Kenzell Huggins is a cultural and linguistic anthropologist who studies the construction of social value around and through screened entertainment media industries, with particular attention to the semiotics of media.

His dissertation research examines the production of film and television in Singapore. The project explores the values attached to developing film and television production in a place historically perceived to be at the peripheries of global media production. These issues are analyzed through the conceptual lens of animation, understanding media production as the semiotic construction of life. Kenzell’s second project expands these same topics to gaming in Singapore, examining the place of play in a country known for pragmatism and efficiency. Kenzell’s methodological interests include collaborative and virtual ethnography, and he has worked on topics including community-engaged ecological projects and commercial logistics through collaborative work.

Kenzell holds a Ph.D in Anthropology from the University of Chicago and B.A. in Anthropology from the University of Notre Dame. His work has been supported by the National Science Foundation’s Graduate Research Fellowship Program.