In the buildup to the extraordinarily divisive 2016 US presidential election, much discussion focused on an often‐ignored group—the “white working class,” which was identified early on as a key constituency of Donald Trump. During the election, many pollsters and journalists defined working class as a group comprising people who lack a four‐year college degree. This definition, however, lumps together an extraordinarily broad range of groups with diverse histories as well as social and class positionings, contributing to confused media discussion around class during the election. Unpacking what this definition masks is critical to understanding the changing class landscape of the United States and to promoting public discussion of the causes of growing inequality and its socially and politically destabilizing effects.
How might “transmedia” approaches—or working across media—fit into histories of textual and visual innovation within anthropology, and what might they contribute to the discipline in the current moment? I explore this question through the Exit Zero Project, which includes a book, documentary film, and planned interactive website that examine the impact of deindustrialization on Southeast Chicago and the relationship between industrial job loss and expanding class inequalities in the United States. While the book and film take an “autoethnographic” approach, the website is based on collaboration with a local museum. I argue that transmedia ethnography both provokes new research questions and supports a growing interest in public anthropology by offering diverse spaces for engagement with subjects and audiences.
Building upon critiques that suggest that the concept of alternative
modernities may too readily slip into an easy pluralism, this article
instead directs attention to competing uses of the concept of the
"modern" within a single location. Linking ideas of the modern with
those of "development," this article explores the disparate meanings
given to development within Tanzania's internationally-sponsored
Mafia Island Marine Park. It considers how the various perspectives
of island residents, national government officials, and international
aid workers/tourists relate to their own social positioning and carry
implications for the power relationships at work among these groups
[development, alternative modernities, Tanzania, marine parks,
ecotourism]
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