Contemporary challenges for Anthropology in the cyberspace: the role of technique

Abstract

The starting point for anthropology in cyberspace is the idea of “communication mediated by the computer”. Such an idea presupposes, explicitly or implicitly, a certain exteriority of the technical objects and, at the same time, it circumscribes agentive capacity exclusively to human beings. The present paper proposes a critical reflection about these assumptions by exploring a twofold theoretical and methodological inspiration. Firstly, it approaches the classical matrix about technique in “traditional societies”, as it was first conceived by M. Mauss, as a reference and it analyses the specificity attributed to the modern condition regarding technique. In a second and complementary moment , the paper advances as it systematizes the contemporary debates about agency and explores the limits of the human/technical dichotomy. Here it dwells specifically on the works of B. Latour, and the notion of cyborg. It is thus a rereading of the classical anthropological perspective regarding the approach of technique and the questioning of the modern notion of object-technical as it is applied to cyberspace. Finally, the paper discusses notions such as “usage”, “appropriation” and “representation” of technical objects in the anthropological studies in cyberspace.