Brian Larkin

  Dr. Larkin’s research examines the role media play in the shaping of social life. This takes several directions but all of them emerge out of research in Nigeria. He write on issues of circulation and the movement of cultural forms; Nigerian cultural production, especially video films; piracy; the materiality of media technologies; infrastructure and technological breakdown; and the relationship between media and forms of political rule. These issues come together in my forthcoming book, Signal and Noise: Media, Infrastructure & Culture in Urban Nigeria (Duke University Press). His current research is on the religious use of media by Muslim movements in Nigeria, the relationship between religion and mediation and how media shape new forms of religious publics. He is also interested in the ruined life of infrastructures in Nigeria, examining this through the collapse of electricity provision in Nigeria (and the consequent rise of generators) and the demise of the state telephone network and rapid acceptance of mobile phone technologies.    

Associate Professor, Chair
Department of Anthropology
Barnard College