* Brings together key writings in the emergent field of the anthropology of media for the first time. * Offers critical overview of how mass media represents and constructs both Western and non--Western cultures. * Integrates key themes in the anthropology of media by means of editorial commentary.

Acknowledgments viii Timeline of Media Development x Introduction 1Kelly Askew Part I Seeing/Hearing is Believing: Technology and Truth 15 Part II Representing Others 73 Part III Representing Selves 157 Part IV Active Audiences 237 Part V Power, Colonialism, Nationalism 323 Resource Bibliography 394 Index 406

The Anthropology of Media: A Reader is an unprecedented collection of articles that, taken together, define this emergent field. Anthropologists – traditionally hailed as interpreters of cultural "Others" – no longer serve as the primary interlocutors for the communities with which they work. Owing to the spread of mass media and new forms of expression and communication, anthropologists have been displaced by CNN, Hollywood, the Internet, and other global media in presenting and representing unfamiliar cultures to the majority of our world. People everywhere are seeing and hearing themselves and others in new ways, and have picked up these media to use for their own purposes. The Anthropology of Media offers a critical overview of how mass media represent and construct both Western and non-Western cultures. By drawing on the recent explosion of culture and media studies and moving beyond earlier anthropological emphases on ethnographic film, this volume heralds the emergence of a new field and brings its key literature together for the first time.

"In its bold presentation of an emergent subfield – anthropology of media – this comprehensive collection is a timely resource for students and others interested in cross-cultural research on mass communication. Destined to become a standard text, it explores a wide range of theoretical ideas and spotlights fascinating case studies. Highly recommended!" Harald E. L. Prins, Society for Visual Anthropology (1999–2001) "Provides a unique collection of classic and vanguard, theoretical and substantive studies that demonstrates the centrality of anthropology to contemporary media studies. By a judicious selection of fascinating papers this volume is able to go beyond any single study to reveal the many different ways an anthropology sensitive to political and economic environments can investigate the production, consumption, and consequences of media by creators and users. As such it makes the ideal foundation for teaching a subject that has now clearly come into its own." Daniel Miller, University College London

Timeline of Media Development. Introduction: Kelly Askew and Richard R. Wilk. Part I: Seeing/Hearing is Believing: Technology and Truth. Part II: Representing Others. Part III: Representing Selves. Part IV: Active Audiences. Part V: Power, Colonialism, and Nationalism. Bibliography.