The presence of media in different ethnographic fields: new avenues of research

Abstract

This article reflects on the invisibility of television fostered by the silence in the description of research participants’ practices, when fieldwork does not directly address mass culture. To what extent is the practice of watching television socially delegitimized and thus, not always referred to in the everyday practices and significant gestures considered part of a culture? In a context of diversity and multiculturalism, what concept(s) of culture is (are) serving as the basis for anthropological discussion of the meanings of mass communication —its production, processes, messages and re-elaborations? Are there shared assumptions about the superiority of literate culture when mass media is discussed, even when the receiver is considered a subject in the communication process?These and other questions will be addressed with the objective of outlining new hypotheses for future research on mass communication from an anthropological perspective.