The latest book by media anthropologist Max Kramer explores how political action can be understood in a digitally shaped media world – a world in which the emotional work on one’s online identity is both culturally and institutionally embedded.

By closing a research gap on the affective conditions of political agency, the book develops a new concept of digital agency. Drawing on case studies, Max Kramer demonstrates both the creativity and the challenges faced by Indian Muslims who run successful social media accounts.

During the event, Max Kramer will give a short reading followed by a discussion with Dr. Mehdi Ayachi from the Leibniz-Zentrum Moderner Orient.

Max Kramer is a researcher at the Leibniz-Zentrum Moderner Orient Berlin and Co-PI of the Volkswagen Aufbruch Projekt "When Anonymity is No Longer Enough: Fictionalization as a New Way of Writing Ethnography in the Age of Digital Surveillance". 

He also translates Hindi poetry (Muktibodh und andere moderne Hindi-Dichter, Draupadi Verlag, 2020) and previously taught Hindi at the University of Leipzig. As co-editor-in-chief of the hybrid journal Dastavezi: The Audio-Visual South Asia, he is actively involved in collective documentary film projects exploring culture, religion, and politics in Global South Asia.

Mehdi Ayachi is a researcher at the Leibniz-Zentrum Moderner Orient. His work focuses on the anthropology of the Arabian Peninsula, particularly the Sultanate of Oman.

Language: English