Cell Phones to Cyberspace
Elizabeth Bird
Professor and Chair
Department of Anthropology
Elizabeth Bird would tell you that, in her professional opinion, the most dramatic use of media technology in the past two decades has been the cell phone. “No one predicted what an all-purpose communication tool it would become, in both developed and developing countries,” she says.
As a cultural anthropologist, Bird focuses her research and teaching on media, popular culture and visual anthropology with emphasis on audience response and the role of media in everyday life. Therefore, she would also tell you that she thinks that the portrayal of women in the media has been sexualized “to the point that it is absolutely ludicrous and disappointing for those who grew up in the feminist movement.”
Widely published, Bird is the editor of the upcoming Anthropology of News and Journalism: Global Perspectives and author of The Audience in Everyday life: Living in a Media World, winner of the Best Book Award from the International Communication Association. She has received USF’s Outstanding Research Achievement Award, as well as the Askounes-Ashford Distinguished Scholar Award.
Yet what makes her most proud is her department, its superb faculty and graduate students, and “everyone’s commitment to making a difference in their work.” USF was the first in the nation to establish master’s and doctoral programs in applied anthropology, and the department has been ranked second among 394 universities for public engagement.
When it comes to teaching, Bird most enjoys classes that encourage students to do hands-on field research such as her undergraduate Methods in Cultural Research. “It’s great to see students gain confidence and often they produce really innovative research.”
While anthropology teaches students to understand how to conduct rigorous, valid research, Bird believes it should also teach them to see the world through the eyes of other people.
“Anthropology prepares students for the reality that, although, we all have much in common as humans, there are also crucial cultural differences and distinctions that must be understood. It takes students out of their comfort zones and makes them aware of both connections and differences across the globe.”
-- Mary Beth Erskine, University Communications & Marketing