Linguistic Anthropology in 2013: Super‐New‐Big

Abstract

ABSTRACTIn this essay, I discuss how linguistic anthropological scholarship in 2013 has been increasingly confronted by the concepts of “superdiversity,” “new media,” and “big data.” As the “super‐new‐big” purports to identify a contemporary moment in which we are witnessing unprecedented change, I interrogate the degree to which these concepts rely on assumptions about “reality” as natural state versus ideological production. I consider how the super‐new‐big invites us to scrutinize various reconceptualizations of diversity (is it super?), media (is it new?), and data (is it big?), leaving us to inevitably contemplate each concept's implicitly invoked opposite: “regular diversity,” “old media,” and “small data.” In the section on “diversity,” I explore linguistic anthropological scholarship that examines how notions of difference continue to be entangled in projects of the nation‐state, the market economy, and social inequality. In the sections on “media” and “data,” I consider how questions about what constitutes linguistic anthropological data and methodology are being raised and addressed by research that analyzes new and old technologies, ethnographic material, semiotic forms, scale, and ontology. I conclude by questioning the extent to which it is the super‐new‐big itself or the contemplation about the super‐new‐big that produces perceived change in the world.