Anthropology of Social Media: The Study of Emoji
Instructor: Jing Ge
Term: Spring 2019
Time: M, W 2:00 - 3:30pm
Units: 4
Course Number: 15312
Course Description:
This undergraduate course introduces a new topic of anthropology – anthropology of social media. It treats social media and emoji as a route to understanding people, cultures and contemporary societies. All semester long, students will grapple with and debate the terms anthropology of social media and emoji as well as how and why language and societies evolve in digital space. Special attention is drawn to emoji use and interpretation that are shaped and influenced by people, their social conventions and cultural norms. By the end of the course, it will illuminate the important subjects of anthropology, such as communication, language change, literacy, social power, gender, and ideologies.
Jing Ge is a postdoctoral research fellow and a lecturer in the Anthropology Department at the University of California, Berkeley. She has a Ph.D. in Marketing and Communication at the University of Queensland, Australia, and studied anthropology at Stanford University Summer School. Her research focuses on anthropology of social media, online visual communication, and humour.