Ancient Tech Gets New Life in Ultra-Orthodox Communities
Researchers found that outmoded technologies like magic lanterns are being repurposed as culturally acceptable tools in strict religious communities, challenging assumptions about technological progress. The discovery reshapes how businesses and policymakers should think about designing products for niche markets with distinct values.
Originaltitel: The Afterlife of an Optical Device, or Making the Lantern Kosher
<p>Exploring media archaeology’s potential to trouble established notions regarding old and new media technologies, this chapter concerns a contemporary optical device dubbed Makrentz’ik – a toy magic lantern marketed for Jewish ultra-Orthodox (Haredi) children in Israel. In the context of the Haredi community’s strict observance of Jewish laws and rejection of modern values, the outmoded technology of the lantern acquires a dif ferent cultural and ideological signif icance than typically assumed in media historiography. The Makrentz’ik, therefore, embodies media archaeology’s preoccupations with rethinking temporalities – being at once an obsolete medium and, in its cultural context, a technological novelty. This raises new questions about how media cultures vary not only across distinct geographical locat</p>