Princeton Studies in Culture and Technology¹⁷

Tom Boellstorff and Bill Maurer, Series Editors

This series presents innovative, interdisciplinary work that examines the varied ways new technologies combine with older technologies and cultural understandings to shape novel forms of subjectivity, embodiment, knowledge, place, and community. Through inquiries into topics ranging from finance and online sociality to social and technological infrastructure, the series provides a forum for work that incorporates attention to intersections of technology and value. The goal of the series is to showcase the best work in this exciting new field of anthropological inquiry and thereby demonstrate the relevance of anthropology to emerging forms of digital culture in the broadest sense.

Middle Tech: Software Work and the Culture of Good Enough Paula Bialski
Why software isn’t perfect, as seen through the stories of software developers at a run-of-the-mill tech company
Code Work: Hacking across the US/México Techno-Borderlands Héctor Beltrán
How Mexican and Latinx hackers apply concepts from coding to their lived experiences
An Internet for the People: The Politics and Promise of craigslist Jessa Lingel
How craigslist champions openness, democracy, and other vanishing principles of the early web
Hidden Heretics: Jewish Doubt in the Digital Age Ayala Fader
A revealing look at Jewish men and women who secretly explore the outside world, in person and online, while remaining in their ultra-Orthodox religious communities
The Government of Emergency: Vital Systems, Expertise, and the Politics of Security Stephen J. Collier and Andrew Lakoff
The origins and development of the modern American emergency state
Prototype Nation: China and the Contested Promise of Innovation Silvia M. Lindtner
A vivid look at China’s shifting place in the global political economy of technology production
Hacking Diversity: The Politics of Inclusion in Open Technology Cultures Christina Dunbar-Hester
A firsthand look at efforts to improve diversity in software and hackerspace communities
Hydropolitics: The Itaipu Dam, Sovereignty, and the Engineering of Modern South America Christine Folch
An in-depth look at the people and institutions connected with the Itaipu Dam, the world’s biggest producer of renewable energy
The Future of Immortality: Remaking Life and Death in Contemporary Russia Anya Bernstein
A gripping account of the Russian visionaries who are pursuing human immortality
Chasing Innovation: Making Entrepreneurial Citizens in Modern India Lilly Irani
A vivid look at how India has developed the idea of entrepreneurial citizens as leaders mobilizing society and how people try to live that promise
Watch Me Play: Twitch and the Rise of Game Live Streaming T. L. Taylor
A look at the revolution in game live streaming and esports broadcasting
Biomedical Odysseys: Fetal Cell Experiments from Cyberspace to China Priscilla Song
Thousands of people from more than eighty countries have traveled to China since 2001 to undergo fetal cell transplantation. Galvanized by the potential of stem and fetal cells to regenerate damaged neurons and restore lost bodily...
Disruptive Fixation: School Reform and the Pitfalls of Techno-Idealism Christo Sims
In New York City in 2009, a new kind of public school opened its doors to its inaugural class of middle schoolers. Conceived by a team of game designers and progressive educational reformers and backed by prominent philanthropic...
Everyday Sectarianism in Urban Lebanon: Infrastructures, Public Services, and Power Joanne Randa Nucho
What causes violent conflicts around the Middle East? All too often, the answer is sectarianism—popularly viewed as a timeless and intractable force that leads religious groups to conflict. In Everyday Sectarianism in Urban...
Democracy's Infrastructure: Techno-Politics and Protest after Apartheid Antina von Schnitzler
In the past decade, South Africa's "miracle transition" has been interrupted by waves of protests in relation to basic services such as water and electricity. Less visibly, the post-apartheid period has witnessed widespread illicit acts...
Digital Keywords: A Vocabulary of Information Society and Culture Edited by Benjamin Peters
How the digital revolution has shaped our language
Sounding the Limits of Life: Essays in the Anthropology of Biology and Beyond Stefan Helmreich
What is life? What is water? What is sound? In Sounding the Limits of Life, anthropologist Stefan Helmreich investigates how contemporary scientists—biologists, oceanographers, and audio engineers—are redefining these crucial...