A Geeks Guide

to
#AAA2014

Conferencing.
Conferencing never changes.
Provided by The Geek Anthropologist
(http://www.thegeekanthropologist.com)
@geekanthropologist

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION
GEEKING AROUND IN THE CAPITAL WASTELAND
TGA MEETUP
GEEK HIGHLIGHTS
#GEEKANTH 2014 DIRECTORY
FULL GEEK SCHEDULE
WEDNESDAY
THURSDAY
FRIDAY
SATURDAY
SUNDAY

Introduction
This is The Geeks Guide to #AAA2014. Im not sure whether anyone besides me actually
wants such a thing, but here it is nonetheless. This started with me going through
the program trying to find presentations related to my research. Dungeons & Dragons
isnt exactly a hot topic in anthropology, and I know that a lot of people poking
around in various subdomains of geekdom often feel the same way. So here are my
findings, together with a list of some geeky places you can get to fairly easily from
the conference site. Except that every place is geeky if you make it so. And I hope
you do. If Ive missed anyones geek talk or poster, please let me know! I hope the
guide points you towards a session you might have otherwise missed, and hope to see
some of you at the meetup on Wednesday night! -Nicholas J. Mizer
@nickmizer
nmizer@tamu.edu
http://www.thegeekanthropologist.com

Geeking Around in the

Capital Wasteland
Dont lie. I know that you are going to wander off, ignore all of the awesome
presentations listed below, and see the city. When you do, you should stop in at
one of these places.
Labyrinth Games & Puzzles, 645 Pennsylvania Ave SE is about a 30 minute metro ride
from the conference hotel. Theyre open from 10 AM 10 PM on Thursday and Friday,
but close earlier the other days of the conference.
Compleat Strategist, 103 E Broad St, Falls Church, VA is a little further away but
is connected with one of the oldest game stores in New York, so thats kind of cool.
The Board Room, 1737 Connecticut Ave NW is a bar that has board
out for a few bucks. Its mostly games like Uno, Sorry, and the
have Settlers of Catan. Its about 10 minutes down the Red Line
if you feel like braving the cold. It will also be the location
Anthropologist meetup and gaming session!

games you can rent

like, but they do
or a 20 minute walk
of The Geek

Big Planet Comics, 1520 U St NW is 17 minutes away plus a short walk.

Fantom Comics, 2010 P street NW is only 14 minutes, and is kind of close to the
National Mall, so maybe you can double up and check out the Smithsonian.
Atlas Arcade, 1236 H St NE is a bit of a hike. Its almost 40 minutes on the Metro
from the hotel. But its a bar with arcade games and consoles set up at the bar. So
maybe its worth it. Theyre open late, and the trains run till 3 AM on Friday and
Saturday, so

TGA Meetup
Wednesday, 8:30 PM 12:30 AM, The Board Room, 1737 Connecticut Ave NW
Come join us for drinks, games, and assorted shenanigans. I will come fully equipped
to run D&D for any takers. If anyone wants to travel from the conference hotel to the
bar as a group, we will meet in the main lobby at 8:00 PM. You can pm me on Twitter
(@nickmizer) or email me (nmizer@tamu.edu) if you have any questions.

Take Connecticut SE for almost a mile, or take the Red Line one stop down from the
Woodley Park Zoo station, and double back from Dupont Circle station.

Geek highlights
So maybe you dont want to organize your whole meeting around things that are kinda
sorta related to geeky stuff. You just want the juicy bits. I suppose that is a
viable way of living, and I will not form any valuations of your character based on
how many geeky talks you attend. Unless you dont attend any, then you are suspect.
Anyway, here are the geekiest talks at #AAA2014, as judged by my own nonstandardized, non-explicit criteria:
Troubling Tropes: Exploring Unrealistic Bodies and Postures of Female Comic Book
Characters (part of GENDERED COMMUNICATION IN NEW AND OLD MEDIA, 3-0235)

Thursday, 9:00 10:45 AM, Marriott Ballroom Salon 1 (This paper scheduled at 9:30)
James Alton Scanlan and Jonathan S Marion win the award for the first explicitly geek
anthropology paper of the week! Featuring comparisons of the same character through
time, patterns of depiction based on variables such as moral orientation (villains
vs. heroes), occupation, and type of powers. Yes.
Impervious to Offense: Trolling, Discipline, and Managing Bodies on the Internet
(part of TAKING OFFENSE: SEMIOTIC ENCOUNTERS WITH INSULT, VULGARITY, AND OBSCENITY,
3-0980)

Thursday, 2:30 pm 4:15 PM, Jefferson (This paper scheduled at 3:15)

Trolls and 4chan. According to the University of Chicago student directory, this is
Giovanni Riccis main area of study, so I suspect that this will be a great in-depth
treatment. Not that people arent allowed to just write a single paper on geeky
topics, but its great to see someone whos spending some time with it.
REVISUALIZING EAST ASIA THROUGH POPULAR CULTURE (4-0385)

Friday, 11:00 AM 12:45 PM, Wilson A

This is an easy one. Robot Land? Anime? Manga? You Tube Mash Ups? Shut up and take my
attendance. Actually, dont shut up. Because, you know, I want to hear your research.
But in the Fry meme kind of way, shut up and take my attendance.
There Is No Word for thank you in Dothraki: Producing Fictional Cultures through
the Use of Constructed Language (part of PERFORMANCE, TRANSLATION, AND THE CREATION
OF WORLDS, 4-1270)
Friday, 6:30 8:15 PM, Wilson B (This paper scheduled at 7:00 PM)
This whole panel looks interesting, but Ethan Ingrams talk on one of the core ideas
of geek fiction (use words to create worlds) goes back to Tolkiens ideas and runs
all the way up to Game of Thrones (which I recommend pronouncing as gammatrons if

you ask any questions at the end of the panel, just to see if you get called out on
it).
Cosplay and Intertextual Play: Rethinking Fan Culture and Textuality
(part of SEMIOTICS, MEDIATION, AND COMMUNICATIVE ENCOUNTERS: THE SOCIETY FOR
LINGUISTIC ANTHROPOLOGY GRADUATE STUDENT ESSAY CONTEST PANEL MY GOSH THAT IS A
MOUTHFUL (5-0160))

Saturday, 9:00 AM 10:45 AM, Truman

Get up early on Saturday, apply your preferred hangover remedy if necessary, and come
see Matthew L Hale talk about cosplay at Dragon*Con. Hales Academia.edu page is full
of win, with a couple of papers about steampunk and a forthcoming article about
cosplay in the Journal of Western Folklore.
ROLE PLAYING GAMES, INTERPERSONAL ENGAGEMENT, AND WELLBEING

Saturday, 9:00 AM 10:45 AM, Marriott Salon 3 - Blue

This is a two-poster session that is 200% geek anthropology. Ill have a poster about
the phenomenology of role-playing games, and Greg Batchelder and Jeffrey G. Snodgrass
will have one about the effects of balanced WoW play on stress levels. It will be
epic. But someone go see Matthew Hale talk about Dragon*Con because I will be stuck
at my poster. Then tell me about it because I am curious. Please.
Total Freedom on the Dark Side of the Internet: A Cyberethnography of 4Chan (part
of FIRST RITES: INNOVATIVE UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH IN ANTHROPOLOGY (5-0395))

11:00 AM 12:45 PM, Marriott Ballroom Salon 3- White

Benjamin Gilbert Tice with a poster on 4Chan, focusing on how the rules, ethics,
and styles of communication on 4Chan conform to or break away from standards and
expectations in contemporary U.S. society, and how issues of inequality differ in
online anonymous communities. Awesome to see some undergrad work on geek
anthropology; stop by and check it out. Er, sudo stop by and check it out. See what I
did there? I stole a joke from XKCD. But please go see this poster.
SEMIOTICS OF ANIMATION (6-0185)

10:00 11:45 AM, Maryland Suite B

This is another gold mine of geeky topics. Paul Manning talking about Ryzom, an
MMORPG that is refreshingly NOT World of Warcraft (not that theres anything wrong
with WoW). Teri J Silvio talking about Axis Powers Hetalia, an anime/manga franchise
that Im not cool enough to know anything about. But if I go to the talk, I will know
anything about. I mean something about it. Eitan Y Wilf talking about sociable
robots! Riding bikes! Voice acting! Wait- riding bikes? Yes, riding bikes! More
robots!

#GeekAnth 2014 Directory

It should be noted that the websites and contact information here are gleaned from a
basic web search and some email addresses, etc. may be out of date.
Greg Batchelder
http://anthropology.ua.edu/blogs/gregbatchelder/
gbatchelder@crimson.ua.edu
Kukhee Choo
http://tulane.edu/liberal-arts/communication/kukhee_choo.cfm
kchoo@tulane.edu
Matthew L. Hale
https://iub.academia.edu/matthewhale
Hirofumi Katsuno
https://osaka-ue.academia.edu/HirofumiKatsuno%E5%8B%9D%E9%87%8E%E5%AE%8F%E5%8F%B2
Noriko Manabe
@nmanabe
http://www.norikomanabe.com/
Paul Manning
http://www.dangerserviceagency.org/
simperingpollyanna_at_yahoo.com
Jonathan S Marion
@JSMarion
Nicholas Mizer
@nickmizer
http://www.thegeekanthropologist.com
http://tamu.academia.edu/NicholasJMizer
Marc Moskowitz
@MarcLMoskowitz
http://people.cas.sc.edu/moskowitz/myindex.htm

Shunsuke Nozawa
https://dartmouth.academia.edu/ShunsukeNozawa
Giovanni Ricci
grg@uchicago.edu
Teri J Silvio
tsilvio@gate.sinica.edu.tw
Jeffrey G. Snodgrass
@GodfreySnorgyrs
http://anthropology.colostate.edu/snodgrass/
Eitan Y Wilf
ewilf@mscc.huji.ac.il

FULL GEEK SCHEDULE

This is the whole nine enchiladas, everything that seemed geek or geek-related.

Wednesday, December 3
SEMIOSIS, REFLEXIVITY, SELF

12:00-1:45 PM, Roosevelt Room 1

Okay, so this panel doesnt appear to have any explicitly geeky content, but I still
think it is of interest to geek anthropology. So much of geek culture, like any
subculture (or set of subcultures) is about identity construction, and I have gotten
a lot of insight into that process through William James and G.H. Mead, both of whom
are referenced in the abstract. Of special interest are Greg A Thompsons
Interaction Rituals of Recognition for the Goffman reference and Benjamin Smiths
paper on the semiotics of playing marbles, because of the importance of play in geek
culture.
PRODUCING LINGUISTIC ANTHROPOLOGY IN THE AGE OF SOCIAL MEDIA

2:00-3:45 PM, Marriott Ballroom Salon 2

While Im not including every panel on the Internet or social media in this guide,
this panel intrigued me because of the papers on hipsters and irony by Rachel George

and Emanuel A. da Silva. These papers seem like they would be of interest in
exploring the hipster/geek // irony/sincerity dynamics.
PHENOMENOLOGIES' FUTURES AND PASTS, PART I: OR, AFFECT, OBJECTS, AND ONTOLOGIES JUST
A FEW OF THE THINGS PHENOMENOLOGISTS HAVE ALWAYS BEEN DOING (2-0450)

4:00 5:45 PM, Roosevelt Room 2

Again, not a lot of explicit geek stuff (kind of a trend for Wednesdays sessions).
Phenomenology has just shaped so much of my own geek anthropology that I had to
include it. Plus, bonus points for a mild hipster undertone implying that
phenomenology was doing ontology before ontology was cool.
PHENOMENOLOGIES' FUTURES AND PASTS, PART II: OR, AFFECT, OBJECTS, AND ONTOLOGIES,
JUST A FEW OF THE THINGS PHENOMENOLOGISTS HAVE ALWAYS BEEN DOING
8:00 9:45 PM, Roosevelt Room 2
Sequels are kind of a geek thing, right? Again, more phenomenology. Which is awesome.
But also, Robert Desjarlais is presenting, and he wrote Counterplay: An
Anthropologist at the Chessboard. And chess is firmly ensconced in geek canon. So
there you have it, this is a geek anthropology session.

Thursday, December 4
BIOCULTURAL PERSPECTIVES ON PLAY BEHAVIOR (3-0100)

9:00 10:45 AM, Washington Room 4

This is about play. Play is something that geeks do a lot of. It also might be the
only biocultural session in this guide, so get loaded up on some biological
perspective here.
Troubling Tropes: Exploring Unrealistic Bodies and Postures of Female Comic Book
Characters (part of GENDERED COMMUNICATION IN NEW AND OLD MEDIA, 3-0235)

9:00 10:45 AM, Marriott Ballroom Salon 1 (This paper scheduled at 9:30)
James Alton Scanlan and Jonathan S Marion win the award for the first explicitly geek
anthropology paper of the week! Featuring comparisons of the same character through
time, patterns of depiction based on variables such as moral orientation (villains
vs. heroes), occupation, and type of powers. Yes.
DIGITAL ANTHROPOLOGY GROUP (DANG) BUSINESS MEETING
1:00 2:15 PM, Virginia Suite B
DANG is a hotbed of geeky anthropologists, including ethnographers of digital
worlds, bloggers, social media enthusiasts, and anyone interested in the use of web

technologies in the classroom, fieldwork, or professional development. You should go

meet some of them.
Impervious to Offense: Trolling, Discipline, and Managing Bodies on the Internet
(part of TAKING OFFENSE: SEMIOTIC ENCOUNTERS WITH INSULT, VULGARITY, AND OBSCENITY,
3-0980)

2:30 pm 4:15 PM, Jefferson (This paper scheduled at 3:15)

Trolls and 4chan. According to the University of Chicago student directory, this is
Giovanni Riccis main area of study, so I suspect that this will be a great in-depth
treatment. Not that people arent allowed to just write a single paper on geeky
topics, but its great to see someone whos spending some time with it.
IMAGINATIVE ETHNOGRAPHY, OR WHAT MIGHT ETHNOGRAPHY BECOME? (3-1195)

6:30 - 8:15 PM, Washington Room 3

This is a round table discussion that will explore open-ended ethnographic inquiry
that considers imagination as central to human social relations, fieldwork practices
and representations, anthropological theorizing and research design. I consider
imagination as pretty central to geekdom, so this should be a pretty interesting
discussion for those interested in geek anthropology.
EDUCATIONAL ETHNOGRAPHY OF MEDIA PRODUCTION AND CONSUMPTION (3-1315)

6:30 8:15 PM, Roosevelt Room 1

Ive stated a number of times that I view geek culture as partially a folk tradition
of media consumption, so even though this panel doesnt specifically focus on geek
culture, a lot of the insights and methods could apply. The paper by Angela E
Arzubiaga (scheduled for 7:00) looks particularly interesting in terms of methods,
analyzing focus group responses to Youtube videos and comment threads. Everyone knows
that you never read the comments, except when you do.

Friday, December 5
OPENING ACCESS, BEING PUBLISHER: A DISCUSSION ABOUT ANTHROPOLOGY, EPISTEMIC ETHICS
AND POST-PROFIT PUBLISHING (4-0050)

9:00 10:45 AM, Delaware Suite A

Im counting Open Access as a geek issue for the purposes of this guide. Information
just wants to be free, man.
PRODUCING DATA, CRACKING DATA CULTURES

9:00 10:45 AM, Roosevelt Room 5

This panel is on the tech-y side of geek anthropology, all about Big Data. Highlights
from the abstract include the phrases Orwellian population management and data
appears as a seamless body or force that springs, Athena like, fully formed from the
equally undifferentiated body of global society. Also, presenter Christopher Kelty
wrote an article for Current Anthropology back in 2005 called Geeks, internets, and
recursive publics. His talk here is about teasing out the variety of values and
commitments masked by the concept of participation, as implied by data. I think? I
probably got that wrong. Go listen to him talk about it and it will be great.
REVISUALIZING EAST ASIA THROUGH POPULAR CULTURE (4-0385)

11:00 AM 12:45 PM, Wilson A

This is an easy one. Robot Land? Anime? Manga? You Tube Mash Ups? Shut up and take my
attendance. Actually, dont shut up. Because, you know, I want to hear your research.
But in the Fry meme kind of way, shut up and take my attendance.
UTOPIAS AND HETEROTOPIAS: CITIES OF THE PAST AND CITIES OF THE FUTURE (4-0485)

11:00 AM 12:45 PM, Marriott Balcony B

Ill be honest. This one doesnt actually appear to be about anything geeky. But the
title earns it an honorary place in the guide. Plus, maybe Leah Wiste will reference
Robocop while talking about Urban Futures of Detroit. Serve the public trust,
protect the innocent, uphold the law.
There Is No Word for thank you in Dothraki: Producing Fictional Cultures through
the Use of Constructed Language (part of PERFORMANCE, TRANSLATION, AND THE CREATION
OF WORLDS, 4-1270)
6:30 8:15 PM, Wilson B (This paper scheduled at 7:00 PM)
This whole panel looks interesting, but Ethan Ingrams talk on one of the core ideas
of geek fiction (use words to create worlds) goes back to Tolkiens ideas and runs
all the way up to Game of Thrones (which I recommend pronouncing as gammatrons if
you ask any questions at the end of the panel, just to see if you get called out on
it).

Saturday, December 6
Cosplay and Intertextual Play: Rethinking Fan Culture and Textuality
(part of SEMIOTICS, MEDIATION, AND COMMUNICATIVE ENCOUNTERS: THE SOCIETY FOR
LINGUISTIC ANTHROPOLOGY GRADUATE STUDENT ESSAY CONTEST PANEL MY GOSH THAT IS A
MOUTHFUL (5-0160))

9:00 AM 10:45 AM, Truman

Get up early on Saturday, apply your preferred hangover remedy if necessary, and come
see Matthew L Hale talk about cosplay at Dragon*Con. Hales Academia.edu page is full
of win, with a couple of papers about steampunk and a forthcoming article about
cosplay in the Journal of Western Folklore.
ROLE PLAYING GAMES, INTERPERSONAL ENGAGEMENT, AND WELLBEING

9:00 AM 10:45 AM, Marriott Salon 3 - Blue

This is a two-poster session that is 200% geek anthropology. Ill have a poster about
the phenomenology of role-playing games, and Greg Batchelder and Jeffrey G. Snodgrass
will have one about the effects of balanced WoW play on stress levels. It will be
epic. But someone go see Matthew Hale talk about Dragon*Con because I will be stuck
at my poster. Then tell me about it because I am curious. Please.
ANTHROPOLOGICAL KNOWLEDGE: ACCESS, CREATION AND DISSEMINATION IN THE DIGITAL AGE

11:00 AM 12:45 PM, Roosevelt Room 4

More OA goodness, talking about all kinds of exciting ways to disseminate not just
your completed drafts but your field notes, etc. Chaired by @DonnaLanclos, whose
consciousness expands well into the Twitterverse.
Total Freedom on the Dark Side of the Internet: A Cyberethnography of 4Chan (part
of FIRST RITES: INNOVATIVE UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH IN ANTHROPOLOGY (5-0395))

11:00 AM 12:45 PM, Marriott Ballroom Salon 3- White

Benjamin Gilbert Tice with a poster on 4Chan, focusing on how the rules, ethics,
and styles of communication on 4Chan conform to or break away from standards and
expectations in contemporary U.S. society, and how issues of inequality differ in
online anonymous communities. Awesome to see some undergrad work on geek
anthropology; stop by and check it out. Er, sudo stop by and check it out. See what I
did there? I stole a joke from XKCD. But please go see this poster.
EMERGING TOPICS IN VIRTUAL ANTHROPOLOGY (5-1045)

2:30 4:15 PM, Taylor

Although this session is about virtual anthropology, most of the papers are not
specifically about geek culture. Nevertheless, a lot of geek anthropology is done
virtually, so there should be a lot of good stuff in here. Special mention goes to
Cheyenne L. Laues presentation, because the abstract is riveting and sounds like a
pitch for a really great cyberpunk campaign: In simulated worlds, populated by

digital organisms, lives of violent brevity and languid persistence are created and
destroyed. Birthed through pixilation, poised at the edge of matter and meaning,
artificially intelligent agents simulate social organization and biological evolution
in complex imitations of the organic. Under scientific observation these strange, new

beings pulse in illumination of the human; entire populations arise and thrive, and
just as suddenly vanish from the screen.
GEONTOLOGY, PLANETARITY, AND CRITICAL ALTER-METAPHYSICS (5-1095)

2:30 4:15 PM, Empire Ballroom (Omni Shoreham)

I dont know. Maybe this shouldnt be in here. It just seems super cool and I feel
like these concepts have made appearances in a variety of science fiction stories,
like Solaris or Jeff Vandermeers Southern Reach Trilogy. Wait, here it is, about
two-thirds of the way through the abstract: Whether extreme environmental crisis,
the global character of capitalism, and the imaginary of science fiction make this
the moment to treat the Earth in terms of the concept of planetarity, i.e. as a
geobiosocialphysical unit in principle comparable to others and whose present
political and ontological arrangements are by no means inevitable. Emphasis mine.
GENERAL POSTER SESSION (5-1060)

2:30 4:30 PM, Salon 3 White

There are a couple good ones in here:
Sex, Love, Blood n Death: A Theory of History and Psychoanalysis in
Berlins Psychobilly Music Scene. (Matt Newsom)
I know, I know, psychobilly isnt geek. But theres intersectionality here,
people. The Venn diagrams touch.
History and Causality in Malagasy Heavy Metal Music. (Markus Verne)
And if psychobilly gets in, you know Im going to include heavy metal. Im
listening to metal right now (The Sword, in case youre wondering), and Im a
geek. So that settles it.
THE GERMINAL SURPRISE OF EMPIRICAL WORLDS

6:30 8:15 PM, Maryland Suite C

Whats so geeky about empirical worlds? Well, youre using the word worlds, so that
a good start. But also Joseph Dumit, who works in the ModLab at UC Davis, is
presenting about dancing games. Bet you missed that when you were flipping through
the program. Youre welcome. Also, Anand Pandian references Dr. Strangelove in his
paper about ethnographic fieldwork as black comedy, and that seems pretty great.

Sunday, December 7 (Dont leave yet, theres still good

stuff!)

THE "COEFFICIENT OF WEIRDNESS": PARANOIA, CONSPIRACY, AND THE UNINTELLIGIBLE IN

RATIONAL INSTITUTIONS (6-0050)

8:00 9:45 AM, Maryland Suite A

Sheeple . Sheeple. Listen. In this panel each paper will combine ethnographic
accounts of the esoteric, the paranoid, and uncanny, especially in urban, state
societies and rational-legal institutions and proceedings, with innovative
anthropological theorizing about what people and communities gain from the magical,
the occult, obscure forces, and secret meanings. Real life X-Files is pretty geeky
in the best of ways.
1

MODERN MONSTERS PANEL I: ANTHROPOLOGY AND THE ECOLOGY OF ANXIETY (6-0080)

8:00 9:45 AM, Washington Room 4

MONSTERS!!! If you reference Frankenstein, Enkidu, Grendel, H.P. Lovecraft, and
Phillip K. Dick in your abstract, you win. the. game. And they did, so they win and
everyone else (myself included) can go home now. But after the panel, not before.
SEMIOTICS OF ANIMATION (6-0185)

10:00 11:45 AM, Maryland Suite B

This is another gold mine of geeky topics. Paul Manning talking about Ryzom, an
MMORPG that is refreshingly NOT World of Warcraft (not that theres anything wrong
with WoW). Teri J Silvio talking about Axis Powers Hetalia, an anime/manga franchise
that Im not cool enough to know anything about. But if I go to the talk, I will know
anything about. I mean something about it. Eitan Y Wilf talking about sociable
robots! Riding bikes! Voice acting! Wait- riding bikes? Yes, riding bikes! More
robots!
MODERN MONSTERS, PART II: ANTHROPOLOGY AND THE PERIMETERS OF HUMANITY (6-0245)

10:00 11:45 AM, Washington Room 4

The monsters crew is back and theyre getting real. As in, theyre talking mostly
about real people who are compared to monsters. This is part of why we have monsters,
folks, is to think about this stuff.

I do not actually think you are sheeple, nor do I particularly like the term. It always
seemed kind of weird to me. But, you know, conspiracy theories. You have to say sheeple. I
hope they say it in the panel.
1