Why Muslim Women and Smartphones: Mirror Images

Research output: Book/ReportBookResearchpeer-review

Using an assemblage approach to study how Muslim women in Norrebro in Denmark use their phones, Karen Waltorp examines how social media complicates the divide between public and private in relation to a group of people who find this distinction of utmost significance. Building on years of ethnographic fieldwork, Waltorp's ethnography reflects the trust and creativity of her relationships with these women which in turn open up nuanced discussions about both the subject at hand and best practice in conducting anthropological research.

Combining rich ethnography with theoretical contextualization, Waltorp's book alternates between ethnography and analysis to illuminate a thoroughly modern community, and reveals the capacity of image-making technology to function as an infrastructure for seeing, thinking and engaging in fieldwork as an anthropologists. Waltorp identifies a series of important issues around anthropological approaches to new media, contributing to new debates around the anthropology of automation, data and self-tracking.

With a strong combination of rich detail and theoretical framing, this will be an important read for students of anthropology, visual culture and ethnography, and Muslim studies.
Original languageEnglish
Place of PublicationNew York
PublisherRoutledge
Number of pages256
ISBN (Print)9781350127357
Publication statusPublished - 2020
Externally publishedYes

ID: 255451070