, F. 2017), and the subsequent online joint fictionalization of a real incident in Crete (Tsakona 2018) provided a reference point for discussion.
Paper Short Abstract:
"Shaatnez: Creating Fantastic Judaism" is a literary space for creating and discussing fantastic Judaism, initiated by a group of Jewish-Israeli creators at 2021. The members of Shaatnez, deliberately seek to explore and incorporate parts of the Jewish folklore, religion, and culture, through fantasy literature, within various digital platforms.
Paper Abstract:
"Shaatnez: Creating Fantastic Judaism" is a literary project, initiated by a group of Jewish-Israeli creators at the beginning of 2021. The members of Shaatnez, deliberately seek to explore and incorporate parts of the Jewish folklore, religion, and culture, through fantasy literature.
Within ‘Shaatnez’ one can find short stories, sequential narratives, theories, critiques, presentations, podcasts and more. The project first came to be through social media, from the publication of stories on their Facebook page and later a Facebook group for discussing and engaging with their audience, alongside an intimate WhatsApp group for their core members.
Shaatnez was established, ‘with the intent of fantasizing our culture from within itself’, and with the perspective that there is a need for ‘lasting fantastical Judaism that we lack in the world’, as they define it. Within Shaatnez, they create and discuss Jewish fantasy literature which emerges from the culture in which they live.
In this presentation I aim to trace the dynamics from which the project emerged and its use of folk materials to (re)create a literary genre. To be more precise, where do the members of Shaatnez come from, and what is their innovation? What new insights can fantasy provide us? And how far can it get?
Based on in-depth interviews with the founding members and additional writers, alongside participant observations within their wider activities, I will focus on the in-group voices and unique perspectives that each of them brings, that come to life within their stories, together making Shaatnez what it is.
Paper Short Abstract:
In our paper, based on research, we assert that insights about assuming identities in the worlds of MMORPGs such as Warcraft 76, can be gained through reconsidering Jean Baudrillard’s concepts of hyperreality, simulacra and simulation and Michel Foucault’s concept of heterotopia.
Paper Abstract:
Online video game worlds are digital environments that entail the emergence of new ingenious forms of existence and their correlated identities. Through their avatars, players find themselves in various game emplacements at the intersection of multiple juxtaposed meanings that are hyperreal in essence and heterotopic in form. These environments entail both simulacra and simulations. Drawing upon ethnographic research, we assert that insights about assuming identities in the worlds of massively multiplayer online role-playing game (i.e. MMORPGs) such as Warcraft 76, can be gained through reconsidering Jean Baudrillard’s concepts of “hyper-reality”, “simulacra” and “simulation” (1981) and Michel Foucault’s concept of “heterotopia” (1967/1984). As repositories of collective experiences, digital environments have been subsumed into new virtual realms, which are perceptual competitors amongst players to the world of "traditional" reality (Faulkner, 2022). In our paper, we focus on the ways in which Baudrillard and Foucault’s theoretical frames of reference should be reconsidered in order to reveal: (a) experiential storytelling in the game’s virtual world (Murray, 2017); (b) how interactive storytelling is used to link narrative elements that bridge the gap between players’ identity and their virtual world (Gaudenzi, 2019; Nash et al. 2014).