Jennifer Cearns
I'm a digital anthropologist, specialising in AI and algorithms in social life.
At the moment my research focuses on empathy as a culturally-constructed set of interactions, and I look at how cultural norms are reproduced in mental healthcare technologies that use AI and machine learning.
To date, I have conducted ethnographic research in Brazil, Cuba, the US, Guyana, Panama, Mexico, Spain, and the UK. I have also worked in the technology industry as a consultant for over a decade, influencing the design of technologies where they're built.
I am currently an Affiliate Researcher at UCL's Centre for Digital Anthropology, and a Research Fellow at KU Leuven in Belgium. Prior to this, I was an Associate Postdoctoral Fellow at the Alan Turing Institute, and Leach Fellow in Public Anthropology at the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain & Ireland.
My first book was published in 2023 by University Press of Florida, and has been nominated for the Association of Latina and Latino Anthropologists First Book Prize, and the Society for Latin American & Caribbean Anthropology Book Prize by the American Anthropological Association.
At the moment my research focuses on empathy as a culturally-constructed set of interactions, and I look at how cultural norms are reproduced in mental healthcare technologies that use AI and machine learning.
To date, I have conducted ethnographic research in Brazil, Cuba, the US, Guyana, Panama, Mexico, Spain, and the UK. I have also worked in the technology industry as a consultant for over a decade, influencing the design of technologies where they're built.
I am currently an Affiliate Researcher at UCL's Centre for Digital Anthropology, and a Research Fellow at KU Leuven in Belgium. Prior to this, I was an Associate Postdoctoral Fellow at the Alan Turing Institute, and Leach Fellow in Public Anthropology at the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain & Ireland.
My first book was published in 2023 by University Press of Florida, and has been nominated for the Association of Latina and Latino Anthropologists First Book Prize, and the Society for Latin American & Caribbean Anthropology Book Prize by the American Anthropological Association.
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This paper argues that the personal stories represented by such material flows act as a lens onto a shifting relationship between Cuba and its diasporas. It explores how Cubans both on and off the island are negotiating materiality and digital networks within their own plural notions of cubanidad (‘Cubanness’), capitalism and socialism, according to their own geopolitical and socioeconomic contexts. The paper considers the role of gender within these networks of exchange, especially within networks of mules who transport goods. It then examines the agency of actors within these networks, and highlights the role of confianza as an overarching moral economy.
These arguments are grounded in longstanding debates on migration, diaspora and remittances, and anthropological concepts of gift-giving, exchange, kinship and reciprocity.
This paper argues that the personal stories represented by such exchanges act as a lens onto a shifting relationship between Cuba and its diaspora. I explore how Cubans in both Miami and Cuba are negotiating materiality and digital networks within their own plural notions of cubanidad (‘Cubanness’), capitalism, and socialism—all according to their own geopolitical and socioeconomic contexts. The paper considers various examples of material and digital exchange, from medicine and food to hard currency, visual art, and the digital sharing network “El Paquete Semanal.” In so doing, I interrogate new definitions of what it means to be Cuban, both online and offline, in both ‘capitalist’ and ‘socialist’ settings.
Book Reviews by Jennifer Cearns
This paper argues that the personal stories represented by such material flows act as a lens onto a shifting relationship between Cuba and its diasporas. It explores how Cubans both on and off the island are negotiating materiality and digital networks within their own plural notions of cubanidad (‘Cubanness’), capitalism and socialism, according to their own geopolitical and socioeconomic contexts. The paper considers the role of gender within these networks of exchange, especially within networks of mules who transport goods. It then examines the agency of actors within these networks, and highlights the role of confianza as an overarching moral economy.
These arguments are grounded in longstanding debates on migration, diaspora and remittances, and anthropological concepts of gift-giving, exchange, kinship and reciprocity.
This paper argues that the personal stories represented by such exchanges act as a lens onto a shifting relationship between Cuba and its diaspora. I explore how Cubans in both Miami and Cuba are negotiating materiality and digital networks within their own plural notions of cubanidad (‘Cubanness’), capitalism, and socialism—all according to their own geopolitical and socioeconomic contexts. The paper considers various examples of material and digital exchange, from medicine and food to hard currency, visual art, and the digital sharing network “El Paquete Semanal.” In so doing, I interrogate new definitions of what it means to be Cuban, both online and offline, in both ‘capitalist’ and ‘socialist’ settings.