Avatars are creatures of online culture that offer new ways of thinking with, through and about the body.  Working towards a theory of the virtual body, Boellstorff ethnographically examines how avatars do not merely represent bodies but are themselves forms of embodiment.  Framing his analysis through the "constitutive emplacement" of body within a world, Boellstorff offers an innovative set of lenses through three new concepts: virtual chora, being-inworld, and the cypherg.
Hosted by: Department of Anthropology

In conjunction with: Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, Department of Dance, Department of English, Department of Journalism, Gender and Women's Studies Program, iFoundry, Institute of Communications Research, Program in Asian American Studies, Program in Science and Technology, Unit for Criticism and Interpretive Theory

WILL-AM580 FOCUS interview with Tom Boellstorff