Digitizing Other Economies: A Comparative Approach

Introduction

How do longstanding, primarily non-industrial, non-capitalist societies adopt and adapt digital technologies in their daily practices and systems of values?

Background

Classical anthropological theory once arranged basic economic types on an evolutionary ladder ranging from hunter-gatherers, horticulturalists, pastoralists, and agriculturalists to industrialists. Today, the existence of these economies other than industrialism is correctly approached not as anachronisms but as contemporaneous to (post-)industrial life.

Research Context

Still, research on digitization has largely taken place in (post-)industrial contexts, meaning we know next to nothing about how different types of longstanding economies adopt and adapt digital technologies. At the same time, researchers have stipulated that digitization threatens global economic diversity. By comparing digitization to processes of colonization, they have argued that digital technologies facilitate assimilation into (post-)industrial economic systems and their often capitalist values by virtue of their technological design.

Project Overview

This project empirically investigates these claims through in-depth ethnographic research among:

1. Hunter-gatherers (Brazilian Amazon)
2. Pastoralists (Kyrgyz Republic)
3. Horticulturalists (Solomon Islands)
4. Indigenous agriculturalists (India)

These groups have long resisted assimilation into industrial-capitalism.

Comparative Analysis

Additional ethnological comparison of the four sites will offer unique macro-level insights into the possibilities for economic diversity in the digital age.

Theoretical and Methodological Contributions

Finally, the project advances a novel theoretical and methodological approach that enhances both ethnographic research and ethnological comparison. This approach recognizes the significance of both technological design and contextual adaptations and provides tools for new research agendas not just on digital industrial-capitalism but on diverse economic systems and values.