Identity and Community among Ham Radio Operators

AYURE funded student/faculty research and ethnographic film project, 2012-2013

Student: Anthropology major Dylan Lewis (’13)

This is an ethnographic film project that will investigate the perceptions and formation of community identity among ham radio operators (amateur radio operators) in the Hudson Valley. Our central research question is: How do ham radio operators define and construct their community and their identity as amateur radio operators? A second, related, question is concerned with the role of technology and communication among ham radio operators. Why radio? That is, why do they choose the airwaves as a mode of communication? In order to investigate these broader questions, we will look at the role of technology in their choice to become radio operators, the role of jargon (language) in communication among hams, the rules and etiquette (both spoken and unspoken) of the amateur airwaves, how hams conduct themselves in face-to-face meetings with other hams (and whether or not this differs from their on-air personas), whether there are sub-groups in the community, and if/why there are differential levels of prestige among members.