[ANU Pacific.Institute] Seminar of interest to PI members

[Matt Tomlinson]

Hi all,


This seminar will be of interest to many PI members:


Heather Horst, University of Sydney

Free Culture and Mobile Phone Gift Economies in the Pacific


26 September, 9:30-11:00 am, room 1.13, Coombs Extension Building


Abstract: Over the last ten years, the liberalization of telecommunications markets in many Pacific Islands countries has spurred exponential growth in the distribution and use of mobile phones.  Mobile telecommunications companies spurred the growth of mobile phone penetration through aggressive advertising and a series of promotions offering items to incentivize the purchase or use of mobile phones, resulting in a culture of 'freeness'. This talk draws upon recent research in Fiji to explore the emergence of ‘free culture’. Comparing the creation of mobile company’s free culture and the emergence of other forms of exchange in everyday consumer use, I map the different forms of free culture in the top-down company initiatives to create consumers, and consumers attempts to circumvent company's ability to constrain other forms of freeness. I conclude by reflecting on the role of ‘freeness’ in tying together companies and consumers in an era of smartphones.



Bio: Heather A. Horst is Professor of Media and Communications at the University of Sydney. A sociocultural anthropologist, she researches material culture, mobility, and the mediation of social relations, especially through digital media and technology. Heather’s books on these themes include The Cell Phone: An Anthropology of Communication; Hanging Around, Messing Around and Geeking Out: Kids Living and Learning with New Media; Digital Anthropology; Digital Ethnography: Principles and Practices; and The Moral and Cultural Economy of Mobile Phones: Pacific Perspectives. Her current research, supported by the Australian Research Council, explores transformations in mobile, social and locative media practices in Australia, Fiji and Papua New Guinea.


All are welcome!


--

Matt Tomlinson
Associate Professor of Anthropology
College of Asia and the Pacific, Australian National University

Links: ANU Anthropology<http://anuanthropology.weblogs.anu.edu.au/>  My research<https://researchers.anu.edu.au/researchers/tomlinson-ma> MAPS Program<http://programsandcourses.anu.edu.au/program/MANPS> ANU Press Monographs in Anthropology<http://press.anu.edu.au/publications/series/monographs-anthropology> New Mana<https://press.anu.edu.au/publications/series/monographs-anthropology/new-mana> Monologue<https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-monologic-imagination-9780190652814?cc=au&lang=en&>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman.anu.edu.au/pipermail/pacific.institute/attachments/20180925/60abf941/attachment-0001.html>