What is the point of media anthropology?

After long decades of neglect, the anthropological study of media is now booming. The period between 2002 and 2005 alone saw the publication of no less than four overviews of this emerging subfield (Askew and Wilk 2002; Ginsburg et al. 2002; Peterson 2003; Rothenbuhler and Coman 2005) as well as the founding of the EASA Media Anthropology Network, which by May 2009 boasted over 700 participants. Anthropologists have now undertaken media research in many regions of the world, from the Arctic and the Amazon toWestern Europe and New Guinea, and worked on media ranging from writing, film and television to software, Second Life and mobile phones. Media anthropologists are also at the forefront of recent theoretical advances in media and communication studies in areas such as cultural activism (Ginsburg 2008), transnational media (Mankekar 2008), mobile telephony (Horst and Miller 2006), virtual materiality (Boellstorff 2008), free software (Kelty 2008) and media practice theory (Brauchler and Postill forthcoming). These are very exciting times indeed for the anthropology of media.