Massachusetts Institute of Technology



Intangible Heritage Archives: Building Counterpublics through Social Media

Sheenagh Pietrobruno

Digital technology and social media in particular are providing the means to counter the narrative representations of cultural heritage proposed by nation-states. This challenge to national heritage enables the circulation of identities and practices of communities not officially recognized by national governments. This potential of social media to produce counterpublics in the domain of heritage occurs on YouTube through the transmission of videos of intangible heritage. This dissemination of heritage videos specifically calls into question the official heritage narratives put forward by nation-states and sanctioned by UNESCO. Since 2003, UNESCO has officially safeguarded intangible heritage, defined by this global institution as the living practices of people, including performing arts, rituals, social events and artisanship.[i] This challenge to official heritage arises since YouTube archives videos of intangible heritage uploaded by UNESCO as well as by a range of users, including individuals, institutions and communities. The storing of UNESCO and user-generated videos of intangible cultural heritage is producing informal and dynamic archives that are continuously shifting in response to user-generated content and algorithms.[ii] Social archiving can contest the UNESCO-sanctioned narratives of intangible heritage proposed by national governments through the stories related in user-generated videos, metadata and posted texts. This archiving further challenges national heritage stories by situating particular videos on fluid lists produced by search engines through algorithms and user-generated input.[iii] This research shows how the Web can foster “a valuable collision space between official and unofficial accounts of reality,”[iv] specifically those pertaining to heritage.

The potential of both cultural forms – narrative and lists – to counter official

heritage disseminated by YouTube’s archive of intangible heritage is approached in this context through a case study of an intangible heritage recognized as global heritage by UNESCO: the Mevlevi Sema (or whirling dervish) Ceremony of Turkey. UNESCO, through the Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism, promotes this Sufi ceremony as a practice performed only by men. However, YouTube features videos of the religious performances of a contemporary Mevlevi community in Istanbul where women dervishes whirl alongside their male counterparts in public ceremonies. This case study

is explored through the virtual ethnography of Mevlevi Sema Ceremony videos, comments, metadata and lists conducted since 2010 at different intervals of time to capture the shifting nature of YouTube. This online research is enriched by an actual ethnography (participant observation, discussion and interviews) of this Mevlevi community in Istanbul (2010 to 2012) as well as by scholarly research on Mevlevi Sufism in contemporary and historical contexts. UNESCO’s use of social media to promote intangible heritage is informed by scholarly research as well as by interviews conducted with members of the Intangible Cultural Heritage section in Paris (July 2012).

Against the backdrop of this research terrain, a specific question is posed here: how does the shifting relation between the public and private impact the social archiving of intangible heritage and the concomitant emergence of counterpublics in the arena of heritage? The following claims are proposed in response. YouTube challenges the authority of UNESCO-sanctioned heritage narratives since this site enables the public distribution of videos from an array of sources, including: personal, private media collections of individual users; professional documentary media companies whose productions are intended for public consumption; promotional videos posted by intangible heritage communities; and the global heritage institution of UNESCO. However, YouTube as a medium that counters official heritage through the representations of communities succumbs to another authority: the politics of code that further complicate the relation between public and private media in the context of YouTube. As an unofficial public archive of heritage, YouTube is under the control of algorithms, including those for searching and sorting[v] that Google designs and continuously upgrades to monetize the labour of YouTube users. For individual users, this means that the videos they access on YouTube are increasingly personalized and algorithmically designed to meet their perceived private media consumption demands. The fundamental purpose of YouTube is to monetize the online creativity and sociality of users.[vi]

To examine the shifting nature of the public and private in the context of the social archiving of the Mevlevi Sema Ceremony on YouTube, the arguments unfold in stages. First, a detailing of how UNESCO and YouTube are producing archives of intangible heritage and the relation between these two social institutions as heritage archives is brought forth. Then the emergence of YouTube as a heritage archive is contextualized within theoretical explorations of the archive in the digital era. Finally, specific examples of videos and their tabulation on lists under the search heading “Mevlevi Sema Ceremony” are delineated to illustrate the manner in which the theorizing of YouTube as a heritage archive intersects with how the politics of code underlie searches on YouTube.

UNESCO’s online recording of official intangible heritage is a type of archive. On UNESCO’s website of intangible cultural heritage, each intangible heritage practice, referred to as an “element,” is represented via a short text, photographs and a YouTube video produced by a national government.[vii] This official tabulation of intangible heritage resembles to a certain extent the traditional archive administered by a central authority, which in this case comprises national governments supported by UNESCO.[viii] Nation-states determine the contents of the lists and hence their value. The UNESCO YouTube videos featured on this official list nonetheless also circulate on YouTube under an array of search headings that group them with videos uploaded by a range of users featuring the very practices officially safeguarded by this global heritage institution. UNESCO videos combine with videos from a variety of public and private media sources, forging an archive that can challenge the central authority of the traditional archive. This archive is nonetheless fluid and unstable since it constantly shifts in response to user-generated content and algorithms.

This mutable archive of intangible heritage parallels the theorizing of the archive in the digital era.[ix] Alexander Galloway claims that the archive is no longer forged through an original set of documents that build a point of origin. It is instead always in the middle since it undergoes continuous transformation through the constant labour of the machine with itself and its users.[x] In a similar vein, Eivind Røssaak reimagines the archive in the digital era as an archive in motion.[xi] According to Wolfgang Ernst, documents in digital archives are linked together in lists produced by algorithms that unsettle the previous ordering in traditional archives. Lists that mathematically connect units in digital archives can disrupt the traditional archival order and practice, in which distinct documents are linked through interpretative narratives produced by human agency. Computation in the digital archive therefore affects the production of cultural memory by moving it from human interpretation to the machine.[xii] Katherine Hayles’s writing on the interconnection between the narrative and database enriches Ernst’s materialist vision of the digital archive. Hayles argues that lists of data produced by algorithms do not necessarily challenge narrative and the central role of human interpretation and agency. The juxtapositions produced through database links require narrative to make these information connections meaningful. The interpretation of these “relational juxtapositions” nevertheless provides narratives that are alternatives to those interpreted through the connection of discontinuous units in traditional archives.[xiii]

Examples from the case study embody these theoretical assessments of the

digital archive, while considering the interplay of the public and private within social media and the corresponding emergence of counterpublics: YouTube becomes a fluid archive of intangible heritage that can counter official heritage narratives, while fusing public and private media. On April 29, 2013, the first page of a list of 2,760 videos that appeared under the search term “Mevlevi Sema Ceremony” was analyzed. UNESCO’s video of this practice put forward by the Turkish government always appears as the first video on this list,[xiv] a ranking that has endured since the start of this online ethnographic research in 2010. This official UNESCO video depicts this ceremony as an exclusively male practice. The videos on the first page either reinforce this male exclusivity or call it into question by portraying the activities of a Mevlevi community in Istanbul – the Foundation of the Universal Lovers of Mevlana Jelaluddin Rumi (EMAV) – that integrates women into its performances. This countering emerges through the contents of videos uploaded as public media, such as the video produced by the community itself.[xv] This challenge also occurs through the dissemination of personal travel videos of individual users that become public through their circulation on YouTube. The user Alejandro Mũniz Delgado, for instance, has uploaded a video of a recording of a performance by EMAV from his selection of travel videos from around the world.[xvi] This video, like the promotional video of the EMAV community, shows that women take part in contemporary whirling dervish performances. If the UNESCO video on the top of the list is clicked, a further list of up-next videos is featured in accordance with user-generated content and algorithms. This connection between the first list and the up-next video list fosters relational juxtapositions that do not appear in UNESCO’s archiving of intangible heritage on its official lists. For example, the contents of YouTube videos challenge the male exclusivity of official heritage by tabulating the promotional public video of EMAV on the up-next list as a video linked to UNESCO’s exclusively male official video of this ceremony, as featured on the top of the first list. This juxtaposition raises the question of whether or not there are women dervishes in Istanbul. As online ethnographic research has shown, the existence of women dervishes within a genuine spiritual context is often debated in posted text comments.[xvii] At the same time, the up-next videos also list a shifting array of videos that are recommended to my IP address as I search for Mevlevi Sema videos. These videos marked as “ Recommended to You” are not pitched to my social self but to me as a digital customer;[xviii] they are a response to my personal settings and search histories.[xix] Within the space of one hour of searching, the list of up-next videos of the EMAV video was flanked by a video that featured background music[xx] and then, about thirty minutes later, by a Dreamweaver tutorial.[xxi] This case study shows that although YouTube can serve as a public archive of intangible heritage that challenges official narratives, this video-hosting service is also being increasingly personalized and algorithmically designed to meet the perceived private media consumption demands of individual users.

YouTube is both a social institution that counters official heritage by

disseminating the practices of communities and a social medium algorithmically structured to reap profits for Google. Within the disparate and contradictory functions of this video-hosting service, new forms of the archive are nonetheless taking shape that have the potential to represent the heritage practices of communities and circulate the cultures of counterpublics.

Abstract (and Preliminary) Bibliography

Ayar, Şeref R. “The Foundation of the Universal Lovers of Mevlana Jelaluddin Rumi (EMAV).” YouTube, 2010. Accessed August 26, 2013.

Bolin, Göran. “Personal Media in the Digital Economy.” In Moving Data: The iPhone and the Future of Media, ed. Pelle Snickars and Patrick Vonderau, 91-103. New York: Columbia University Press, 2012.

Chun, Wendy Hui Kyong. Programmed Visions: Software and Memory. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2011.

Cormen, Thomas H. Algorithms Unlocked. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2013.

Ernst, Wolfgang. “Dis/continuities: Does the Archive Become Metaphorical in Multi-media Space?” In New Media, Old Media: A History and Theory Reader, ed. Wendy Hui Kyong Chun and Thomas Keenan, 105–123. New York: Routledge, 2006.

Galloway, Alexander R. “What You See Is What You Get?” In The Archive in Motion: New Conceptions of the Archive in Contemporary Thought and New Media Practices, ed. Eivind Røssaak, 155-179. Oslo: Novus, 2010.

Hayles, Katherine N. How We Think: Digital Media and Contemporary Technogenesis. Chicago, IL, and London: University of Chicago Press, 2012.

Hayles, Katherine N. “Narrative and Database: Natural Symbionts.” PMLA 122 (2007): 1603-1608.

Hillis, Ken et al. Google and the Culture of Search. New York: Routledge, 2013.

Mũniz Delgado, Alejandro. “Mevlevi Sema Ceremony at Orient Express Station – Istanbul- Turkey.” YouTube, 2012. Accessed August 26, 2013. .

Pietrobruno, Sheenagh. “Between Narrative and Lists: Performing Digital Intangible Heritage through Global Media.” International Journal of Heritage Studies (2013): 1-18. Accessed August 26, 2013.



Pietrobruno, Sheenagh. “YouTube and Social Archiving of Intangible Heritage.” New Media and Society (2013): 1-14. Accessed August 26, 2013.



Rieder, Bernhard. “Democratizing Search? From Critique to Society-Oriented Design.” In Deep Search: The Politics of Search beyond Google, ed. Konrad Becker and Felix Stalder, 133-151. Innsbruck: StudienVerlag, 2009.

Rogers, Richard. Digital Methods. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2013.

Rogers, Richard. “The Googlization Question: Towards the Inculpable Engine?” In Deep Search: The Politics of Search beyond Google, ed. Konrad Becker and Felix Stalder, 173-184. Innsbruck: StudienVerlag, 2009.

Rogers, Richard. Information Politics on the Web. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2004.

Røssaak, Eivind. “The Archive in Motion: An Introduction.” In The Archive in Motion: New Conceptions of the Archive in Contemporary Thought and New Media Practices, ed. Eivind Røssaak, 1-11. Oslo: Novus, 2010.

Simon Sez IT. “Dreamweaver CS6 – Tutorial: Basic HTML – Part 1 – Create a Website Course.” YouTube, 2012. Accessed August 26, 2013.



Smith, Laurajane. The Uses of Heritage. London and New York: Routledge, 2006.

StudyMusicProject. “Background Music Instrumental Piano / Waltz Into Love.” YouTube, 2013. Accessed August 26, 2013. .

Van Dijck, José. The Culture of Connectivity: A Critical History of Social Media. New York: Oxford University Press, 2013.

UNESCO. “Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage.” 2003. Accessed August 26, 2013. .

UNESCO. “Lists of Intangible Cultural Heritage and Register of Best Safeguarding Practices.” 2012. Accessed August 26, 2013. .

UNESCO. “The Mevlevi Sema Ceremony.” YouTube, 2009. Accessed August 26, 2013. .

.

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Notes

[i] Laurajane Smith, The Uses of Heritage (London and New York: Routledge, 2006), 106-107); UNESCO, “Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage” (2003), accessed August 26, 2013, .

[ii] Sheenagh Pietrobruno, “Between Narrative and Lists: Performing Digital Intangible Heritage through Global Media,” International Journal of Heritage Studies (2013): 1-18, accessed August 26, 2013,

; Sheenagh Pietrobruno, “YouTube and Social Archiving of Intangible Heritage,” New Media and Society (2013): 1-14, accessed August 26, 2013,



[iii] Richard Rogers, Digital Methods (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2013), 95.

[iv] Richard Rogers, Information Politics on the Web (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2004), 28 See also Bernhard Rieder, “Democratizing Search? From Critique to Society-Oriented Design,” in Deep Search: The Politics of Search beyond Google, ed. Konrad Becker and Felix Stalder, 133-151 (Innsbruck: StudienVerlag, 2009), 143.

[v] Thomas H. Cormen, Algorithms Unlocked (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2013), 26.

[vi] José Van Dijck, The Culture of Connectivity: A Critical History of Social Media (New York: Oxford University Press, 2013), 39.

[vii] UNESCO, “Lists of Intangible Cultural Heritage and Register of Best Safeguarding Practices” (2012), accessed August 26, 2013, .

[viii] Ken Hillis et al., Google and the Culture of Search (New York: Routledge, 2013), 163.

[ix] Wendy Hui Kyong Chun, Programmed Visions: Software and Memory (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2011), 212; Hillis et al., Google and the Culture of Search, 164.

[x] Alexander R. Galloway, “What You See Is What You Get?” in The Archive in Motion: New Conceptions of the Archive in Contemporary Thought and New Media Practices, ed. Eivind Røssaak, 155-179 (Oslo: Novus, 2010).

[xi] Eivind Røssaak, “The Archive in Motion: An Introduction,” in The Archive in Motion: New Conceptions of the Archive in Contemporary Thought and New Media Practices, ed. Eivind Røssaak, 1-11 (Oslo: Novus, 2010).

[xii] Wolfgang Ernst, “Dis/continuities: Does the Archive Become Metaphorical in Multi-media Space?” in New Media, Old Media: A History and Theory Reader, ed. Wendy Hui Kyong Chun and Thomas Keenan, 105–123 (New York: Routledge, 2006).

[xiii] Katherine N. Hayles, “Narrative and Database: Natural Symbionts,” PMLA 122 (2007): 1603-1608; Katherine N. Hayles, How We Think: Digital Media and Contemporary Technogenesis (Chicago, IL, and London: University of Chicago Press, 2012), 183.

[xiv] UNESCO, The Mevlevi Sema Ceremony. YouTube, 2009, accessed August 26, 2013, .

[xv] ^[pic]eref R. Ayar, The FounESCO, “The Mevlevi Sema Ceremony.” YouTube, 2009, accessed August 26, 2013, .

[xvi] Şeref R. Ayar, “The Foundation of the Universal Lovers of Mevlana Jelaluddin Rumi (EMAV),” YouTube, 2010, accessed August 26, 2013,



[xvii] Alejandro Mũniz Delgado, “Mevlevi Sema Ceremony at Orient Express Station – Istanbul- Turkey,” YouTube, 2012, accessed August 26, 2013, .

[xviii] Pietrobruno, “YouTube and Social Archiving of Intangible Heritage.”

[xix] Göran Bolin, “Personal Media in the Digital Economy,” in Moving Data: The iPhone and the Future of Media, ed. Pelle Snickars and Patrick Vonderau, 91-103 (New York: Columbia University Press, 2012), 97.

[xx] Richard Rogers, “The Googlization Question: Towards the Inculpable Engine?” in Deep Search: The Politics of Search beyond Google, ed. Konrad Becker and Felix Stalder, 173-184 (Innsbruck: StudienVerlag, 2009), 175.

[xxi] StudyMusicProject, “Background Music Instrumental Piano / Waltz Into Love,” YouTube, 2013, accessed August 26, 2013, .

[xxii] Simon Sez IT, “Dreamweaver CS6 – Tutorial: Basic HTML – Part 1 – Create a Website Course,” YouTube, 2012, accessed August 26, 2013,

CURRICULUM VITAE

SHEENAGH PIETROBRUNO, PhD

NATIONALITY – CANADIAN

4780 Côte-des-Neiges Road, Apt 25

Montreal, Quebec

Canada H3V 1G2

sheenagh.pietrobruno@mail.mcgill.ca



ACADEMIC BACKGROUND

Goldsmiths’, University of London – Department of Sociology

Post-doctorate

Society and Culture Research Council of Quebec (FQRSC) Postdoctoral Research Fellowship

McGill University – Communication Studies

Doctor of Philosophy

Dissertation Award: Dean’s Honours List

• McGill University – Comparative Literature

Master of Arts

• University of British Columbia - Faculty of Arts

Bachelor of Arts in French

ACADEMIC AWARDS

Faculty Travel Grant (Cambridge, MA., United States)

Fatih University, May 2013

Scientist-in-Residence, University of Salzburg

Centre for Gender Studies, Summer/Fall 2012

Visiting Scholar, McGill University

McGill Institute for the Study of Canada (MISC), 2011-2013

Faculty Travel Grant (Gothenburg, Sweden)

Fatih University, June 2012

Muriel Gold Senior Visiting Scholar, McGill University,

Institute for Gender, Sexuality and Feminist Studies (IGSF), 2010-2011

Faculty Travel Grant (Seattle, USA)

Fatih University, October 2012

Faculty Travel Grant (Los Angeles, USA)

Fatih University, November 2010

Faculty Travel Grant (Milwaukee, USA)

Fatih University, October 2009

Academic Publication Award

Fatih University, Fall 2009

Outstanding Publication Award 2008 Nomination (Salsa and its Transnational Moves)

Congress on Research in Dance USA (CORD)

Faculty Travel Grant (Odense, Denmark)

Fatih University, September 2008

Faculty Travel Grant (New York, USA)

Fatih University, November 2007

Faculty Travel Grant (Linköping, Sweden)

Fatih University, June 2007

Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Linköping University

Advanced Cultural Studies Institute of Sweden (ACSIS), September 2006

Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Department of Sociology, Goldsmiths’,

University of London, 2003-2005

Society and Culture Research Council of Quebec/Canada

Dissertation Award, Dean’s Honours List

McGill University, Fall 2002

Alma Mater Student Travel Grant (Turku, Finland)

McGill University, Summer 2001

• Cultures of the Cities Project Research Grant, McGill University

Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC), 2001-2002

• Research Fellowship, McGill University

Center for Research on Canadian Cultural Industries and Institutions, 1994

RESEARCH EXPERIENCE

• Scientist-in-Residence, University of Salzburg

Gendup - Centre for Gender Studies and Woman Promotion

August 13, 2012 to October 12, 2012

Research Areas: Digital Cultural Heritage and Gender, Material Heritage and Intangible Heritage, Social Archiving, Mevlevi Sema (Whirling Dervish) Ceremony and Gender, Video-Hosting Services

Research Director: Mag. Ingrid Schmutzhart

• Visiting Scholar, McGill University

September 1, 2011 to August 31, 2013.

McGill Institute for the Study of Canada (MISC)

Research Areas: Social Networking Services, Digital Cultural Heritage, Canadian and Quebecois Heritage, Métis Intangible Heritage, Gender and Heritage

Research Director: Professor William Straw (McGill University)

• Muriel Gold Senior Visiting Scholar, McGill University

September 1, 2010 to August 31, 2011

Institute for Gender, Sexuality and Feminist Studies (IGSF)

Research Areas: Gender and Cultural Heritage, Digital Cultural Heritage, Social Media, Video-Sharing Sites, Archive Studies

Research Director: Professor Annmarie Adams (McGill University)

• Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Linköping University

September 2006

Advanced Cultural Studies Institute of Sweden (ACSIS)

Research Areas: Globalization of Culture, Digital Media, Popular Dance/Music

Research Director: Professor Johan Fornäs (Södertörn University)

• Postdoctoral Research Fellow,

Society and Culture Research Council of Quebec/Canada

September 2003 to August 2005

Department of Sociology, Goldsmiths College, University of London

Research Areas: Globalization, Digital Culture, Identity and Cultural Heritage

Academic Sponsor: Professor Helen Thomas (University of Arts London)

• Researcher, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) Cultures of the City Project, Major Collaborative Research Initiative

September 2001 to August 2003

Research Areas: Popular Dance/Music, Transnationalism, Diaspora, Urban Cultures

Project Director: Professor Alan Blum (York University)

• Research Assistantship, McGill University, Graduate Program in Communications,

September to June, 1994

Research Area: Work and Gender in Canadian Media Industries; Glass Ceiling Research Director: Professor Gertrude Robinson (McGill University)

• Research Assistantship, McGill University, Graduate Program in Communications,

September to June, 1993

Research Area: Popular Magazines, Gender and Cultural Practices

Research Director: Professor Berkeley Kaite (McGill University)

TEACHING EXPERIENCE

• Assistant Professor, Fatih University, Istanbul, Turkey

[Leave of Absence : August 31, 2010 to August 31, 2014]

Department of English Language and Literature/

Department of American Studies

(September 2005- present)

Courses Taught (Undergraduate) :

• Textual Analysis I (First-Year course)

• Textual Analysis II (First-Year Course)

• Introduction to Media and Cultural Studies (Second-Year Course)

• The Rise and Development of the Novel I (Second-Year Course)

• The Rise and Development of the Novel II (Second -Year Course)

• Cultural and Literary Theory I (Third-Year Course)

• Cultural and Literary Theory II (Third-Year Course)

• Cinema Studies (Third -Year Course)

• Introduction to Communication Studies (Third -Year Course)

• Postmodernism and the Novel (Fourth-Year Course)

• The Modern Novel (Fourth -Year Course)

• Seminar in Modernism and Postmodernism (Fourth-Year Course)

Courses Proposed (Undergraduate)

• Introduction to Digital Humanities (Second-Year Course)

• Advanced Topics in Digital Media (Fourth-Year Course)

Course Taught (Graduate) :

• The History of Communication Technology and the American Novel (Special Topic : American Cultures and Literatures) (MA Course)

• Studies in Theory and Criticism (MA Course)

Courses Proposed (Graduate) :

• Global Heritage and Digital Media (MA/PhD Course)

• Lecturer, Institut de recherche Robert Sauvé en santé et en sécurité du travail du Québec

Seminars taught: English Research Writing and Composition (1997 – 2003)

• Lecturer, McGill University – Department of Languages and Translation

Courses taught: English Language, Writing and Composition (1991- 2002)

• Teaching Assistantship, McGill University – Faculty of Arts

Course taught: Introduction to Canadian Studies (Winter 1994)

• Lecturer, College Vieux Montréal – English Department

Courses taught: English Language, Writing and Composition; English Literature (1997 – 1999)

• Lecturer, College Edouard-Montpetit – English Department

Courses taught: English Language, Writing and Composition; English Literature (1998)

• Lecturer, College André-Laurendeau – English Department

Courses taught: English Language, Writing and Composition; English Literature (1990 – 1997)

THESIS SUPERVISION

• Jane McGetttigan

Fatih University, Department of English Language and Literature

MA Thesis: Capturing Pamela: An Investigation of Samuel Richardson’s Pamela

In the Context of the Stockholm Syndrome

September 2008 to August 2009

• Hacer Melike Ipsirli

Fatih University, Department of English Language and Literature

MA Thesis: The Representation of Fatherhood in Turkish Cinema (1950-1980)

September 2011 to February 2013.

• Nazmi Kaya

Fatih University, Department of English Language and Literature

MA Thesis: Social Inhibitions and the Desire to Transcend Community in Henrik

Ibsen’s A Doll House, An Enemy of the People, and Pillars of Society.

September 2009 to August 2010

LANGUAGES

• English, French, Spanish, Turkish

TECHNOLOGIES

• Familiarity with Dreamweaver CS6 [Web Design] software

• Familiarity with HTML5 and Cascading Style Sheets (CSS)

• Knowledge of Basic Web Design and Website Structure

• Familiarity with Structured Query Language (SQL) and MySQL [Relational Database] Software

• Knowledge of Relational Database Design

• Familiarity with Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

BOOK PUBLICATIONS

• Digital Legacies: The Global Archiving of Intangible Heritage [includes a foreword by William Uricchio (MIT)] (under review)

• Salsa and its Transnational Moves. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, 2006

Selected Academic and Journalistic Reviews

• Guevara, Aldo Garcia. “Salsa and Its Transnational Moves.” The Journal of Popular Culture, vol. 41, no. 4 (2009): 786-789.

• Gauthier Mercier, Catherine. “Salsa and Its Transnational Moves.” Intersections: Canadian Journal of Music / Intersections: revue canadienne de musique, vol. 28, no. 2 (2008): 122-127.

• Allen, Bryan. “Salsa and Its Transnational Moves.” Dance Today [UK]. May (2007): 45.

• Papillon, Marie-Hélène. “Montréal swingue sept soirs sur sept [Montreal swings seven evenings out of seven].” (Book Review of Salsa and Its Transnational Moves). La Presse. Montreal, September 12 (2007): 19.

ARTICLE PUBLICATIONS

• “From UNESCO to YouTube: Theorizing Digital Intangible Heritage.” In Theorizing Heritage, ed. William Logan, Helaine Silverman and Laurajane Smith. Key Issues in Cultural Heritage Series. London and New York: Routledge (accepted and forthcoming).

• “Between Narrative and Lists: Performing Digital Intangible Heritage through Global Media.” In Re-enacting the Past: Memory, Materiality, Performance, ed. Britta Timm Knudsen, Mads Daubjerg and Rivka Eisner, special edition of International Journal of Heritage Studies [Routledge] (2013). DOI: 10.1080/13527258.2013.807398.

• “YouTube and the Social Archiving of Intangible Heritage.” New Media and Society [Sage]. 2013. DOI: 0.1177/1461444812469598.

• “Digital Technology and Cultural Diversity: The Case of Montreal’s Salsa Scene.” Critical Reflections on Multicultural Dance in Canada. Eds. Allana C. Lindgren, Clara Sacchetti and Batia Stolar. Waterloo (Canada): Wilfrid Laurier University Press (forthcoming).

• “Les migrations culturelles: Des traversées transnationales aux espaces virtuels” [Cultural Migrations: From Transnational Crossings to Virtual Spaces]. In Canadian Journal of Communication (under review 2013).

• “Culture in the Digital Metropolis: Theoretical and Methodological Crossroads.” In The Geography, Politics and Architecture of Cities: Studies in the Creation and Complexification of Culture, ed. Michael A. McAdam, Ivani Vassoler-Froelich and Jesus Treviño-Cantú, 153-79. New York: Edwin Mellen Press, 2012.

• “Scale and the Digital: The Miniaturizing of Global Popular Knowledge.” International Journal of Cultural Studies [Sage], vol. 15, no. 2 (2012): 101-116.

• “The Stereoscope and the Miniature.” Early Popular Visual Culture [Routledge], vol. 9, no. 3 (2011): 171-190.

• “The Stereoscope and the City.” European Network for Cinema and Media Studies (NECS) Online Publications. . 2010.

• “The Living Archive of an Intangible Cultural Heritage.” Reimagining the Archive and UCLA Film and Television Archive Website. . 2010.

• “The High Arts of Europe and UNESCO’s Intangible Heritage.” In Media, Culture and Identity in Europe, ed. Savas Arslan, Volkan Aytar, Defne Karaosmanoglu and Süheyla Kirca Schroeder, 144-159. Istanbul: Bahçeşehir University Press, 2009.

• “Avrupa’ nin Yüksek Sanatlari ve UNESCO’ nun Soyut Mirasi.” In Avrupa’da Medya, Külutür ve Kimlik [The High Arts of Europe and UNESCO’s Intangible Heritage], trans. Deniz Arslan, ed. Savaș Arslan, Volkan Aytar, Defne Karaosmanoglu and Süheyla Kirca Schroeder, 143-156. Istanbul: Bahçeşehir University Press, 2009.

• “The Palpability of the Digital: Touch, Presence and Online Video Sharing.” In E-Motion: Sentiment and Technology, ed. Verena Laschinger and Ralph Poole, 83-100. Istanbul: Fatih University Press, 2009.

• “Miniaturization, Miniatures and the Digital.” NMEDIAC: The Journal of New Media and Culture, vol. 6, no. 1 (Summer 2009): .

• “Cultural Research and Intangible Heritage.” Culture Unbound: Journal of Current Cultural Research, vol. 1 (2009): .

• “Culture in the Digital Metropolis: Theoretical and Methodological Crossroads.” Urbana: An Electronic Publication on Methodology, Teaching, Practice and Decision Making, vol. 9 (Spring-Fall 2008): .

• “Virtual Collections: Archive Building on the Internet.” In Conference Papers: Digital Content Creation: Creativity, Competence, Critique (The Second International Dream Conference). Odense, Denmark: University of Southern Denmark, 2008. .

• “The Immensity within the Minute: Forging Digital Space.” In Inter: A European Cultural Studies Conference in Sweden: Conference Proceedings. Linköping: Linköping University Electronic Press, 2007. .

• “Cyberspace and the Globalization of Urban Dance Scenes.” In IASPM International Conference Proceedings, ed. Jan Hemming, Shuhei Hosokawa, Anahid Kassabian, Marion Leonard, Claire Levy, Lilian Radovac, Geoff Stahl, Sheila Whiteley and Jessica Furster. Montreal, Canada: IASPM-Canada, 2005.

• “Embodying Canadian Multiculturalism: The Case of Salsa Dancing in Montreal.” Revista mexicana de estudios canadienses, no. 3 (Summer 2002): 23-56.

• “Turning Heritage into Commodities: Selling Latin Culture in Montreal.” In Looking Back, Looking Ahead: Popular Music Studies 20 Years Later: Proceedings of the Eleventh Biannual IASPM Conference, ed. Kimi Karki, Rebecca Leydon and Henri Terho, Turku, Finland: International Association for the Study of Popular Music (IASPM)-Norden, 2002.

• “Identity in Motion: Embodying Multiculturalism in Montreal’s Salsa Dance.” In Proceedings: Congress on Research in Dance: Thirty-Second Annual International Conference. Los Angeles: Congress on Research in Dance, 1999.

INTERVIEWS

• Menn, Jannis. “Scientist-in-Residence 2012: Interview with Sheenagh Pietrobruno, PhD.” Gender Studies: Newsletter 22 (2012/2013). University of Salzburg, Salzburg, October 2012, 3-4.

• Hildago, Federico [Director]; Another City [Producer]. New Tricks: story of a salsa apprentice [includes an interview with Sheenagh Pietrobruno], 80 min, col., 2009.

• People & Places. “May I have this Merengue?"[Interview with Sheenagh Pietrobruno]. The McGill Reporter 29.3. McGill University, Montreal, October 10, 1996.

ARTICLE PUBLICATIONS (Under Review)

• “Technology and its Miniatures: The Photograph.” Journal of Visual Culture

[Sage] (under review).

• “YouTube: An Archive of Performance.” First Monday (under review).

CURRENT PROJECTS (BOOKS)

• Treasures of Technology: Miniaturization and Miniatures [includes a foreword by William Straw] (in progress)

CURRENT PROJECTS (EDITED JOURNAL: SPECIAL ISSUE)

• Cultural Heritage and New Media [co-edited with Defne Karaosmanoglu] (in progress, to be submitted to Culture Unbound: Journal of Current Cultural Research)

CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS

• “Intangible Heritage Archives and New Technologies: The Interplay of Stories, Lists, Search Engines and Algorithms on YouTube.” Beyond Control – The Collaborative Museum and Its Challenges. NODEM Network of Design & Digital Heritage and Interactive Institute Swedish ICT, Stockholm, December 1-3, 2013 [abstract submitted].

• “Digital Humanities and Intangible Heritage Archives.” Herrenhausen Conference: (Digital) Humanities Revisited – Challenges and Opportunities in the Digital Age.” Herrenhausen Palace, Hanover, Germany, December 5-7, 2013 [abstract submitted].

• “Circulating Culture through Narratives and Lists: Enacting Intangible Heritage through Digital Media.” Canadian Communication Association (CCA) Annual Conference 2012. University of Victoria, Victoria, June 5, 2013.

• “Heritage Archives and Social Media.” MIT8: Public Media/Private Media: Media in Transition International Conference. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, May 3, 2013.

• “Intangible Cultural Heritage and YouTube.” Association for Cultural Studies Conference: Crossroad in Cultural Studies. Sorbonne Nouvelle University, Paris, July 5, 2012.

• “Social Media and Intangible Cultural Heritage.” Association of Critical Heritage Studies Inaugural Conference. University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, June 5, 2012.

• “Voyage, Resettlement and Intangible Heritage in the Virtual Museum of Métis History and Culture.” The History of Migrations in Museums: Between History and Politics. Espaces Humaines et Interactions Culturelles [Human Spaces and Cultural Interactions], Blaise Pascal University, Clermont-Ferrand, November 19, 2011 (unable to attend for funding reasons).

• “The Social Archiving of Intangible Cultural Heritage.” Canadian Association of Cultural Studies Biennial Conference. Department of Art History and Communication Studies and Media@McGill, McGill University, Montreal, November 5, 2011.

• “Online Video and the Performing Arts: The Social Archiving of UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage.” Internet Research 12.0 – Performance and Participation: The Twelfth Annual Conference of the Association of Internet Researchers. Seattle, October 12, 2011.

• “The Living Archive of an Intangible Cultural Heritage.” Symposium: Reimagining the Archive: Remapping and Remixing Traditional Models in the Digital Era. University of California, Los Angeles, November 13, 2010.

• “The Stereoscope and the City.” European Network for Cinema and Media Studies (NECS) Fourth Annual Conference. Istanbul, June 27, 2010.

• “The Archive, YouTube and Popular Performing Arts.” Internet Research 10.0 – Internet: Critical. The Tenth Annual Conference of the Association of Internet Researchers. Milwaukee, October 8, 2009.

• “Europe and Intangible Heritage.” Beyond Boundaries: Media, Culture and Identity in Europe. Bahçeşehir University, Istanbul, October 3, 2009.

• “Virtual Collections: Archive Building on the Internet.” Digital Content Creation: Creativity, Competence, Critique: The Second International Dream Conference. University of Southern Denmark, Odense, September 20, 2008.

• “Cyber Collections: The Digital Archive of Virtual Performance.” Humanities Conference 2008: The Sixth International Conference on New Directions in the Humanities. Fatih University, Istanbul, July 15, 2008.

• “The Digital Sensorium: The Archive and the Moving Image.” E-Motion: Sentiment and Technology. Annual Fatih University Conference on Literary and Cultural Studies. Fatih University, Istanbul, May 16, 2008.

• “Embodied Hybrids to Disembodied Hypertexts: Transnational, Virtual and Disciplinary Migrations.” Choreographies of Migrations: Patterns of Global Mobility. Congress on Research in Dance 40th Anniversary Conference. Barnard College, Columbia University, New York, November 9, 2007.

• “Global Passages in the Virtual World.” Colloquium: Frontiers of Theory. Acume 2: Interfacing Science, Humanities and Literature, Charles University, Prague, October 20, 2007.

• “Cultures of the Virtual: Global Flows and Internet Space.” Shifting Landscapes of Film and Media: Questioning Legacies, Navigating Critique. Faculty of Communication, Bilgi University, Istanbul, September 9, 2007.

• “Digital Diffusions within Imagined and Lived Spaces.” Inter: A European Cultural Studies Conference in Sweden. Advanced Cultural Studies Institute of Sweden (ACSIS), Linköping University, Norrköping, June 11, 2007.

• “From Minute to Immensity: Reshaping Digital Space.” 2nd Annual Transdisciplinary Literary and Cultural Studies Conference: Metamorphosis and Place. Fatih University, Istanbul, May 25, 2007.

• “On-line Stylings: Cyberspace and Expressive Practices.” 2006 Association for Cultural Studies Conference. Bilgi University, Istanbul, July 25, 2006.

• “Salsa and Its Transnational Moves: Key Ideas.” Transdisciplinarity and American Studies. Fatih University, Istanbul, May 27, 2006.

• “Navigating Cyberspace: Weaving through Literacy, the Literary and Orality.” English Studies Conference. Bogasizi University, Istanbul, April 25, 2006.

• “From Local Performances to Global Web Pages: Technologizing Movement.” Critical World: First International Conference. University of Montreal, Montreal, November 13, 2004.

• “Dancing in Cyberspace: A Return to Orality through Hypertexts.” Body, Dance and Performance. Symposium. The Interdisciplinary Centre on the Body and Performance. Goldsmiths’, University of London, London, January 31, 2004.

• “Hypertexts, Virtual Spaces and Dance.” Fifth Annual Conference: Media, Communication and Cultural Studies Association (MeCCSA). University of Sussex, Brighton, December 19, 2003.

• “Cyberspace and the Globalization of Urban Dance Scenes.” Twelfth Biennial Conference for the Study of Popular Music. International Association for the Study of Popular Music (IASPM), McGill University, Montreal, July 5, 2003.

• “Salsa’s Gendered Embrace: The Latin Diaspora, Feminism and Dance.” Thirty-Fourth Annual International Congress on Research in Dance Conference. New York University, New York, October 27, 2001.

• “Turning Heritage into Commodities: Selling Latin Culture in Montreal.” Eleventh Biannual International Conference for the Study of Popular Music. University of Turku, Turku, July 7, 2001.

• “Commodifying Culture and Negotiating Multiculturalism.” Canadian Communication Association Annual Conference. University of Alberta, Edmonton, May 30, 2000.

• “Is Anybody Dancing to the Music? Locating Dance in Popular Music Studies.” International Association for the Study of Popular Music Annual Conference – Canadian Branch. University of Montreal, Montreal, March 13, 1998.

• “Staking Claims to Salsa in Montreal: The Dynamics of Ethnicity, Race and Culture.” International Association for the Study of Popular Music Annual Conference – Canadian Branch. Brock University, Saint Catherines, March 21, 1999.

• “The Interplay of Cross-Cultural Practices and Attitudes in the Transculturation of Dance.” Twenty-Ninth International Congress on Research in Dance Conference. University of North Carolina, Greensboro, November 9, 1996.

• “Merengue and Salsa in the Classroom: The Transculturation of Latin Dance in Montreal.” International Association for the Study of Popular Music Annual Conference – Canadian Branch. McGill University, Montreal, August 12, 1995.

• “The Politics of Club Dancing.” International Association for the Study of Popular Music Annual Conference – Canadian Branch. Concordia University, Montreal, March 13, 1994.

INVITED SCHOLARLY PRESENTATIONS

Digital Theory, The Archive and Intangible Heritage.” Faculty of Humanities, York University, January 31, 2013.

“Performance, the Archive and Digital Humanities.” Department of English and American Studies, University of Salzburg, Salzburg, October 11, 2012.

“Women and the Whirling Dervish: Gender and the Digital Archiving of Intangible Heritage.” Center for Gender Studies, Department of Music, Art and Dance, and Centre for Art and Science, University of Salzburg, Salzburg, October 4, 2012.

“The Archive, Intangible Heritage and Digital Humanities.” Faculty of Creative and Critical Studies, University of British Columbia, Kelowna, May 30, 2012.

“The Power of User-Generated Content: Building Online Video Archives of

Intangible Cultural Heritage.” Department of American Studies, University of Erfurt, Erfurt, December 7, 2011.

“The Interplay of Traditional and Commercial Culture: Cuban Dance, Social Media and UNESCO’s Intangible Heritage.” International Workshop: Afro-Indigenous Cultural Heritage: Current Debates on Origins, Multiculturalism and Consumerism in Latin America. Institute for Latin American Studies, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, December 5, 2011.

“The Monastery and the Female Whirling Dervish: Intersections between Intangible and Material Heritage.” Faculty of Architecture, Landscape and Visual Arts, University of Western Australia, Perth, August 23, 2011.

“Feminist Methodologies: Ethnography, History and Theory.” Feminist Theory and Research: Undergraduate Seminar, Women’s Studies Program, McGill University, Montreal, March 1, 2011.

“The Female Whirling Dervish: Challenging UNESCO’s Intangible Heritage on YouTube.” Institute for Gender, Sexuality and Feminist Studies (IGSF), McGill University, Montreal, January 18, 2011.

“Miniaturization and Media.” The School of Interactive Arts and Technology, Simon Fraser University, Vancouver, February 9, 2010

“Research and Expressive Practices: Weaving Ethnography with Theoretical and Historical Perspectives.” Department of Child Studies, Linköping University, Linköping, September 27, 2006.

“Salsa Migrations: From Transnational to Online Spaces.” Advanced Cultural Studies Institute of Sweden (ACSIS) Seminar, Linköping University, Norrköping,

September 13, 2006.

“Popular Dance, Globalization and Technology.” Department of Dance, York University, Toronto, February 27, 2005.

“Les Migrations Culturelles: Des Traversées Transnationales aux Espaces Virtuels.” Department of Communication, University of Montreal, Montreal, January 27, 2005.

“Dancing across Disciplines.” Undergraduate Seminar: Dance, Culture and Difference: The Body, Dance and Cultural Theory. Department of Sociology, Goldsmiths’, University of London, London, February 4, 2004.

“The Internet, Dance and the City.” Graduate Seminar. Department of Sociology, Goldsmiths’, University of London, London, October 14, 2003.

“Multicultural Expressions of the City.” SSHRC Cultures of the City Colloquium: The Material City. University of Waterloo, Waterloo, November 16, 2002.

“Cultural Production and Montreal’s Latin Diaspora.” SSHRC Cultures of City Research Meeting. Department of Art History and Communication Studies, McGill University, Montreal, April 26, 2001.

• “Researching Popular Culture: Perspectives from Sociology, Anthropology and Cultural Studies.” Graduate Seminar. Department of Art History and Communication Studies, McGill University, Montreal, December 6, 2000.

• “Popular Music Practices and the Latin Diaspora: An Ethnographic Inquiry.” Graduate Seminar. Department of Art History and Communication Studies, McGill University, Montreal, November 12, 1998.

• “Dancing Salsa in Montreal: Breaking Barriers and Reinforcing Stereotypes.” Colloquium of Salsa and the Latin Diaspora. University of Montreal, Montreal, November 7, 1995.

CONFERENCE ORGANIZATION

• 2nd Annual Transdisciplinary Literary and Cultural Studies Conference: Metamorphosis and Place. Fatih University, Istanbul, May 24-26, 2007.

• Body, Dance and Performance. Symposium. The Interdisciplinary Centre on the Body and Performance. Goldsmiths’, University of London, London, January 31, 2004.

COMMITTEE MEMBERSHIP

• Graduate Student Examination Committee Membership: External. Alarma!: Mujercitos performing gender in a pigmentocratic sociocultural system. Susana Vargas Cervantes. PhD. Department of Art History and Communication Studies. McGill University, May 23, 2013.

• Graduate Student Examination Committee Membership: External. Understanding Television: The Art and Science of Aesthetic Response. Marilyn Terzic. PhD. Department of Art History and Communication Studies. McGill University, April 21, 2011.

• Graduate Student Examination Committee Membership: External. (Un)homely Cinema. Dwayne Avery. PhD. Department of Art History and Communication Studies. McGill University, March 29, 2011

• Graduate Student Examination Committee Membership: External. Capturing the Romanian Revolution: Violent Imagery, Affect and the Televisual Event. Stefana Lamasanu. PhD. Department of Art History and Communication Studies. McGill University, December 13, 2010.

• Graduate Student Examination Committee Membership: Internal. The Lexicography of Englishes in the Postcolonial World. James Lambert, MA.

Department of English Language and Literature. Fatih University, June 24,

2009.

• Graduate Student Examination Committee Membership: Internal. Construction of Diasporic Identity: Home and Belonging in Caryl Philip’s Higher Ground, The Nature of Blood and Crossing the Bridge. Ayşe Tuba Demirel Sucu, MA. Department of English Language and Literature. Fatih University, March 12, 2009.

• Curriculum Development Committee Membership. Department of English. Fatih University, Istanbul (2007-2008).

• Hiring Committee Membership. Department of English. Fatih University, Istanbul (2006-2007).

• Graduate Student Examination Committee Membership: External. Anglophone

Musicmaking in Montreal. Geoffrey Stahl. PhD. Department of Art History and Communication Studies. McGill University, August 20, 2003

PROFESSIONAL SERVICE

Conference Submission Reviewer, Association of Internet Researchers (2010, 2011)

Registered Journal Reviewer, New Media and Society (2010 - )

Journal Reviewer, The International Journal of Cultural Studies (2009 - )

Journal Reviewer, International Journal of Heritage Studies (2013 - )

Journal Reviewer, Sustainability (2013 - )

Journal Reviewer, Urbanities (2013 -)

PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS

Association of Cultural Studies (International)

Media, Communications and Cultural Studies Association (UK)

• Canadian Association of Communication (Canada)

• Congress on Research in Dance (International)

• Canadian Association of Cultural Studies (Canada)

• Association of Internet Researchers (International)

• European Network for Cinema and Media Studies (International)

• Association of Critical Heritage Studies (International)

REFEREES: CONTACT INFORMATION

• Keir Keightley, Associate Professor

Faculty of Information and Media Studies

University of Western Ontario

North Campus Building, Room 211

London, Ontario, Canada

N6A 5B7

Tel: (519) 661-2111 Ext: 88478

Fax: (519) 661-3508

Email: kkeightl@uwo.ca

• Brian Massumi, Professor

Communications Department

University of Montreal

C.P. 6128, succursale Centre-ville

Montreal, Quebec

Canada

H3C 3JC

Tel: (514) 343-6858

Fax: (514) 343-2298

E-mail: brian.massumi@umontreal.ca

• Ralph Poole, Professor

Department of English

University of Salzburg

Akademiestra(e 24

Salzburg, Austria

5020

Tel: (43) 662 8044 4403

Fax: (43) 662 8044 167

E-mail: ralph.poole@sbg.ac.at

• William Straw, Professor

Director

Institute for the Study of Canada

McGill University

3463 Peel Street

Montreal, Quebec

H3A 1W7

Tel: (514) 398-8346

Fax: (514) 398-7336

E-mail: william.straw@mcgill.ca

• Helen Thomas, Professor

Director of Doctoral Programmes

Research Management and Administration

University of the Arts London

Office currently based at

Central Saint Martins

Southampton Row

London WC1B 4AP

United Kingdom

Tel: 020 7514 7577

Email: h.thomas@arts.ac.uk

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