Web Guru Intro: Alex Enkerli

Now that we’re getting deeper into 2010 and some dust has settled, it might be a good opportunity for me to introduce myself to you.

My name is Alex Enkerli and I define myself as an “informal ethnographer.”

My background is indeed in linguistic anthropology, at least in part, but I’ve been involved in a variety of other ethnographic fields including ethnomusicology and folkloristics. My research interests include the relationships between music and language, verbal art, semiotics, and West Africa along with social networks and so-called “geek” culture. I’ve done formal fieldwork in Mali where I worked with members of hunters associations.

For the past eight years or so, my main academic status is that of a part-time faculty member (adjunct, lecturer) at diverse institutions in the United States and Canada. These days, I mostly teach in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Concordia University, in Montreal.

I’m a French-speaking Montrealer of Swiss origins and my Francophone identity tends to have some impact on my life, including on my academic activities.

I became the SLA’s “Web Guru” in the summer of 2009 and have contributed to the development of the SLA’s new website in collaboration with Kerim Friedman, who was then the SLA’s Digital Content Editor. We have launched this new site around the time of the 2009 AAA meetings.

Since these meetings, Leila Monaghan has taken Kerim Friedman’s place as Digital Content Editor and my role with the SLA has changed. I handle some behind-the-scene tasks and (should) write regular posts about subjects related to linguistic anthropology.

Feel free to contact me.