Tracing the Action of Technical Objects in an Ethnography: Vinyls in Beijing

Basile Zimmermann

doi:10.18778/1733-8077.3.3.03

Authors

Basile Zimmermann University of Geneva, Switzerland

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18778/1733-8077.3.3.03

Keywords:

Technical objects, Technology, Agency, Ethnography, Music, Vinyls, Disc Jockey, China, Beijing

Abstract

To do ethnography implies dealing with the agency of technical objectsi. The aim of this paper is to share a few ideas on how to tackle the one of vinyls in the particular activity that is the mix of a disc jockey. To do so, I first provide a general picture of the work of Xiao Deng, a Chinese disc jockey I observed in Beijing between 2003 and 2004. Then I present three observations of specific events that occured during that period which, I believe, bring into light not only some specificities of the agency of the technical object “vinyl” but also useful information about how one can take into account the agency of objects when doing ethnography.

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Author Biography

Basile Zimmermann, University of Geneva, Switzerland

Basile Zimmermann (PhD) is Maître assistant at the Unit of Chinese Studies of the Faculty of Arts in the University of Geneva, Switzerland. A former student in computer music at the Institut de Musique Electroacoustique et Informatique of Geneva, and visiting scholar at the Department of sociology of Peking University (China), his current research and teaching activities focus on technology issues in contemporary China.

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