Cearns, Jennifer Helen;
(2023)
Social [Media] Distancing.
Journal of Digital Social Research
, 4
(4)
pp. 76-88.
10.33621/jdsr.v4i4.48.
Preview |
Text
48-Article Text-1148-1-10-20230117.pdf - Published Version Download (175kB) | Preview |
Abstract
This article examines the role of digital ethnographic methods in an emerging research landscape struck by COVID-19, whereby more traditional anthropological methods have been rendered impossible due to social distancing restrictions. It argues that while anthropology has long privileged physical proximity and presence as a central tenet of ethnographic method, digital methods can also afford a certain sense of social distance, which in fact can be beneficial to the research process. It draws upon experiences of conducting fifteen months of fieldwork both online and offline amongst marginalised groups in Cuba and its diaspora in Miami to reveal the ways in which digital distance can level the relationship between researcher and researched, and ultimately lead to a more ethical way of carrying out fieldwork amongst vulnerable communities.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Social [Media] Distancing |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.33621/jdsr.v4i4.48 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.33621/jdsr.v4i4.48 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | Copyright (c) 2023 Creative Commons License This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH > Faculty of S&HS UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH > Faculty of S&HS > Dept of Anthropology |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10163298 |
Archive Staff Only
 |
View Item |
