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Introduction to Anthropology

Key Terms

Introduction to AnthropologyKey Terms
“the medium is the message”
the notion that each genre of media has its own set of features that suggest certain uses and types of content.
community radio
radio stations that are community owned and operated, staffed by groups of professionals and volunteers.
cosmopolitanism
worldly knowledge and sophistication, often associated with involvement in global forms of media.
ethnographic film
the use of film in ethnographic research, either as a method, a record, or a means of reporting on anthropological fieldwork.
Faustian bargain
the idea that a person can engage in evil supernatural activities in order to gain access to worldly desires such as wealth, sex, and/or knowledge.
imperial gaze
a set of conventions for how people in imperial or colonizing societies view the people and landscapes of subjugated territories.
independent media
forms of print and broadcast media that are privately owned.
Indigenous media
the use of media by Indigenous peoples for community identity, cultural representation, and activism.
male gaze
a set of conventions for how men look at women.
mass media
mechanically reproduced forms of communication targeting large audiences.
media
tools for storing and sharing information.
media ideologies
sets of ideas about the uses and functions of a particular genre of media.
public sphere
a domain of social life in which people represent, learn about, and discuss the important issues of the day.
sakawa
magically enhanced Internet fraud, mainly targeting foreigners.
sociality
participation in social relations; how people construct and maintain their personal and group relationships.
soli
short for solidarity; a small sum of money given by news sources to journalists at the end of an assignment in Ghana.
state media
forms of print and broadcast media that are financially supported by the state and subject to government control.
technophilia
the love of technology; characteristic of societies and eras of increasing technological innovation and its incorporation into everyday life.
the gaze
a specific mode of looking at images shaped by the identities of viewer and viewed.
visual anthropology
the use of visual media as a method of research or its study as a topic of research.
voyeuristic
describes a gaze aimed at people who do not know they are being viewed.
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