Ørecomm Seminar March 16th: Digital media and social change
Digital media and social change: the limits and possibilities of a theory of practice approach
Guest lecture by John Postill organised by Ørecomm Centre for Communication and Glocal Change 16 March 2012, at 2-4 pm at Malmö University, Kranen, lecture room B105.
Abstract:
In recent years practice theory has experienced a remarkable surge in interest from fields as diverse as consumption studies, organisational theory, neuroscience and media and communication studies.
This ‘body of work about the work of the body’ is clearly relevant to three key areas of media research and theorisation, namely media in everyday life, media production and embodied media (Postill 2010).
But how applicable is it to other mediated phenomena, for example, to the various waves of social unrest that have spread around the globe since late 2010, or to less spectacular forms of mediated change in domestic, work and leisure settings? In this talk I explore both the limits and opportunities of a practice-theoretical approach for the study of digital media and social change. To do so I draw from the existing interdisciplinary literature, including my own research on internet activism in Spain and Malaysia.
Bio of John Postill:
John Postill is an anthropologist who specialises in media and internet studies. He has a PhD in anthropology from University College London (UCL) and is senior lecturer in media at Sheffield Hallam University. He has conducted fieldwork in Malaysia and Spain and is the author of Media and Nation Building (2006) and Localizing the Internet (2011) and the co-editor of Theorising Media and Practice (2010). Currently he is writing a book about social media and protest, with special reference to Spain’s indignados movement.
Registration is required at: orecomm.net/2012/john-postill/
Ørecomm a bi-national research group that originated at Malmö University (MAH) and Roskilde University (RUC) for research in the field of Communication for Development. Ørecomm focuses on the relations between media, communication and social change processes at both global and local levels. Please feel free to contact Ørecomm at: orecomm(at)gmail.com
Ørecomm website: http://orecomm.net/