Media studies as an ‘archaeology’: elements of genealogy

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article is a contribution to the historiography of media archaeology, and therefore to its self-understanding as a scholarly approach. It starts from a simple observation: the use of the words ‘archaeology’ or ‘media archaeology’ within media studies has exploded in recent years, but so far no one has clarified when, how and where these naming practices developed. This is the task the article is meant to explore. It argues that media archaeology does not have a single origin, just like it does not have a single identity. For example, between Anglo-American and German uses and applications of the word ‘archaeology’ within media studies there are significant differences. The article pinpoints the 1990s as the decade when significant merging of ideas from different scholarly contexts happened, contributing to the consolidation of archaeological approaches. The 1990s was an era when new media forms such as virtual reality were emerging asking for explanations and genealogies. Media archaeology was inspired by the challenge, beginning to position the ‘newcomers’ into broader contexts.