[Air-L] CfP: Edited Volume on the Anthropology of Digital Harms, Addiction and Disconnection and a MAE Conference Call (16-19 Sept., University of Vienna)

[Suzana Jovicic]

**apologies for cross-posting"

Dear list members,

Please find below a Call for Papers for an *edited volume *on the 
Anthropology of Digital Harms, Addiction and Disconnection and for 
a*roundtable* on the "Crisis of Digital Addictions: Anthropological 
Perspectives on a Growing Concern" for the Medical Anthropology Europe 
Conference (16-19 September, University of Vienna).

Best wishes,
Suzana and Joe

...

*Call for Submission: Edited Volume on the Anthropology of Digital 
Harms, Addiction and Disconnection*

We are seeking submissions for an edited volume on the anthropology of 
digital harms, addiction, and disconnection. The volume will provide one 
of the first comprehensive anthropological explorations of a highly 
relevant topic.

*Confirmed Contributors and Publication Details:*

Nine contributors have already been confirmed, including Alex Beattie, 
Paula Helm, and Ingrid Richardson. The volume will be submitted to 
Berghahn Press and Cornell University Press. The editors are Joseph 
Tulasiewicz and Suzana Jovicic.

*Submission Guidelines:*

  * Deadline Abstract: _April 30th_, 2025
  * Timeline for Completion: Chapters are expected to be completed by
    December 2025.
  * Submission Requirements: We invite anthropologists who have
    researched internet-related addictions, harmful digital product
    design, digital harms, or digital disconnection to submit a 200-word
    abstract for an eventual 8,000-word chapter.
  * For further details or to submit your abstract, please contact us
    at: ucsajrt at ucl.ac.uk and suzana.jovicic at univie.ac.at

*Editorial Vision:
*
Over the last few decades, people worldwide have gained unprecedented 
access to video recording technology, strangers around the world, and an 
almost infinite variety of mesmerizing games and content streams. What 
began as a utopian vision of a connected, democratized world of endless 
possibilities, has devolved into troubling narratives of addiction, 
exploitation, and harm. Despite the traces of historical continuities in 
the adoption of new media technologies, the scale of changes in this 
landscape seems to have few precedents. Yet, there is still little 
consensus on the subject across disciplines, especially in regards to 
the effects of these chances.

This volume does not shy away from exploring effects from an 
anthropological perspective, embracing both skeptical and concerned 
voices. It seeks to add context and nuance to existing debates, while 
also developing new theoretical standpoints and linguistic registers 
with which to conduct them. It seeks to remain contextual and holistic, 
but also take seriously predatory design and reported experiences of 
harm and addiction shared by interlocutors and clinicians. Finally, the 
volume also encouraged constructive engagement with the topic of 
disconnection, and encourage its contributors to think about what a more 
balanced relationship with technology might look like. By hosting this 
in-depth exploration of digital harm and addiction, this volume extends 
academic engagement with these pressing issues, and contributes to vital 
societal and political conversations.

Please also note the current*CfP “Crisis of Digital Addictions: 
Anthropological Perspectives on a Growing Concern”* for the Medical 
Anthropology Europe Conference (Sept 16-19, University of Vienna, 
hybrid). The CfP is open until _April 15, 2025._
https://mae.univie.ac.at/scientific-program/

-- 

*Dr. Suzana Jovicic*
Researcher & Lecturer
Department of Social and Cultural Anthropology
University of Vienna, Austria

Co-founder of DEI - Digital Ethnography Initiative 
<https://digitalethnography.at/>
Co-convenor of ENPA (EASA) - European Network for Psychological 
Anthropology <http://enpanthro.net/>