Author: Darius Bittle-Dockery
Faculty Mentor: Eileen Hayes, Division of Music History and Ethnomusicology, College of Music, University of North Texas
Department and College Affiliation: Department of Anthropology, Tufts University
Bio: Darius Bittle-Dockery was born on August 12, 1988 in New Haven Connecticut. He is currently a senior attending Tufts University where he plays on the Men's Varsity Lacrosse Team and is involved in several student clubs on campus. He is a co-founder of DNA Productions, a design and custom apparel company that supplies to university organizations and teams. Academically, Bittle-Dockery is interested in the anthropological study of the relationships between media, culture, and identity. He is also interested in metaphysics and epistemology. Bittle-Dockery is currently studying for his Bachelor of Arts degree, majoring in anthropology and minoring in philosophy.
Abstract: The aim of this research is to understand how disc jockeys (DJs) see their relationships to music industry and listener communities. By understanding the DJ, this project aims to better understand the relationship between the people and the media. The way the DJ interacts with a crowd is like a feedback loop where both parties affect each other simultaneously. The media's relationship to consumers seems to operate in a similar feedback loop. There is a significant difference between the two loops. Consumers often do not know when they are being advertised to; therefore, they do not know when they are being observed and analyzed. The media’s relationship to consumers seems to be a form of panopticism within the feedback loop.