A reading of "Post-Human Anthropology," by Neil L. Whitehead

Neil Whitehead's article "Post-Human Anthropology," was an exhilarating read. The title alone makes one wonder post-human, what? Whitehead describes post-human anthropology as, "..an anthropology in which, paradoxically, the human subject is no longer the exclusive center of attention...an issue that has particular relevance for a discipline committed to the research of "all things human," (Whitehead, 2009). He specifically is looking into the internet since we have brought humanity to the internet through human interaction, especially in the creation of virtual communities that includes anything and everything people take an interest to.

In the article Whitehead questions the approach of European Enlightenment Anthropology, where there is a definitive place, space, and people to study. The reason he questions the old ways of ethnographic research relates to the crisis in anthropology that's been hanging over research for the past 40 or so years. The internet and the new medium of human interaction that the net allows brings the field to a strange place where there is no 'real' place to go and the 'people' you study can sometimes be near impossible to find in the non-virtual world. Whitehead's approach to his research is fascinating because it challenges the bread and butter of ethnographic field work where one is a participant observer. Relating to our research this becomes extremely apparent since we are investigating anonymity on the internet. The cyberculture that we study will be a mass of 'individuals' formed into a collective body where the individual becomes irrelevant. The only aspects that matter to 'Anonymous' are the core beliefs of a diasporic virtual community. A community that interacts not exclusively in the medium of cyberspace, but one that blends the virtual into the real in order to call attention to ideas, beliefs, etc. that they see as harmful to humanity. What becomes interesting is that this fragmented ideological virtual community is considered by the overarching society as villainous.

Whitehead's research becomes extremely important in this context of taboo's in regards to sexuality and violence. Whitehead chose to look into the ideas of sexuality and violence after doing field work in Guyana and Brazil. His interaction with the "kanaima" showed him, "...that violence is always more than its material appearance," (Whitehead, 2009). He realized that on the internet people explore sexuality and violence in relatively safe and anonymous environment. He decided to investigate digital subjects through his co-created Goth/Industrial music band "Blood Jewel." Whitehead quotes Freud, "the "uncanny" occurs where the accepted structure of a world is violated, "when the boundary between fantasy and reality is blurred" (Freud 2003: 150). The genre of Goth/Industrial music where Whitehead explores sexuality and violence in an artistic expression of music and visual displays continually violates the norms of many cultures.

more to come when I finish classes today.