Digital Infrastructure

From an anthropological perspective, it is well recognized that infrastructures have the potential to disrupt and reconfigure communities and environments, lives, and livelihoods. As with other infrastructures, digital infrastructures are often owned and maintained by government entities, as well as by corporations or large companies aligned with political and commercial interests. Anthropological contributions to digital infrastructure not only situate practices within the contextual histories of resources that have shaped them but also allow for fine-grained attention to the relationship between material and social relations and the stakeholders from global capitalist enterprises to local communities that make up the politics of everyday life. Situating platforms, practices, and environments as main themes, this entry presents an overview of the growing body of work in anthropological approaches to digital infrastructure.