I am an anthropologist with an interest in the epistemic transformation of our contemporary, more specifically I investigate how new agents (like activists) intervene in relevant ways in the production of knowledge in our societies. This line of research has led me to investigated the practices through which activists, grassroots, and artists speculate with forms of living. In my second research line I have explored and reflected about the transformations of the epistemic practices of anthropology in the contemporary.
I have investigated the epistemic the activity of activist collectives and neighbourhood organizations concerned with the city, contributing to understand how they experiment with modes of collective living through diverse practices of material intervention and knowledge production in the city.
My second research line explores and intervenes on the modes of inquiry of anthropology. I have carried out a sustained investigation about the inventive condition of anthropological inquiries. This is an endeavour gathered in the xcol platform. Part of this long-standing interest is my work on digital ethnography and the ethical challenges of academic practices.
In recent years I have carried out a number of projects experimenting at the intersection of art, anthropology and urbanism. This has led me to use artistic languages and formats as vehicles for the exposition of anthropological knowledge. This exploration is integral to the Colleex network (Collaboratory for Ethnographic Experimentation), an official network of the European Association of Social Anthropology (EASA) that I co-founded in 2017.
I am member of the wxecutive committee of the Spanish association of anthropology (ASAEE) and convenor of the ASAEE Multimodal Network .
Anthropology of Knowledge and Science and Technology Studies (STS) are my main disciplinary fields. I have carried out my ethnographies in Madrid between 2010-2015, investigating the intersection between Free Culture/Free Software and auto-construction practices.
I am affiliated to the Department of Social Anthropology and Social Psychology at the Complutense University of Madrid (Spain). I have worked for the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas), the Centre for Research on Socio-Cultural Change (CRESC) of the University of Manchester, and the Internet Interdisciplinary Institute (IN3) of the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya.
My original background is in Physics, I hold a Bachelor of Sciences and a Master’s Degree in Theoretical Physic (Complutense University of Madrid). In a previous professional life, I worked as a journalist for El País (one of the leading newspapers in Spain).
Contact: jestalel at ucm.es
