The CaMP (Communication, Media, and Performance) lecture series moves the IU anthropology department toward its goal to establish a national reputation as a center for the ethnographic study of how people communicate in different contexts around the world, how they do so with particular audiences in mind, and how the channels they use in turn shape how communication circulates.
The 2017–18 academic year was very busy for CaMP Anthropology. Aided by a Collaborative Fellowship Award from the IAS, we brought a number of speakers to IU, including Lanita Jacobs (USC), Ruth Behar (Michigan), Katrien Pype (KU Leuven), and Helena Wulff (Stockholm). We hope to continue to bring interesting speakers to campus in the years to come as part of our ongoing efforts to make IU’s Department of Anthropology a world-renowned center for the ethnographic study of communication, media, and performance. We also started a virtual reading group this year that meets once a month to discuss newly published work with anthropologists working in our field of study. This has become a truly international group, with over eighty scholars from all over the United States, Europe, Israel, and Latin America who have joined us so far. Our guest speakers in spring 2018 were Alaina Lemon (Michigan), Graham Jones (MIT), Kit Woolard (UC San Diego), and Sonia Das (NYU) and in the fall we plan to speak with Erika Hoffman-Dilloway (Oberlin) and Karin Barber (Birmingham). This virtual reading group has been a very successful way to engage in scholarly conversations about the latest books with anthropologists working around the world as well as promote CaMP Anthropology’s reputation within our field.
It is our hope that as our reputation grows, CaMP Anthropology can serve as a resource for graduate students and faculty on campus and around the world interested in the ethnographic study of communication, media, and performance. We are thankful for an extremely successful year and we expect that next year will present a wealth of new opportunities for growth and outreach. If you are interested in keeping up with us or learning more about what we do, please visit our blog or follow us on Twitter (@CaMPanthros).