Tony Bennett is Research Professor in Social and Cultural Theory, Institute for Culture and Society, Western Sydney University.
Fiona Cameron is a Senior Research Fellow at the Institute for Culture and Society, Western Sydney University.
Nélia Dias is Associate Professor in the Department of Anthropology (ISCTE-IUL and CRIA).
Ben Dibley is a Research Fellow at the Institute for Culture and Society at Western Sydney University.
Rodney Harrison is Professor of Heritage Studies at the Institute of Archaeology, University College London.
Ira Jacknis is Research Anthropologist at the Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology, University of California, Berkeley.
Conal McCarthy is Director of the Museum & Heritage Studies program at Victoria University of Wellington, Aotearoa/New Zealand.
Tony Bennett is Research Professor in Social and Cultural Theory, Institute for Culture and Society, Western Sydney University.
Fiona Cameron is a Senior Research Fellow at the Institute for Culture and Society, Western Sydney University.
Nélia Dias is Associate Professor in the Department of Anthropology (ISCTE-IUL and CRIA).
Ben Dibley is a Research Fellow at the Institute for Culture and Society at Western Sydney University.
Rodney Harrison is Professor of Heritage Studies at the Institute of Archaeology, University College London.
Ira Jacknis is Research Anthropologist at the Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology, University of California, Berkeley.
Conal McCarthy is Director of the Museum & Heritage Studies program at Victoria University of Wellington, Aotearoa/New Zealand.
Tony Bennett is Research Professor in Social and Cultural Theory, Institute for Culture and Society, Western Sydney University.
Fiona Cameron is a Senior Research Fellow at the Institute for Culture and Society, Western Sydney University.
Nélia Dias is Associate Professor in the Department of Anthropology (ISCTE-IUL and CRIA).
Ben Dibley is a Research Fellow at the Institute for Culture and Society at Western Sydney University.
Rodney Harrison is Professor of Heritage Studies at the Institute of Archaeology, University College London.
Ira Jacknis is Research Anthropologist at the Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology, University of California, Berkeley.
Conal McCarthy is Director of the Museum & Heritage Studies program at Victoria University of Wellington, Aotearoa/New Zealand.
Tony Bennett is Research Professor in Social and Cultural Theory, Institute for Culture and Society, Western Sydney University.
Fiona Cameron is a Senior Research Fellow at the Institute for Culture and Society, Western Sydney University.
Nélia Dias is Associate Professor in the Department of Anthropology (ISCTE-IUL and CRIA).
Ben Dibley is a Research Fellow at the Institute for Culture and Society at Western Sydney University.
Rodney Harrison is Professor of Heritage Studies at the Institute of Archaeology, University College London.
Ira Jacknis is Research Anthropologist at the Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology, University of California, Berkeley.
Conal McCarthy is Director of the Museum & Heritage Studies program at Victoria University of Wellington, Aotearoa/New Zealand.
Tony Bennett is Research Professor in Social and Cultural Theory, Institute for Culture and Society, Western Sydney University.
Fiona Cameron is a Senior Research Fellow at the Institute for Culture and Society, Western Sydney University.
Nélia Dias is Associate Professor in the Department of Anthropology (ISCTE-IUL and CRIA).
Ben Dibley is a Research Fellow at the Institute for Culture and Society at Western Sydney University.
Rodney Harrison is Professor of Heritage Studies at the Institute of Archaeology, University College London.
Ira Jacknis is Research Anthropologist at the Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology, University of California, Berkeley.
Conal McCarthy is Director of the Museum & Heritage Studies program at Victoria University of Wellington, Aotearoa/New Zealand.
Tony Bennett is Research Professor in Social and Cultural Theory, Institute for Culture and Society, Western Sydney University.
Fiona Cameron is a Senior Research Fellow at the Institute for Culture and Society, Western Sydney University.
Nélia Dias is Associate Professor in the Department of Anthropology (ISCTE-IUL and CRIA).
Ben Dibley is a Research Fellow at the Institute for Culture and Society at Western Sydney University.
Rodney Harrison is Professor of Heritage Studies at the Institute of Archaeology, University College London.
Ira Jacknis is Research Anthropologist at the Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology, University of California, Berkeley.
Conal McCarthy is Director of the Museum & Heritage Studies program at Victoria University of Wellington, Aotearoa/New Zealand.
Tony Bennett is Research Professor in Social and Cultural Theory, Institute for Culture and Society, Western Sydney University.
Fiona Cameron is a Senior Research Fellow at the Institute for Culture and Society, Western Sydney University.
Nélia Dias is Associate Professor in the Department of Anthropology (ISCTE-IUL and CRIA).
Ben Dibley is a Research Fellow at the Institute for Culture and Society at Western Sydney University.
Rodney Harrison is Professor of Heritage Studies at the Institute of Archaeology, University College London.
Ira Jacknis is Research Anthropologist at the Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology, University of California, Berkeley.
Conal McCarthy is Director of the Museum & Heritage Studies program at Victoria University of Wellington, Aotearoa/New Zealand.
A Liberal Archive of Everyday Life: Mass-Observation as Oligopticon
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Published:January 2017
2017. "A Liberal Archive of Everyday Life: Mass-Observation as Oligopticon", Collecting, Ordering, Governing: Anthropology, Museums, and Liberal Government, Tony Bennett, Fiona Cameron, Nélia Dias, Ben Dibley, Rodney Harrison, Ira Jacknis, Conal McCarthy
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This chapter considers how Mass-Observation’s project of an “anthropology at home” was implicated in the political technologies of liberal government through the emergence of distinctive transactional realities ordering British wartime populations. Central to these transactional realities were the linked concepts of “mass” and “morale.” The chapter begins with a detailed examination of Mass-Observation’s “anthropology of ourselves,” describing its distinguishing fieldwork agencements in the ways it brought together ethnographic methods of collecting and assembling (largely, but not exclusively, drawn from colonial anthropological contexts) with new mechanisms of collective self-watching. In connecting oligoptic visual economies to liberal technologies of government, this chapter suggests that Mass-Observation’s fieldwork agencements operated oligoptically in the relations of government they produced. It also shows how the concept of civilian morale acted through the work of Mass-Observation as an example of the practical application of an “anthropology of ourselves” that aimed to manage the conduct of the population.
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