These sessions feature research on global digital cultures from a wide variety of scholarly disciplines, theoretical perspectives, and methodological approaches. During each of these events, we will discuss two draft texts, seeking to include a mix of senior and junior scholars.

For our upcoming GDC Seminar on November 25, from 15:00 - 17:00 we will discuss a work in progress by Justus Uitermark and John Boy. This will take place in REC B5.12 (Common Room Anthropology).

Boy and Uitermark will present sections for discussion from their upcoming book, 'On Display: Instagram, the Self, and the City.' 

On Display examines how Instagram - a platform that is unfailingly polished and ruthlessly judgmental - shapes us and our environments. The book builds on sociological theory and long-term qualitative inquiry mainly situated in Amsterdam, but augments the picture with computational analyses. In this way, it illuminates the mutual constitution of social structures and sensibilities. Through computational analysis we reveal the uneven structure of digital networks, while interviews and ethnographic vignettes provide an account of the desires and anxieties channeled and induced by Instagram and the broader ecosystem of social media. Over the book’s seven chapters, we develop several arguments that challenge common assumptions about social media in order to advance public and scholarly debates on major social and cultural phenomena of our time. 

John D. Boy is an assistant professor of sociology at Leiden University and works for the Institute of Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology. He teaches urban studies, digital society, and qualitative and computational methods in the Institute of Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology, the interdisciplinary Urban Studies program, and the university's liberal arts institution, Leiden University College. He also advises undergraduate and masters theses.

Justus Uitermark is professor of Urban Geography at the Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences of the University of Amsterdam. Justus Uitermark studies cities from a comparative and historical perspective. He looks at how power relations are expressed in the built environment: which groups and interests prevail and which are pushed into the background? As a relational sociologist, he focuses on networks: what sorts of networks do people form to resolve their collective problems and achieve their goals vis-à-vis others? With a background in human geography, he is particularly interested how different kinds of environments mediate collective action. Uitermark has a long-standing interest in the roles of cities as terrains of political struggle and more recently has been studying how social media platforms facilitate challenges against the status quo or breed conformity.

If you would like to attend the seminar series, you can RSVP using the link above.

Following your registration, you will receive information about the event location and participating scholars. You will also receive an e-mail with a link to download the texts. 

We would like to ask you to read these texts in advance to ensure a smooth and rich discussion and to kindly refrain from sharing them publicly, as they include work in progress. 

The discussion will be followed by drinks!

If you have any questions, drop us an e-mail at gdc@uva.nl. 

If you would like to attend the seminar series, you can RSVP using the link above.

Following your registration, you will receive information about the event location and participating scholars. You will also receive an e-mail an e-mail with a link to download the texts. 

We would like to ask you to read these texts in advance to ensure a smooth and rich discussion and to kindly refrain from sharing them publicly, as they include work in progress. 

The discussion will be followed by drinks!

If you have any questions, drop us an e-mail at gdc@uva.nl.