Dr Michael Wilmore

Biography/ Background

Mike Wilmore is a social anthropologist by training and brings the particular insights and research traditions of that discipline into his ongoing studies of global media. He has been studying the development of media in Nepal for over a decade and continues to do so as part of an international team of researchers investigating the uses of FM radio by non-governmental organizations in that country. He is originally from the UK and moved to Australia in 2004 to take up a lectureship here at the University of Adelaide.

Mike is currently the Associate Dean (Postgraduate Coursework Programmes) for the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences.

Qualifications

PhD (2003) Social Anthropology, The University of London. MSc (1993) Social Anthropology, University College London. BA (Hons) (1991) Archaeology, University of Exeter.

Teaching Interests

Mike's teaching interests centre on social and cultural aspects of media. He teaches courses that examine aspects of globalisation and the ways in which media become adapted to the local circumstances in which they are used. He is also interested in the ways we come to understand the media and their influence upon our lives. He currently teaches Global Media: Policies and Practices and Media Research Methods, which are both advanced level courses. He also contributes to teaching throughout the discipline.

Research Interests

Mike's research has focused on the development of media in Nepal and South Asia more generally. He is particularly interested in the uses of media by indigenous and other minority groups in post-colonial contexts. His research also looks in particular at aspects of community media development, including cable television and radio, as well as how people are using various Internet and mobile media technologies in South Asia. In addition to this he has studied fieldwork in British archaeology with a particular interest in the roles that literacy and textual practices play in this work.

Mike supervises postgraduate students with a wide range of interests ranging from the assessment of the impact of communication for social change projects in Nepal, the making of documentary radio and film projects by Aboriginal peoples, and the local Hip Hop scene in Adelaide.

Publications

2008 Developing Alternative Media Traditions in Nepal. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books.

2008 'Urban Space and the Mediation of Political Action in Nepal: Local Television, Ritual Processions and Political Violence as Technologies of Enchantment.' The Australian Journal of Anthropology 19(1): 41-56.

2007 'The Digital Divide and the Social Divide in New Media Access and Their Implications for the Development of Civil Society in Nepal.' Asia Rights 8. http://rspas.anu.edu.au/asiarightsjournal/Issue%20Eight_Wilmore.htm

2007 'The Book and the Trowel: Archaeological Practice and Authority at the Leskernick Project.' In B. Bender, S. Hamilton and C. Tilley (eds) Stone Worlds: Narrative and Reflexivity in Landscape Archaeology. Walnut Creek, CA: Left Coast Press (University College London Institute of Archaeology Publications), 244-276.

2007 (with Tony Williams) 'Introduction to the Sociological Study of the Leskernick Project.' In B. Bender, S. Hamilton and C. Tilley (eds) Stone Worlds: Narrative and Reflexivity in Landscape Archaeology. Walnut Creek, CA: Left Coast Press (University College London Institute of Archaeology Publications), 238-243.

2006 'Gatekeepers of Cultural Memory: Televising Religious Rituals in Tansen, Nepal.' Ethnos 71(3): 317-342.

2006 'Landscapes of Disciplinary Power: An Ethnography of Excavation and Survey at Leskernick.' In M. Edgeworth (ed.) Ethnographies of Archaeological Practice: Cultural Encounters, Material Transformations. Lanham, MD: AltaMira Press, 114-125.

2004 'What's in a name? Working as a "teaching assistant" at University College London and as an "associate lecturer" at the Open University.' In D. Mills and M. Harris (eds) Teaching Rites and Wrongs: Universities and the Making of Anthropology. Birmingham: The Higher Education Academy; Centre for Sociology, Anthropology and Politics, pp. 96-112.

2004 'Review - "Fluid Boundaries: Forming and Transforming Identity in Nepal" by William F. Fisher.' In Ethnos 69(1): 132-134.

2003 'Review - "Media Rituals: A Critical Approach" by Nick Couldry.' In Social Anthropology 11(3): 388-9

2001 'Local Media and Development Culture in Nepal: A case study of Ratna Cable Television and Communication for Development Palpa in Tansen.' In Studies in Nepali History and Society 6(2): 347-387

2001 'Far Away, So Close: Some Notes on Participant Observation During Fieldwork in Nepal and England.' In E@TM Journal, Anthropology From Below 3.: 21-5 (Also available at http://www.anthropologymatters.com/journal/2001-06/mike_wilmore.html)

1996 'Indigenous Media: Bold is Beautiful.' In Himal South Asia 9(4)

Entry last updated: Tuesday, 26 May 2009