Digital Anthropology: Theoretical Perspectives regarding Electronic Tribes

Abstract

In this article, I approach several theoretical perspectives regarding electronic tribes. Throughout this article, I reveal several arguments about how the flexibility and speed of electronic media have determined new ways of defining human interaction. I also emphasize some of the cultural implications entailed by the emergence of electronic tribes. In the end, I discuss the relation between e-tribes, ‘cyberscapes’, and cyberspace. I argue that just as real cultures include complex systems of significance that are developed in order to address the various issues of everyday life, in cyberspace, the members of e-tribes have developed ‘virtual cultures’. I conclude by comparing cyberspace with Plato’s World of Ideas.