Human No More: Digital Subjectivities, Unhuman Subjects, and the End of Anthropology

254 Pages·2012·2.29 MB·English

by  Neil L. Whitehead

Human No More

Human No More
Digital Subjectivities, Unhuman Subjects,
and the End of Anthropology
edited by NEil l. WHitEHEAD
and MiCHAEl WESCH
University Press of Colorado
Boulder
© 2012 by University Press of Colorado
Published by University Press of Colorado
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All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
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The University Press of Colorado is a cooperative publishing enterprise supported, in part, by
Adams State University, Colorado State University, Fort Lewis College, Metropolitan State Uni-
versity of Denver, Regis University, University of Colorado, University of Northern Colorado,
Utah State University, and Western State Colorado University.
This paper meets the requirements of the ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992 (Permanence of Paper).
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Human no more : digital subjectivities, unhuman subjects, and the end of anthropology /
edited by Neil L. Whitehead and Michael Wesch.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-60732-169-9 (cloth : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-1-60732-189-7 (pbk. : alk. pa-
per) — ISBN 978-1-60732-170-5 (ebook)
1. Anthropology—Philosophy. 2. Cybernetics—Philosophy. 3. Online social networks. 4.
Computers and civilization. 5. Virtual reality. I. Whitehead, Neil L. II. Wesch, Michael.
GN33.H944 2012
303.48'34—dc23
2012025788
Designed by Daniel Pratt
21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
To Neil Whitehead
1956–2012
Cowards die many times before their deaths;
The valiant never taste of death but once.
—SHAkESPEArE
Neil’s soul substance burst from his tired body into the larger
universe this morning. Those of you who know him well real-
ize how significant it is that a packet of vital energy such as
his has come forth with a fierceness. Please allow as much of
his soul substance as you can stand to enter and live within
you now, so that he will come to rest in dozens of bodies and
continue to burst into the world through your mouth, through
your eyes through your breath and through your tears.
—StEPHANiE AlEMáN (on Neil Whitehead’s Facebook wall, March 22, 2012)
Of course this news isn’t believable. So in order to find out, I
went to Facebook. And I’m sorry to discover confirmation that
it is. Ah Facebook. Neil would have enjoyed this.
—JANEt MArioN CHErNElA (on Neil Whitehead’s Facebook wall, March 23, 2012)

Contents
Introduction: Human No More          1
Neil L. Whitehead and Michael Wesch
1. The Mutual Co-Construction of Online and Onground in Cyborganic:
Making an Ethnography of Networked Social Media Speak to
Challenges of the Posthuman          11
Jennifer Cool
2. We Were Always Human          33
Zeynep Tufekci
3. Manufacturing and Encountering “Human” in the Age of Digital
Reproduction          49
Matthew Bernius
4. The Digital Graveyard: Online Social Networking Sites as Vehicles of
Remembrance          71
Jenny Ryan
vii
contents
5. Anonymous, Anonymity, and the End(s) of Identity and Groups Online:
Lessons from the “First Internet-Based Superconsciousness”          89
Michael Wesch and the Digital Ethnography Class of Spring 2009
6. Splitting and Layering at the Interface: Mediating Indian Diasporas
across Generations          105
Radhika Gajjala and Sue Ellen McComas
7. Avatar: A Posthuman Perspective on Virtual Worlds          131
Gray Graffam
8. Technology, Representation, and the “E-thropologist”: The Shape-
Shifting Field among Native Amazonians          147
Stephanie W. Alemán
9. The Adventures of Mark and Olly: The Pleasures and Horrors of
Anthropology on TV          157
James Hoesterey
10. Invisible Caboclos and Vagabond Ethnographers: A Look at
Ethnographic Engagement in Twenty-First-Century Amazonia          177
Kent Wisniewski
11. Marginal Bodies, Altered States, and Subhumans: (Dis)Articulations
between Physical and Virtual Realities in Centro, São Paulo          199
Michael Heckenberger
12. Are We There Yet? The End of Anthropology Is Beyond the
Human          217
Neil L. Whitehead
Afterword          231
Anne Allison
List of Contributors          235
Index          237
viii
Human No More