Andrew Skuse
Biographic Data
| ID | 642608 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Andrew Skuse |
| GIVEN NAMES | Andrew |
| FAMILY NAME | Skuse |
| SIGNATURE | SKUSE A |
| AFFILIATIONS | The University of Adelaide |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-6437-0092 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 17 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 61 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 17 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2002 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 5 |
Mapping the ‘Crowd
Digital humanitarianism represents an increasingly important aspect of wider humanitarian aid processes. Here, crisis mapping, which draws on international, largely Northern, volunteers utilising crowdsourced data drawn from disaster‐affected communities, largely in the South, is perhaps its most well‐known form. Such practices have been subject to critiques concerning power dynamics, the motivations of international volunteers and the relative i…
Honour, Survival and Protection
Violence and vulnerability shape and reconfigure the everyday realities and livelihoods of the socially and politically marginalised urban poor. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork undertaken with women experiencing homelessness in Dhaka, Bangladesh, this article argues that reductive livelihood approaches fail to adequately take account of the workings of power or gender dynamics within socio-cultural contexts. In doing so, it engages in a deeply …
The Flickering Flame of Refugee and Asylum Seeker Support
Asylum seeker and refugee supporters work to provide services, legal advice, home visits; engage in advocacy; and protest the harsh immigration context that is associated with the Australian government. The passion supporters feel for the 'cause' burns bright, yet years and sometimes decades of support can take a personal toll. This article draws on ethnographic data collected between July 2019 and October 2020 in Adelaide, South Australia, with …
Solving ‘wicked problems’ in the app co-design process
Until relatively recently, processes of health application (app) design have been understudied and this has resulted in a lack of critical reflection on app creation, including curtailing opportunities to share insights and possible pitfalls that could inform best practice in the field. In response, this article contributes to a growing body of literature that addresses this lacuna by exploring the experiences of the research and design team that…
Acts of Last Resort
Anthropologists face fresh challenges as they endeavour to conduct research in an increasingly securitised and secretive world. Those who wield asymmetrical power in society often seek to guard information and knowledge. Therefore, it is imperative that anthropologists seek new ways of navigating the politics of secrecy if they are to reveal anything of its inner workings. In pursuit of this imperative, this paper examines practices of whistleblo…
Radio drama, gender discourse and vernacularization in Afghanistan
This paper explores how the New Home, New Life radio drama, produced by the BBC Afghan Education Projects Organization (BBC AEPO), integrates gender equity discourses into its production and therein vernacularizes them. It highlights the interplay between a number of internal and external dialogues that coalesce around the production’s dramatic content and cultural propriety. Analysis centres on the portrayal of a range of gendered cultural pract…
Gender, ICTs, and Indicators
This article explores gender and information and communication technologies (ICTs) in the context of development, by analyzing a range of international ICT indices developed to measure broad access to and use of ICTs. This analysis highlights the relatively slow integration of specific gender-focused indicators into such indices, combined with the weak disaggregation of data by sex. The article also discusses a range of gender-specific indices fo…
Radio sound and social realism
This article explores the use of sound in the context of two BBC World Service development-focused social realist radio drama productions in Afghanistan ( New Home, New Life) and Nepal ( Sweet Tales of the Sarangi). It examines the various ‘sound strategies' employed to enhance the realist aspirations of the productions, while examining the ‘creative labour’ employed in crafting discrete ‘acoustic environments' or ‘soundscapes'. It argues that so…
Sweet tales of the Sarangi
This paper examines the production of a development-oriented BBC World Service Trust Nepal radio drama entitled Katha Mitho Sarangiko (Sweet Tales of the Sarangi). It positions this drama as an example of cosmopolitan cultural practice in that its writers and editors engage explicitly in a negotiation or a 'working through' of cultural differences as they strive towards their twin drama and development goals of communicating 'positive' social and…
Getting connected
This article examines urban telecommunications access and use by poor households in the township of Khayelitsha, Cape Town, South Africa. Analysis draws upon a broad range of quantitative and qualitative data and in doing so seeks to reveal the complexities of how this access and use underpins a wide range of social and economic processes critical to processes of social development. By way of example, the issue of informal urbanisation and housin…
Spaces of Resistance
This paper examines struggles for urban permanency in an informal settlement on the fringes of Cape Town in the run up to the South African national election of 2004. It focuses on the rapid emergence of the settlement of Nkanini (Forceful) and the key social, cultural, political and communicative dynamics that framed the ensuing bitter struggle between residents and local City of Cape Town authorities over claims to occupy the land. Analysis fra…
The Political Economy of Social Capital
This paper uses two case studies drawn from in-depth ethnographic research in South Africa's Eastern Cape to interrogate and problematise the often simplistic or reductive ways in which the concept of social capital is used in debates about development and poverty alleviation. It argues that if the concept is to be useful at all, it needs to be used in ways that are sensitive to the fact that social capital inheres in social relations; that these…
Managing Distance
This article examines rural telecommunications access and use among poor village households in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. Discussion is based upon a content analysis of 165 telephone calls, as well as a broader information and communication technology (ICT) ownership, access and use survey undertaken in 50 poor households within a number of rural villages in the Mount Frere district. These data are complimented and supported by qualitative d…
Voices of freedom
This article examines the creative labour of a group of Afghan radio soap opera writers scripting a popular social realist BBC World Service radio drama for broadcast in Afghanistan. Analysis centres on struggles over the political representation of the Taliban within the soap opera between 1996-8, a period in which they dominated politically and militarily. A tension is revealed in analysis between the individual political beliefs of writers and…
Enlivened Objects
This article examines the social maintenance of commodity exchange and use values with specific regard to radio in Afghanistan. It addresses the socio-symbolic significance of the technology, as reflected in the domestic positioning and care afforded to radio sets. Radio brands, durability, disrepair and repair are also discussed in the context of poverty, the maximization of future exchange values and the long-term extraction of maximal use valu…
Radio, Politics and Trust in Afghanistan
This article examines the sociohistorical role of radio broadcasting in Afghanistan and analyses the interplay between the radio choices of the audience, political change and conflict. Though never explicitly trusted as a credible information source, the popularity of national radio in Afghanistan was critically weakened following the Communist revolution of 1978 and subsequent abuse of broadcasting under successive Afghan Communist regimes. Anal…
Vagueness, familiarity and social realism
This article explores some of the semantic linkages that exist between the producers and consumers of a BBC World Service radio soap opera, produced for Afghanistan. Few ethnographic studies of mass media have tackled both production and consumption; the dominant preference within this emerging sub-discipline favours audience studies and makes unsubstantiated inferences concerning production regimes. This article takes analysis a crucial step for…
Spaces of Resistance
This paper examines struggles for urban permanency in an informal settlement on the fringes of Cape Town in the run up to the South African national election of 2004. It focuses on the rapid emergence of the settlement of Nkanini (Forceful) and the key social, cultural, political and communicative dynamics that framed the ensuing bitter struggle between residents and local City of Cape Town authorities over claims to occupy the land. Analysis fra…
Managing Distance
This article examines rural telecommunications access and use among poor village households in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. Discussion is based upon a content analysis of 165 telephone calls, as well as a broader information and communication technology (ICT) ownership, access and use survey undertaken in 50 poor households within a number of rural villages in the Mount Frere district. These data are complimented and supported by qualitative d…
Enlivened Objects
This article examines the social maintenance of commodity exchange and use values with specific regard to radio in Afghanistan. It addresses the socio-symbolic significance of the technology, as reflected in the domestic positioning and care afforded to radio sets. Radio brands, durability, disrepair and repair are also discussed in the context of poverty, the maximization of future exchange values and the long-term extraction of maximal use valu…
The Political Economy of Social Capital
This paper uses two case studies drawn from in-depth ethnographic research in South Africa's Eastern Cape to interrogate and problematise the often simplistic or reductive ways in which the concept of social capital is used in debates about development and poverty alleviation. It argues that if the concept is to be useful at all, it needs to be used in ways that are sensitive to the fact that social capital inheres in social relations; that these…
Gender, ICTs, and Indicators
This article explores gender and information and communication technologies (ICTs) in the context of development, by analyzing a range of international ICT indices developed to measure broad access to and use of ICTs. This analysis highlights the relatively slow integration of specific gender-focused indicators into such indices, combined with the weak disaggregation of data by sex. The article also discusses a range of gender-specific indices fo…
Acts of Last Resort
Anthropologists face fresh challenges as they endeavour to conduct research in an increasingly securitised and secretive world. Those who wield asymmetrical power in society often seek to guard information and knowledge. Therefore, it is imperative that anthropologists seek new ways of navigating the politics of secrecy if they are to reveal anything of its inner workings. In pursuit of this imperative, this paper examines practices of whistleblo…
Voices of freedom
This article examines the creative labour of a group of Afghan radio soap opera writers scripting a popular social realist BBC World Service radio drama for broadcast in Afghanistan. Analysis centres on struggles over the political representation of the Taliban within the soap opera between 1996-8, a period in which they dominated politically and militarily. A tension is revealed in analysis between the individual political beliefs of writers and…
Vagueness, familiarity and social realism
This article explores some of the semantic linkages that exist between the producers and consumers of a BBC World Service radio soap opera, produced for Afghanistan. Few ethnographic studies of mass media have tackled both production and consumption; the dominant preference within this emerging sub-discipline favours audience studies and makes unsubstantiated inferences concerning production regimes. This article takes analysis a crucial step for…
Getting connected
This article examines urban telecommunications access and use by poor households in the township of Khayelitsha, Cape Town, South Africa. Analysis draws upon a broad range of quantitative and qualitative data and in doing so seeks to reveal the complexities of how this access and use underpins a wide range of social and economic processes critical to processes of social development. By way of example, the issue of informal urbanisation and housin…
Radio, Politics and Trust in Afghanistan
This article examines the sociohistorical role of radio broadcasting in Afghanistan and analyses the interplay between the radio choices of the audience, political change and conflict. Though never explicitly trusted as a credible information source, the popularity of national radio in Afghanistan was critically weakened following the Communist revolution of 1978 and subsequent abuse of broadcasting under successive Afghan Communist regimes. Anal…
The Flickering Flame of Refugee and Asylum Seeker Support
Asylum seeker and refugee supporters work to provide services, legal advice, home visits; engage in advocacy; and protest the harsh immigration context that is associated with the Australian government. The passion supporters feel for the 'cause' burns bright, yet years and sometimes decades of support can take a personal toll. This article draws on ethnographic data collected between July 2019 and October 2020 in Adelaide, South Australia, with …
Radio drama, gender discourse and vernacularization in Afghanistan
This paper explores how the New Home, New Life radio drama, produced by the BBC Afghan Education Projects Organization (BBC AEPO), integrates gender equity discourses into its production and therein vernacularizes them. It highlights the interplay between a number of internal and external dialogues that coalesce around the production’s dramatic content and cultural propriety. Analysis centres on the portrayal of a range of gendered cultural pract…
Radio sound and social realism
This article explores the use of sound in the context of two BBC World Service development-focused social realist radio drama productions in Afghanistan ( New Home, New Life) and Nepal ( Sweet Tales of the Sarangi). It examines the various ‘sound strategies' employed to enhance the realist aspirations of the productions, while examining the ‘creative labour’ employed in crafting discrete ‘acoustic environments' or ‘soundscapes'. It argues that so…
Radio, Politics and Trust in Afghanistan
This article examines the sociohistorical role of radio broadcasting in Afghanistan and analyses the interplay between the radio choices of the audience, political change and conflict. Though never explicitly trusted as a credible information source, the popularity of national radio in Afghanistan was critically weakened following the Communist revolution of 1978 and subsequent abuse of broadcasting under successive Afghan Communist regimes. Anal…
Vagueness, familiarity and social realism
This article explores some of the semantic linkages that exist between the producers and consumers of a BBC World Service radio soap opera, produced for Afghanistan. Few ethnographic studies of mass media have tackled both production and consumption; the dominant preference within this emerging sub-discipline favours audience studies and makes unsubstantiated inferences concerning production regimes. This article takes analysis a crucial step for…
Voices of freedom
This article examines the creative labour of a group of Afghan radio soap opera writers scripting a popular social realist BBC World Service radio drama for broadcast in Afghanistan. Analysis centres on struggles over the political representation of the Taliban within the soap opera between 1996-8, a period in which they dominated politically and militarily. A tension is revealed in analysis between the individual political beliefs of writers and…
Enlivened Objects
This article examines the social maintenance of commodity exchange and use values with specific regard to radio in Afghanistan. It addresses the socio-symbolic significance of the technology, as reflected in the domestic positioning and care afforded to radio sets. Radio brands, durability, disrepair and repair are also discussed in the context of poverty, the maximization of future exchange values and the long-term extraction of maximal use valu…
Spaces of Resistance
This paper examines struggles for urban permanency in an informal settlement on the fringes of Cape Town in the run up to the South African national election of 2004. It focuses on the rapid emergence of the settlement of Nkanini (Forceful) and the key social, cultural, political and communicative dynamics that framed the ensuing bitter struggle between residents and local City of Cape Town authorities over claims to occupy the land. Analysis fra…
The Political Economy of Social Capital
This paper uses two case studies drawn from in-depth ethnographic research in South Africa's Eastern Cape to interrogate and problematise the often simplistic or reductive ways in which the concept of social capital is used in debates about development and poverty alleviation. It argues that if the concept is to be useful at all, it needs to be used in ways that are sensitive to the fact that social capital inheres in social relations; that these…
Managing Distance
This article examines rural telecommunications access and use among poor village households in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. Discussion is based upon a content analysis of 165 telephone calls, as well as a broader information and communication technology (ICT) ownership, access and use survey undertaken in 50 poor households within a number of rural villages in the Mount Frere district. These data are complimented and supported by qualitative d…
Getting connected
This article examines urban telecommunications access and use by poor households in the township of Khayelitsha, Cape Town, South Africa. Analysis draws upon a broad range of quantitative and qualitative data and in doing so seeks to reveal the complexities of how this access and use underpins a wide range of social and economic processes critical to processes of social development. By way of example, the issue of informal urbanisation and housin…
Sweet tales of the Sarangi
This paper examines the production of a development-oriented BBC World Service Trust Nepal radio drama entitled Katha Mitho Sarangiko (Sweet Tales of the Sarangi). It positions this drama as an example of cosmopolitan cultural practice in that its writers and editors engage explicitly in a negotiation or a 'working through' of cultural differences as they strive towards their twin drama and development goals of communicating 'positive' social and…
Radio sound and social realism
This article explores the use of sound in the context of two BBC World Service development-focused social realist radio drama productions in Afghanistan ( New Home, New Life) and Nepal ( Sweet Tales of the Sarangi). It examines the various ‘sound strategies' employed to enhance the realist aspirations of the productions, while examining the ‘creative labour’ employed in crafting discrete ‘acoustic environments' or ‘soundscapes'. It argues that so…
Gender, ICTs, and Indicators
This article explores gender and information and communication technologies (ICTs) in the context of development, by analyzing a range of international ICT indices developed to measure broad access to and use of ICTs. This analysis highlights the relatively slow integration of specific gender-focused indicators into such indices, combined with the weak disaggregation of data by sex. The article also discusses a range of gender-specific indices fo…
Radio drama, gender discourse and vernacularization in Afghanistan
This paper explores how the New Home, New Life radio drama, produced by the BBC Afghan Education Projects Organization (BBC AEPO), integrates gender equity discourses into its production and therein vernacularizes them. It highlights the interplay between a number of internal and external dialogues that coalesce around the production’s dramatic content and cultural propriety. Analysis centres on the portrayal of a range of gendered cultural pract…
Acts of Last Resort
Anthropologists face fresh challenges as they endeavour to conduct research in an increasingly securitised and secretive world. Those who wield asymmetrical power in society often seek to guard information and knowledge. Therefore, it is imperative that anthropologists seek new ways of navigating the politics of secrecy if they are to reveal anything of its inner workings. In pursuit of this imperative, this paper examines practices of whistleblo…
Solving ‘wicked problems’ in the app co-design process
Until relatively recently, processes of health application (app) design have been understudied and this has resulted in a lack of critical reflection on app creation, including curtailing opportunities to share insights and possible pitfalls that could inform best practice in the field. In response, this article contributes to a growing body of literature that addresses this lacuna by exploring the experiences of the research and design team that…
Honour, Survival and Protection
Violence and vulnerability shape and reconfigure the everyday realities and livelihoods of the socially and politically marginalised urban poor. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork undertaken with women experiencing homelessness in Dhaka, Bangladesh, this article argues that reductive livelihood approaches fail to adequately take account of the workings of power or gender dynamics within socio-cultural contexts. In doing so, it engages in a deeply …
The Flickering Flame of Refugee and Asylum Seeker Support
Asylum seeker and refugee supporters work to provide services, legal advice, home visits; engage in advocacy; and protest the harsh immigration context that is associated with the Australian government. The passion supporters feel for the 'cause' burns bright, yet years and sometimes decades of support can take a personal toll. This article draws on ethnographic data collected between July 2019 and October 2020 in Adelaide, South Australia, with …
Mapping the ‘Crowd
Digital humanitarianism represents an increasingly important aspect of wider humanitarian aid processes. Here, crisis mapping, which draws on international, largely Northern, volunteers utilising crowdsourced data drawn from disaster‐affected communities, largely in the South, is perhaps its most well‐known form. Such practices have been subject to critiques concerning power dynamics, the motivations of international volunteers and the relative i…
Sociology (16 works) · Political science (11 works) · Law (7 works) · Politics (7 works) · History (6 works) · Art (5 works) · Business (5 works) · Computer Science (5 works) · Law (5 works) · Literature (5 works)