Scott Ross is a sociocultural and linguistic anthropologist interested in communications technology and conflict intervention. He writes and teaches about infrastructure, humanitarianism, and African politics. His primary research concerns humanitarian and peacebuilding interventions and media technology in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda.
Scott is currently completing two research projects on radio and conflict in east-central Africa. The first is an ethnographic study of a two-way radio conflict early warning system in Haut Uélé, DR Congo, where he followed humanitarian and technological networks to understand connectivity and security in central Africa. This research has received support from the Social Science Research Council, the Wenner-Gren Foundation, the National Science Foundation, and the United States Institute of Peace. His second project centers on the use of broadcast radio programs in peacebuilding and counterinsurgency in and around northern Uganda.
In addition, Scott also studies social media, especially in relation to academic labor and community building. He is currently a contributing editor at the Society for Cultural Anthropology, where he is a co-section editor of its social media team. His research has been published or is forthcoming in African Studies Review, Anthropological Quarterly, the Journal of Linguistic Anthropology, Fieldsights, and Warscapes, among others.