I want to discuss the complicating concepts of identity, context, and (accurate (?)) representation, especially when it comes to the anthropologist and the role of the audience in providing meaning to media. We discussed in class a little about how a strength of anthropology is its focus on non-Western and/or “other” places and cultures, and how the role of the anthropologist is to study and record culture.

Say, for example, there is a piece of media in a culture, and an anthropologist immersed in that culture experiences that piece of media alongside the “normal/indigenous” population. Do the anthropologist and the indigenous audience experience the media in the same way? Do they “receive” the same message? How much of the meaning of that media is encompassed in its consideration of the intended audience (the people that belong to that specific culture in which it was produced for)?

Ultimately, if the goal of the anthropologist is to study and communicate the messages, meanings, and webs of meaning, culture, and context embodied in that piece of media, how can they be sure that they’re exporting a “real” representation of that media and its meaning?

Everything seems so interconnected and tangled to me now, especially when you consider the role of the anthropologist in it all – it really might be turtles all the way down.