Digital Drama

Paula Uimonen is the Director of the Swedish Program for ICT in Developing Regions (Spider), Department of Computer and Systems Science, Stockholm University. She is one of the founding scholars of an emerging sub-discipline digital anthropology, which focuses on digital media and communication technologies in different social and cultural contexts.

"Digital Drama is a brilliant work that adds powerfully to our understanding of how digital media shapes culture, community, and creativity. Based upon extensive ethnographic research at an arts college in Tanzania, this book will be valuable to those with a range of interests, including African studies, technology studies, and education."—Tom Boellstorff, Anthropology, University of California, Irvine"How can contemporary anthropologists confront the infinite complexities of contemporary social worlds in which the spread of digital technologies has already provoked rapid and irrevocable social change? Paula Uimomen provides a powerful answer in her creatively engaging ethnography, Digital Drama. The text is a timely, cutting-edge contribution to contemporary ethnography. It marks a path that shows us a way toward a productive and influential anthropological future."—Paul Stoller, Anthropology, West Chester University"Paula Uimonen was one of the first anthropologists to study the Internet; now as her lively writing about the global connections of an African art college interweaves with rich website materials, Digital Drama makes us think about how new tools can change the ethnographic craft. This is intriguing twenty-first century anthropology!"—Ulf Hannerz, Social Anthropology, Stockholm University

• Part 1: Mise-en-Scène 1. Introduction 2. The Storyboard of Digital Drama Part 2: Cultural Transformations 3. The Digital Drama of Executive Transformation 4. The Social Aesthetics of Art Training 5. Traditional-Modern Hybrid Music Production Part 3: Cultural Dependencies 6. Cultural Exchange and Friendship 7. Touristic Spectacle, Executive Vision, and Virtual Liminality 8. Chaos, Confusion, and Moral Crisis 9. Post-Script: Behind the Scenes