It is with great pleasure that I get to discuss the projects and success of applied anthropologist and doctoral student, Anuli Akanegbu, Scholar Practitioner, Social Media Consultant, and Producer & Host of the BLK IRL Podcast. Akanegbu is not an anthropologist by training, but she is currently pursuing her doctorate in sociocultural anthropology at New York University. Her doctoral research, which is about the intersections of race, class, ethnicity, and gender in “influencer culture” in social media, was both inspired by and currently draws upon her extensive marketing background where she worked closely with many multinational corporations (e.g., Unilever and Ebay). Her goals are to use her doctoral research to add not only to the academic scholarship but also be applied directly to and for individuals, particularly Black and other people of color, interested in breaking into this industry.
Aside from pursuing her doctoral research Akanegbu is dedicated to producing and hosting her podcast, BLK IRL. The name was derived from conversations she had with friends wherein they discussed the commodification and fetishization of Black people within American popular culture. She was further inspired to create the podcast to showcase how people live two different lives/identities. She noticed how people may convey one identity online, particularly through social media, but act in different manner or maintain a dissimilar lifestyle in real life. Rather than discuss this contradiction solely in the academic literature Akanegbu took to podcasting. She felt familiar with this medium from her previous marketing experience, but also feels strongly in the reach of the platform to larger and largely nonacademic audiences. She sees podcasting as an effective means of storytelling, which can and does include providing informative content to the audience. The listeners can and often are more connected to the information provided through listening to the speaker’s words, tone, and pitch. The melody of the voice can keep the listener’s attention and create and foster a deeper connection.
Akanegbu remarks often that there are several parallels between the work she previously did in marketing and the work she is now completing as an anthropology student. She notes how the methods used by both are extremely similar-both have to study their subjects carefully to know where best to begin producing new content/information/products. For a marketer understanding consumer trends requires research about people, their cultures, their values, their beliefs, etc., which is very much the same as anthropologists seeking to understand a group of people and/or their culture. She states that the connections between her marketing experience and anthropological scholarship enable her to best utilize her skills and knowledge to better realize her doctoral research and her podcast production.
Works Cited
Akanegbu, Anuli. "An Interview with Anuli Akanegbu about Podcasting and BLK IRL." Practicing Anthropology 2021. Electronic.
—. Anuli. 2022. Electronic. 9 March 2022.
—. "Podcasts as a Form of Scholarship." 29 April 2021. American Anthropologist. Electronic. 9 March 2022.
4 comments:
I love how she studies people’s life on and off social media because people do live double life’s. her podcasts really gets people’s prospective. Keith McConnell
We always notice that people tend to change their persona or attitude depending on the setting. For example many people appear professional but at home may be totally different. I admire her ability to speak up and notice a-lot. I’ve been inspired by many of her stories and fairly impressed on how she balances her whole life. Her use of anthropology did not shock me considering we tend to see this I’m our every day life. BLK irl is a fearless movement and I’m excited to see the outcome.
I find her work incredible. It is great to still see people find their purpose in this world. Her is so uplifting and her use of anthropology is so beneficial. Her objectives are to use her Ph.D. research to benefit individuals directly as well as advance academic study.
I read this article and was very impressed with Anuli Akanegbu's background and activities. She is using her marketing background to conduct doctoral research in the field of socio-cultural anthropology, with a particular focus on the intersection of race, class, ethnicity, and gender in “influencer culture.” I thought this research was great because it aims not only to make an academic contribution, but also to provide practical tools to help people, especially Blacks and other people of color, enter the industry.
In addition, her podcast, BLK IRL, which is about the differences between online and real-life identities and the commercialization of Black culture, provides deep insights for many listeners beyond academia. I found her flexible perspective and dynamic approach to finding commonalities between marketing and anthropology and applying them to her research and podcast production to be very interesting.
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