Publications
BOOKS
Bell, Joshua A., and Joel Corneal Kuipers, eds. 2018. Linguistic and Material Intimacies of Cell Phones. London: Routledge Press.
EDITED JOURNALS
Bell, J.A., and Kuipers, J. (eds) 2018. Unseen Connections: The Materiality of Cell phones. Special issue of Anthropological Quarterly 91(2): 465-633.
Gershon, I. and Bell, J.A. (eds) 2013. Newness of New Media. Special Issue of Culture Theory and Critique 54(3): 259-393.
JOURNAL ARTICLES
Bell, J.A., Kuipers, J., Kobak, B., and Kemble, A., 2018. “Unseen Connections: Introduction.” In Unseen Connections: The Materiality of Cell phones Anthropological Quarterly 91(2): 465-484.
Bell, J.A., Kuipers, J., Hazen, J. Kemble, A., Kobak, B. 2018. “The Materiality of Cell Phones Repair: Re-making Commodities in Washington, D.C. In Unseen Connections: The Materiality of Cell phones. Anthropological Quarterly 91(2): 603-634.
Dent, A. 2018. “What’s a Cellular Public?” In Unseen Connections: The Materiality of Cell phones Anthropological Quarterly 91(2): 581-602.
Gershorn, I. and Bell, J.A. 2013. “Introduction: The Newness of New Media.” Culture Theory and Critique 54(3):259-264.
Kuipers, J., Bell, J.A., Dent, A., Kemble, A., Kobak, B. 2015. “Fixing Connections: Language, Culture and Cell Phone Use among High School and University Students in Washington, D.C.” The David Skomp Distinguished Lecture Series in Anthropology. Bloomington: University of Indiana, Department of Anthropology, 1-30.
CHAPTERS
Bell, J.A., In Press. “Check out that gold plated board!”: The Performance, Poetics and Dirty Realities of Scrapping Cellphones and Electronics in North America.’ In Vallard, Annabel, Andrew Walsh, and Elizabeth Ferry, ed. The Anthropology of Precious Minerals. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
Dent, A. 2018. “Piracy, Cloning, and Criminal Cats: The Discomforts of Cellularity in Brazil.” In Kuipers, J, and Bell, J.A. (eds) Linguistic and Material Intimacies of Cell Phones. Pp. 188-208. London: Routledge Press.
Kemble, A., Kobak, B., Bell, J.A. and J. Kuipers 2015. “A Day in the Life of a Cell Phone Repair Technician in the Digital Age.” In A World of Work. Gershorn, I. (ed). University of Cornell Press.
Gershorn, I. and Bell, J.A. eds. 2013. “The Newness of New Media.” Special Issue of Culture Theory and Critique 54(3):259-393.
Kuipers, J and Bell, J.A. 2018. “Linguistic and Material Intimacies of Cell Phones: An Introduction.” In Kuipers, J, and Bell, J.A. (eds) Linguistic and Material Intimacies of Cell Phones. Pp. 1-30. London: Routledge Press.
Kuipers, J. and Bell J.A with Kobak, B., Kemble, A. and Hazen, J. 2018. “Intimate Materialities in Cell Phone Repair: Performance, Anxiety and Trust in DC Repair Shops.” In Kuipers, J, and Bell, J.A. (eds) Linguistic and Material Intimacies of Cell Phones. Pp. 237-265. London: Routledge Press
CONFERENCES, WORKSHOPS and PANELS ORGANIZED
Pfister, S. 2018 Activism, Media Ideologies, and Digital Identity: Material and Cultural Aspects of Cell Phones. Panel at the American University Public Anthropology Conference. Washington, DC. (October 27).
2018 Unseen Connections Exhibit planning workshop, Washington, D.C. (May 24-25).
2018 The Cultural Politics of Breakdown and Repair. Symposium for Potomac Center for the Study of Modernity. Organized with Joel Kuipers (GW) and Alex Dent (GW) (April 6) http://thepotomaccenter.org/upcoming-symposium
2014 Fixing Connection Panel Series —co-organized with Joel Kuipers (GWU) following panels:
Origins of the Cell Phone (March 28) Co-sponsored by the Lemleson Center, we hosted Marty Cooper, inventor of the cell phone. He spoke with Art Moella at NMAH’s Turner Theatre and the event was broadcast by CSPAN (http://series.c-span.org/History/Events/Origins-of-the-Cell-Phone/10737443955-2/)
Repair in the American Experience (April 25) panel chaired by Fath Davis Ruffins (NMAH) with speakers Joe Horse Capture (NMAI), Joseph Corn (Stanford), Kathleen Franz (AU) and Elizabeth Spelman (Smith). Hosted at NMAI.
Sustainability, Design and Repair (May 30) panel chaired by Joshua A. Bell (NMNH) with speakers Jamer Hunt (New School), Josh Lepawsky (Memorial University), and Philip White (Arizonia State University). Hosted at Hirschon.
2013 Linguistic And Material Intimacies Of Mobile Phones co-organized with Joel Kuipers (George Washington University) at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History (June 5-7).
2013 Unseen Connections of the Ecologies of Cell Phones. Co-organized with Joel Kuipers (George Washington University) and Cynthia E. Smith (Cooper-Hewitt) at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History (February 28- March 1).
SCHOLARLY and PUBLIC TALKS and POSTERS
2018 Schoenike, K. “‘You can’t sit with us’: Digital Dialogues Redefining Cafeteria Space.” Paper presented at the 2018 American University Public Anthropology Conference. (October 27).
2018 Procter, D. “Tumblr-kin: Identity and Technology on the Periphery.” Paper presented at the 2018 American University Public Anthropology Conference. (October 27).
2018 Wolfe, E. “Cell Phones in Activist Spaces: demarginalizing and empowering female activists.” Paper presented at the 2018 American University Public Anthropology Conference. (October 27).
2018 Merullo, N. “Observing Distraction: towards a typology for classroom distraction.” Paper presented at the 2018 American University Public Anthropology Conference. (October 27).
2018 Bell, J.A. “Unseen Connections: A Natural History of Cell Phones.” Talk at the Peabody
Museum of Archaeology & Ethnology for the Harvard Museums of Science and Culture. (April 18)
2018 Schoenike, K. “‘You can’t sit with us’: Digital Dialogues Redefining Cafeteria Space.” Paper presented at Ruptures, Reactions, and Reconfigurations: Fifth annual GWU Anthropology Conference. (March 30).
2018 Bell, J.A. “Anthropology of Cellphones” for Nifty-Fifty US Science and Engineering Festival at Thurgood Marshall Academy. (February 28)
2017 Bell, J.A. “Unseen Connections: The Global Connections of Your Cellphone.” Mckinley technology High School (March 16)
2017 Bell, J.A. and Kuipers, J. “Intimate Materialities in Cell Phone Repair: Performance, Anxiety & Expertise in DC Repair Shops.” Maintainers II Conference, Stevens Institute of Technology, April 6-9.
2016 Bell, J.A. “Unseen Connections: The Global Connections of Your Cellphone.” St. Stephen’s & St. Anges School (February 18)
2016 Bell, J.A. “ “Check out that gold plated board!”: The Performance, Poetics and Dirty Realities of Scrapping Cellphones and Electronics in North America.” Third Annual Anthropology Symposium, George Washington University, April 15.
2015 Bell, J.A. “Unseen Connections – A Natural History of the Cellphone.” Webcast talk for Smithsonian Science How at NMNH (June 4) (http://qrius.si.edu/webcast-unseen-connections-natural-history-cellphone)
2015 Bell, J.A. “ “Check out that gold plated board!”: The Performance, Poetics and Dirty Realities of Scrapping Cellphones and Electronics in North America.” The Anthropology of Precious Minerals” Wenner-Gren workshop hosted by Annabel Vallard and Andrew Walsh. Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, May 23.
2014 Kuipers, Joel C. “Fixing Connections: Repairing Language in the Culture of Cell Phone Use among Millennials in Washington DC” Skomp Distinguished Lecture, Department of Anthropology, University of Indiana (April 28th)
2014 Bell, J.A. “From Hal to Siri to Us: Voices of the Future.” Public talk at the Smithsonian Magazine’s Symposium The Future is Here (May 17th) http://www.smithsonianmag.com/videos/category/future-is-here/from-hal-to-siri-to-us-voices-of-the-future/
2014 Cooper, G. and Bell, J.A. presented a poster, “An Ethnography of Cell Phone Repair: Uniting a Global Network of People, Places, and Things” National Conference of Undergraduate Research, University of Kentucky in Lexington, Kentucky (April 3-5).
2014 Cooper, G and Bell, J.A. presented a poster, “Fixing Things: The Politics and Techniques of Cell Phone Repair” at the Annual Meeting for the Society For Applied Anthropology in Albuquerque, New Mexico (March 18-23).
2013 Bell, J.A. ““Intimacies and Entanglements with Minerals, their Histories and Materials” Discussant for the session The familiarity of minerals: knowledge, skill, and ignorance in local and global networks organized by Andrew Walsh and Annabel Vallard for the 2013 American Anthropology Association meetings in Chicago (November 23)
2013 Bell, J.A., Kuipers, J.C., Hazen, J. Kemble, A., and Kobak, B. “We’re almost like therapists for people with electronics”: Fetishization, Cell Phones and Repair.” Paper presented for Linguistic And Material Intimacies Of Mobile Phones, Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History (June 9-13).
2013 Kobak, B. “Celulares: How Cell Phones Translate for Latinos in DC” Presented at the Mayor’s Office on Latino Affairs (March 12)
MEDIA
2016 Moriber, Jason “What our phones are doing to us? Smithsonian Cultural Anthropologist Joshua Bell discusses the real and the ephemeral ways mobile is making an impact on people, places and things” (September 27). Moriber interviewed Bell for a series on many dimensions of mobile phones: http://www.verizon.com/about/news/what-our-phones-are-doing-us
2016 Prophet, Isabell “Quo vadis, Mobile Devices? Joshua Bell ist Anthropologe an der Smithsonian Institution und hat für t3n in die Glaskugel geschaut. Er erwartet offenere Plattformen und mehr Druck durch die Konsumenten.” [Quo vadis, Mobile Devices? Joshua Bell is anthropologist at the Smithsonian Institution and has looked for t3n into the crystal ball. He expects more open platforms and more pressure by the consumers] (October 4) Interview for T3N a German Technology and culture magazine. http://t3n.de/news/joshua-bell-mobile-devices-751546/
2016 Bell was featured in the premier episode of the Smithsonian’s new Podcast series SideDoor.
Episode is entitled “Tech yourself” (October 28) http://www.si.edu/sidedoor/tech-yourself
2016 Ault, A. “There’s a “Sidedoor” Entrance to the Smithsonian and It’s Through a New Podcast.”
Smithsonian Magazine (November 17) http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/theres-sidedoor-entrance-smithsonian-and-its-through-new-podcast-180961132/#fAbkDKFy6rDFFdkp.99
2016 Smithsonian “How the Cell Phone Is Forever Changing Human Communication An ongoing study
by Smithsonian anthropologists investigates the dramatic shifts wrought by the smart phone.”
FILM SCREENINGS
2016-2017 Film series – Stories From a Transforming World – with the Environmental Film Festival DC, and the National Museum of Natural History ” https://dceff.org/event/stories-transforming-world/
Salero (2015, 76 min.) – Panel discussion with Robert Albro (American University) and Joshua Bell (NMNH) (October 13, 2016)
Death by Design (2016, 73 min.) – Panel discussion with Director Sue Williams moderated by Joshua Bell (NMNH) (November 29, 2016).
Land Beneath Our Feet (2016, 60 min) – Panel discussion with Director Gregg Mitman and Emmanuel K. Urey (U. Wisconsin-Madison) moderated by Joshua Bell (NMNH) (February 23, 2017)
2014 Bell hosted a film screening of Ringtone by Miyarrka Media, a film collective from Arnhem Land,
Australia, followed by a moderated panel with members of the Miyarrka Media. National Museum of Natural History, Q?rius Theater (November 4)