Digital Anthropology: Theoretical Perspectives regarding Electronic Tribes

• Author: Burlacu, M.
• Position: Faculty of Sociology and Communication, Transilvania University of Brasov
• Pages: 241-248

Bulletin of the Transilvania University of Braşov

Series VII: Social Sciences • Law • Vol. 7 (56) No. 1 - 2014

DIGITAL ANTHROPOLOGY:

THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVES

REGARDING ELECTRONIC

TRIBES

Mihai BURLACU1

Abstract: In this article I approach several theoretical perspectives

regarding electronic tribes. Throughout this article, I reveal several

arguments about how the flexibility and speed of electronic media has

determined new ways of defining human interaction. I also emphasize some

of the cultural implications entailed by the emergence of electronic tribes. In

the end, I discuss about the relation between e-tribes, ‘cyberscapes’ and

cyberspace. I argue that, just as the real cultures include complex systems of

significance that are developed in order to address the various issues of

everyday life, in cyberspace, the members of e-tribes have developed ‘virtual

cultures’. I conclude by comparing cyberspace with Plato’s World of Ideas.

Key words: tribe, electronic-tribe, cyberspace, electronic media, virtual

culture.

1 Faculty of Sociology and Communication, Transilvania University of Braşov.

1. Introduction

The past two decades witnessed the

gradual transformation of online

communication into something that is

nowadays labelled as ‘online life’ [6].

Connotations of this expression challenge

the traditional anthropological assumptions

regarding place and time in ethnographic

research. It also entails the need for

redefining the anthropological subject. It is

also important to stress that various

anthropological approaches to digital life

have emphasized the need to reconstruct

identity, ethnicity, gender and the human

body in the last decade.

The concept of ‘electronic tribe’ (i.e. e-

tribe) was developed at the middle of the

past decade. Essentially, it was built upon

the sociological and anthropological

concept of ‘tribe’. In anthropology, tribe is

a fundamental concept, which has many

contested meanings. In the past, it denoted

“an aggregation of people who are bonded

together by ties of consanguinity, territorial

contiguity, and cultural singularities” [1].

While presenting the various debates

regarding this concept far exceeds the

objectives of my article, it is important to

emphasize the definition on which the

concept of ‘electronic tribe’ is predicated.

Thus, I consider the concept of ‘tribe’ to

designate a socio-political or ganization,

which consists of a variable number of

families, gentes and/or clans, who share

their ancestry, spatial and temporal context

and cultural specificity. This definition was