G.G.A. (Geoffrey) Hobbis, PhD

Geoffrey G.A. Hobbis

9/2018-Present   Assistant Professor, Centre for Media Studies and Journalism, University of Groningen, Netherlands

4/2017-8/2018    Postdoctoral Fellow, Centre de Recherche et de Documentation sur l'Océanie, Marseille, France

9/2017-4/2018    Lecturer (Fixed-Term), Department of Community, Culture and Global Studies, University of British Columbia, Canada

2017   Ph.D. in Social Anthropology and Ethnology/ Social and Cultural Analysis (cotutelle / joint Ph.D.), EHESS, Paris, and Concordia University, Montreal, QC

2015   Visiting Graduate Research Student (March to August), Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC

2009   M.A. in Material and Visual Culture, Department of Anthropology, University College London, London

2008   B.A. in Social Anthropology, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC

2016        

“The Case of the Missing Octopus Spirit of the Lau Lagoon (Solomon Islands).” Institute of Ethnology, Ludwig-Maximilian University, Munich, Germany. December 19, co-presented with Stephanie Ketterer Hobbis.      

“Cowboys and Aliens: Crises of Visual Information in the Digitizing Lau Lagoon.” Melanesian Research Seminar. The British Museum, London, UK, January 29.

2015        

“The Digital Promise as Potemkin Village: Biometric Voter Registration in Solomon Islands.” IT University of Copenhagen, DemTech Research Group, Copenhagen, Denmark, March 9, co-presented with Stephanie Ketterer Hobbis.

2018        

“Subversive Screens and Digital Pockets: Digital Techniques and the Renegotiation of Inequality.” Biannual Conference of the European Society for Oceanists (ESfO), Cambridge, UK, December 7-10.

“Cables, Waves and MicroSD Cards: Going Online, Offline in Solomon Islands.” Canadian Anthropology Society (CASCA) Annual Conference, Santiago de Cuba, Cuba, May 16-20.

2017

“The Lau of Malaita Revisited: A Revolution of Dance in the Lau Lagoon, Solomon Islands.” Predictive Texts: Imagining the Future Conference, Belfast, September 21-23.

2015        

“The Oceanic Digital Revolution Today: Experiences, Trends and Challenges.” The 21st Annual Conference of the New Zealand Studies Association, Empires and Cultures of the Pacific, Vienna, Austria, July 1-4.

 “Grounding Netnography: Tapping into the Noosphere of the Solomon Islands.” 12th Congress of the International Society for Ethnology and Folklore (SIEF), Zagreb, Croatia, June 21-25.

Fieldwork

2017  Bariai, West New Britain Province, Papua New Guinea. Pilot Study on “The Gendered Controversies of Mobile Phone Adoption and Adaptation."

2014-2015   Honiara (capital) and Lau Lagoon, Malaita Province, Solomon Islands, “An Ethnographic Exploration of the Digital Culture of the Lau People” (February 2014 to February 2015)