Paparazzi Ethnography Blog
Summer 2010 – Winter 2017
© Dr. Arthur Mason, Associate Professor, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU); Visiting Senior Fellow, London School of Economics; Research Affiliate, University of St Andrews; Research Associate SOAS University of London. All images and text are used with permission.
Paparazzi Ethnography: An Anthropology of Surfaces and Curated Interactions (2010–2017) is a visual and methodological research project examining how expert knowledge and political power are staged, performed, and mediated within elite energy policy environments. Through documentation of fleeting encounters, curated access, and surface-level interactions, the project captures how authority circulates through visibility, performance, and presence in high-stakes institutional spaces. The project advances three core methodological commitments: the study of ephemeral moments, the anthropology of surfaces, and the production of Anthropocene visuality through emblematic data. Together, these approaches offer new ways of understanding how expertise is enacted in contemporary political and technocratic settings.
Support was provided by U.S. National Science Foundation (Exploratory and Standard Grants), Fulbright awards through US–Norway, US–Russia, and US–Canada programs, as well as recognition from Wenner-Gren Foundation, Ciriacy-Wantrup Fellowship, and European Research Council’s Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellowship.
Paparazzi Ethnography 