30.9.12
14.9.12
MARGINALITY, MORALITY, MANHOOD AND MONEY
I'm about take off for Loutraki, Greece and the 9th European Conference on Gambling Studies and Policy Issues organized by EASG. I will present a paper drawing on my anthropologically-minded observations on online poker culture. Below is the abstract. Click here for the full paper.
MARGINALITY,
MORALITY, MANHOOD AND MONEY
ANTHROPOLOGICAL
OBSERVATIONS OF
ONLINE POKER AS A CULTURAL FORMATION
Abstract. Online poker is a new cultural phenomenon that has yet to
attract the attention of anthropology, a discipline that is relatively slow in
shifting its view from the non-Western Other to include the “Western Self” in
its realm. However, there is promising movement within anthropology to study
new media and its cultural formations, a trend that could also lead to online
gambling to be one of its emerging (albeit not anytime soon mainstream) subfields.
There are many interesting paths modern anthropology with its ethnographic,
qualitative and interpretative approach could follow in studying online poker,
a parade example of online gambling culture. In this presentation some key
observations from the presenter’s research will be discussed in the form of
four promising anthropological themes of online poker. They are the four M’s:
marginality, morality, manhood and money. These intertwined themes seem to be
inherently and essentially connected to the phenomenon and cultural
interpretation framework of online poker, and force the members of the (sub)culture
to negotiate their position in relation to them. The four M’s of online poker
will be discussed with the help of presenter’s research material including
media texts (magazine articles, ads), participant observation and interviews.
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