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Background Information
Approaching the Swiss equivalent of a Master of Arts degree (called 'Lizentiat'), I'm in my sixth year at the university of Basel. My major (in which I'm writing my thesis) is Social Anthropology, my minors are Media Studies and German Literature. The former led me to write two papers on a subject near and dear to my heart: the internet, specifically the internet as a social medium. During the course of writing these, I noticed how naturally Anthropology fit into the context of the internet and the people using it. So when it came to choose a topic for my thesis, I knew that I wanted to work in this field anthropologically. Indigenous peoples are of course a classic subject of study for anthropologists, who often advocate for them and their rights, so I decided to narrow the regional focus of my paper to one specific ethnic group, namely the Native Americans. And since I strongly believe in the idea of appropriation (where people take something alien and use it to their advantage), I'm hoping to show how Native Americans manage to express themselves, their cultures and communities using the internet, despite being on the 'wrong' side of the famous digital divide. Personally, I've been a fan of the internet and its possibilities for several years now. I'm not blind to the points made by various critics, but my personal experience (as an educated woman living in one of the most privileged countries of the world) has been largely good, leading me to form many valuable connections and friendships with people from all over the world. This fits in well with my love for travel, and I try to meet as many of my online friends as I can whenever I go abroad. As a matter of fact I'm planning on following my MA with a graduate diploma in Human Resource Management in New Zealand, a country I learned to love during the course of my anthropological fieldwork exercise with a Maori community in New Plymouth. But until then I'm hoping to make the most of the topic my thesis. Evamaria Nittnaus Links: |