Past
Events
History & Theory
Upcoming
Events
History & Theory

Past Events
11 Oct, 2024 History & Theory

Games @ Berkeley

with Jane McGonigal, Director of Game Research and Development, Institute for the Future; Greg Niemeyer, Data Artist and Professor of Media Innovation, UC Berkeley; Alex Leavitt, Principal Researcher, Roblox; Scotty Hoag, Interactive Software Engineer, Sphere Entertainment; Bo Ruberg, Professor, Film & Media Studies, School of Humanities, UC Irvine; Alenda Y. Chang, Associate Professor, Film & Media Studies, UC Santa Barbara; Christopher J. Goetz, Associate Professor, Cinematic Arts, University of Iowa; Rob Curl, Museum Historian and Research Manager at the Museum of Art and Digital Entertainment; Phil Salvador, Library Director, Video Game History Foundation; Danny O'Dwyer, Founder, Noclip; Henry Lowood, Harold C. Hohbach Curator for History of Science & Technology Collections and Curator for Film & Media Collections, Stanford University Libraries

A History and Theory of New Media special event co-sponsored by the Department of Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies Read more

30 Sep, 2024 History & Theory

Muscogee (Creek) Tribal Town Futurity: Decolonial Imagining of Land Back

with Laura Harjo
Mvskoke scholar and Associate Professor of Indigenous Planning, Community Development, and Indigenous Feminisms, University of Oklahoma

An Indigenous Technologies event co-sponsored by the Native American Studies program, the Arts Research Center (ARC), and the Department of City & Regional Planning Read more

22 Apr, 2024 History & Theory

Historical Data, Present-Day Harms: On the Uses and Limits of Data Science for the Study of Social Movements

with Lauren Klein
Winship Distinguished Research Professor, Departments of Quantitative Theory & Methods and English, Emory University 

Presented with the Digital Humanities program and co-sponsored by the College of Computing, Data Science, and Society (CDSS), the Jacobs Institute for Design Innovation, and the Media Studies program Read more

01 Apr, 2024 History & Theory

AI & the Humanities: AI is Weird

with Erik Davis
Writer, Journalist, and Lecturer

Presented in partnership with the Townsend Center for Humanities. Read more

21 Mar, 2024 History & Theory

Seeing and Seafaring: Maritime Navigation and the Scopic Regime of Computation

with Bernard Geoghegan
Reader in the History and Theory of Digital Media, King's College, London

A History & Theory of New Media lecture presented by the Center for Science, Technology, Medicine, and Society (CSTMS) Read more

13 Mar, 2024 History & Theory

AI & the Humanities: Artificial Intelligence and Translation

with Behrooz Ghorbani, Researcher, OpenAI
Cathy Park Hong, English, UC Berkeley
Hoyt Long, East Asian Languages & Civilizations, University of Chicago

Presented in partnership with the Townsend Center for the Humanities. Read more

04 Mar, 2024 History & Theory

Mediascapes of Postsocialism: Cuban New Media Cultures After the End of History

with Paloma Duong
Associate Professor of Latin American and Media Studies, Massachusetts Institute of Technology 

A Latinx & Latin American Media Ecologies event co-sponsored by the Center for Latin American & Caribbean Studies (CLACS) and the Center for Science, Technology, Medicine, and Society (CSTMS) Read more

26 Feb, 2024 History & Theory

Unsettling Sound Technologies: Indigenous Sonic Sovereignty and Border Politics

with Christina Leza, Professor of Anthropology and Indigenous Studies, Colorado College, and Trevor Reed, Professor of Law, Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law, Arizona State University

Moderated by Sierra Edd, Indigenous Technologies Coordinator

An Indigenous Technologies event co-sponsored by the Department of Ethnic Studies and the Department of Art Practice Read more

16 Oct, 2023 History & Theory

Rerouting Media in the Living Forest

with Martina Broner
Assistant Professor, Department of Spanish and Portuguese, Dartmouth College, and Co-Founder of the Amazonia Section of the Latin American Studies Association  

A Latinx & Latin American Media Ecologies and Indigenous Technologies event co-sponsored by the Center for Latin American & Caribbean Studies (CLAS), the Media Studies program, and the Department of Art Practice Read more

11 Oct, 2023 History & Theory

[* Postponed / New Date Forthcoming *] AI and the Humanities: Generative Creativity and Interpretation

with Timnit Gebru, Founder & Executive Director, The Distributed AI Research Institute (DAIR); Vikram Chandra, Writer and Co-Founder, Granthika Co.; Hannah Zeavin, Assistant Professor, Department of History and Berkeley Center for New Media, University of California, Berkeley  

Presented with the Townsend Center for Humanities  Read more

07 Nov, 2022 History & Theory

Animating Cities Digitally: Processing Urban Space and Time

with Gillian Rose
Visiting Scholar in Department of Geography; Professor, School of Geography and the Environment, University of Oxford

Co-sponsored by the Department of Geography and Media Studies Read more

31 Oct, 2022 History & Theory

Digital Platforms and Ancient African Knowledge Systems: Triumphs and Vulnerabilities

with Gloria Emeagwali
Professor of History and African Studies, Central Connecticut State University

An Indigenous Technologies event co-sponsored by the American Indian Graduate Program, the Arts Research Center, the Department of Ethnic Studies, the School of Information, Media Studies, Native American Studies, and the Center for Race and Gender Read more

17 Oct, 2022 History & Theory

A Minor Cybernetic Hypothesis

Kelli Moore
Assistant Professor of Media, Culture, and Communication at New York University

Co-sponsored by Media Studies and the Department of Rhetoric  Read more

29 Aug, 2022 History & Theory

Pua Case on Mauna Kea

Pua Case
Kumu Hula, teacher, and  aloha ʻāina protector  

An Indigenous Technologies event co-sponsored by the American Indian Graduate Program, Arts Research Center, the Department of Ethnic Studies, Media Studies, the Center for Race and Gender, and Native American Studies Read more

07 Feb, 2022 History & Theory

Tequiologies: Indigenous Solutions Against Climate Catastrophe

with Yásnaya Elena Aguilar Gil
Linguist, writer, translator, language rights activist and researcher ayuujk (mixe)
Presented in partnership with the Center for Latin American Studies. Co-sponsored by Alianza UCMX, Spanish & Portuguese, the Arts Research Center, and and The American Indian Graduate Program.  Read more

28 Oct, 2021 History & Theory

Soul-Assemblage Media

with Professor Laura U. Marks
Simon Fraser University, Vancouver

Presented by The Department of Media Studies and co-sponsored by BCNM.  Read more

25 Oct, 2021 History & Theory

Beyond Settler Sex and Family: Kim TallBear in Conversation

with Kim TallBear
Professor and Canada Research Chair in Indigenous Peoples, Technoscience and Environment, Faculty of Native Studies, University of Alberta

In conversation with Marcelo Garzo Montalvo
Assistant Professor of Ethnic Studies at California State University, San Marcos

Co-sponsored by the Center for Race and Gender, American Cultures, Anthropology, The Program in Critical Theory, the Arts Research Center, and and The American Indian Graduate Program. Read more

22 Apr, 2021 History & Theory

Indigenous Games

with Elizabeth LaPensée
Assistant Professor, Michigan State University

Co-sponsored by the Department of Art Practice.

Image credit: Elizabeth LaPensée Read more

01 Mar, 2021 History & Theory

A Conversation on Wildfire Ecologies

with Margo Robbins

Co-founder and President of the Cultural Fire Management Council

and Valentin Lopez

Chair of the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band
Presented in partnership with Berkeley Arts + Design as part of Arts + Design Mondays.

  Read more

03 Feb, 2021 History & Theory

Indigenous Cyber-relationality: Discerning the Limits and Potential for Connective Action

with Marisa Duarte
Assistant Professor, Arizona State University

Co-sponsored by the Center for Information Technology Research in the Interest of Society, the School of Information, American Cultures, and the Center for Race and Gender. Read more

05 Nov, 2020 History & Theory

World Re-Building: Aboriginal Territories in Cyberspace and the Initiative for Indigenous Futures

with Skawennati
Artist & Co-Director of Aboriginal Territories in Cyberspace 

Co-sponsored by the Department of Art Practice and the Townsend Center for the Humanities. 

Image credit: Skawennati, "Renewal" 2016 Read more

10 Sep, 2020 History & Theory

A Conversation with the Sogorea Te' Land Trust

with Corrina Gould
Lisjan Ohlone leader and co-founder of the Sogorea Te' Land Trust
moderated by Marcelo Garzo Montalvo Read more

16 Apr, 2020 History & Theory

ONLINE: Art & AI

*Due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) precautions, this event has been moved to the online platform Zoom*

with Christiane Paul
Chief Curator / Director of the Sheila C. Johnson Design Center, Professor at The New School and Adjunct Curator of Digital Art at the Whitney Museum of American Art

Response from Claudia Schmuckli
Curator-in-Charge of Contemporary Art and Programming at the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco.

Co-sponsored by AutoLab, Arts + Design, the Arts Research Center, Art Practice, BAMPFA, and held in conjunction with the DH Faire. Read more

12 Mar, 2020 History & Theory

ONLINE: Feminist Open Access and Internet Publishing

*Due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) precautions, this event has been moved to the online platform Zoom*

 

with Francesca Coppa, co-founder Organization for Transformative Works
and Kristina Busse and Karen Hellekson, co-founders Transformative Works & Cultures

Co-sponsored by the Doreen B. Townsend Center for the Humanities, the School of Information, the D-Lab, UC Berkeley Libraries, and the Department of Film & Media Read more

04 Apr, 2019 History & Theory

The Human Body in the Age of Catastrophe

with Stefanos Geroulanos
New York University

Presented by the Department of Rhetoric, in conjunction with the Berkeley Center for New Media's History and Theory of New Media Lecture Series. Co-sponsored by the Department of History. Read more

03 Apr, 2019 History & Theory

The Human Computer in the Stone Age: Technology, Prehistory, and the Redefinition of the Human after World War II

with Stefanos Geroulanos
New York University Read more

20 Mar, 2019 History & Theory

Algorithms of Oppression: How Search Engines Reinforce Racism

with Safiya Umoja Noble
University of California, Los Angeles
Co-sponsored by the CITRIS Policy Lab Read more

04 Oct, 2018 History & Theory

Learning To Interact: Cybernetics and Play

with Timothy Stott
Lecturer in Art History and Visual Culture
Dublin School of Creative Arts, Dublin Institute of Technology Read more

12 Sep, 2018 History & Theory

Architectural Intelligence

with Molly Wright Steenson
Associate Professor of Ethics and Computational Technologies at Carnegie Mellon University
In partnership with the Department of Architecture Read more

01 Mar, 2018 History & Theory

The Software Arts

with Warren Sack
Chair and Professor of Film + Digital Media at the University of California, Santa Cruz Read more

17 Oct, 2017 History & Theory

Between the Digital and the Political: New Ecologies of Mind

with Erich Hörl and Yuk Hui
Panel Discussion with Luciana Parisi, David Bates & Warren Sack
with support from the Townsend Center and the Dean of Arts and Humanities Read more

12 Oct, 2017 History & Theory

Datasense: Sensor Technology and the Mediation of Sentience

with Natasha Schull
Associate Professor in the Department of Media, Culture, and Communication at NYU
Presented in partnership with the Center for Science, Technology, Medicine, & Society

  Read more

13 Apr, 2017 History & Theory

Technology and Forensic Evidence: Chilean Human Rights Investigations

with Eden Medina
Associate Professor of Informatics and Computing, Affiliated Associate Professor of Law, and Adjunct Associate Professor of History at Indiana University, Bloomington Read more

04 Apr, 2017 History & Theory

Digital Doomsday: A Perspective from the Pathology Called Europe

with Jan De Vos
Postdoctoral researcher at Ghent University (BE) Read more

02 Mar, 2017 History & Theory

The Pirate Function

with Kavita Philip, Associate Professor of History  Read more

13 Nov, 2016 History & Theory

Video Analytics: From Keywords to Keyframes

with Virginia Kuhn,

Associate Professor in the Division of Media Arts + Practice and Associate Director of the Institute for Multimedia Literacy in the School of Cinematic Arts at USC Read more

14 Oct, 2016 History & Theory

Technology, Space, Reason: Infrastructures of Knowledge in the Anthropocene

with Paul Edwards

A continuation of the Symposium, sponsored by the Townsend Center for the Humanities. Read more

13 Oct, 2016 History & Theory

Technology, Space, Reason: Infrastructures of Knowledge in the Anthropocene

with Paul Edwards

Sponsored by the Townsend Center, the Dean of Humanities, the Berkeley Center for New Media, and the Department of Rhetoric. Read more

29 Sep, 2016 History & Theory

A Workshop on Network Analysis for Film & Media

with Miriam Posner Read more

17 Mar, 2016 History & Theory

Critical Play

Mary Flanagan will explore this rich history and point to the theoretical concerns that arise when playing critically.  Read more

11 Feb, 2016 History & Theory

Machine Generated Culpability

with Ahmed Ghappour, law professor at UC Hastings Read more

16 Nov, 2015 History & Theory

Design, Geopolitics, and Planetary-Scale Computing

with Benjamin Bratton, UCSD Professor and Design Theorist Read more

02 Apr, 2015 History & Theory

System Addict

A lecture on "Technologies of Humanity in Contemporary R&B Music"

by Alexander G. Weheliye, Northwestern Professor Read more

05 Mar, 2015 History & Theory

Against the Cultural Singularity

A lecture by Alan Liu, UCSB Profesor Read more

26 Feb, 2015 History & Theory

Gamic Orientalism

by Chris Goto-Jones, Leiden University Read more

19 Feb, 2015 History & Theory

Intermedia Dance

An HTNM lecture by Elizabeth Freeman, UCD Professor Read more

13 Nov, 2014 History & Theory

Cold War Multimedia: The Democratic Surround

An HTNM lecture by Fred Turner, Associate Professor of Communication at Stanford University Read more

02 Oct, 2014 History & Theory

Cloud Policy

A lecture by Jennifer Holt (Associate Professor of Film and Media Studies at UCSB) this October, held at Stephens Hall Read more

06 Mar, 2014 History & Theory

The Cybernetic Hypothesis

A History and Theory lecture by Alex Galloway, philosophy writer and programmer. Co-sponsored by the Department of Film and Media Read more

06 Feb, 2014 History & Theory

Indigenous Circuits

A lecture by Lisa Nakamura, "Navajo Women and the Racialization of Early Electronic Manufacture" Read more

07 Nov, 2013 History & Theory

Media Infrastructures

A History and Theory lecture by Lisa Parks, UCSB Professor and former Film & Media Studies Department Chair Read more

28 Oct, 2013 History & Theory

Forensic Architecture

A History and Theory of New Media lecture by Eyal Weizman, architect, University of London Professor Read more

19 Sep, 2013 History & Theory

Mia Laboro: How To Do Generative Humanities

with Peter Lunenfeld, UCLA Design Media Arts Professor Read more

14 Mar, 2013 History & Theory

Amateurdom and Its Discontents

with Lisa Gitelman, media historian
Co-sponsored by the Department of Rhetoric Read more

31 Jan, 2013 History & Theory

Media Materialities

An HTNM lecture by Stefan Andriopoulos, Germanic Languages Chair at Coumbia University Read more

25 Oct, 2012 History & Theory

Imagined Networks

with Wendy Chun, Prof. of Modern Culture and Media at Brown University Read more

27 Sep, 2012 History & Theory

Camouflage Media

with Hanna Rose Shell, Associate Professor in the Program in Science, Technology, and Society at MIT Read more

06 Sep, 2012 History & Theory

Applied Topology

with Geoff Manaugh, author of BLDGBLOG and former senior editor of Dwell magazine Read more

26 Apr, 2012 History & Theory

Tactical Media

with Rita Raley, Associate Prof. of English, among other distinguished appointments Read more

09 Feb, 2012 History & Theory

Media Piracy

A History and Theory of New Media lecture with Adrian Johns (University of Chicago) Read more

18 Nov, 2011 History & Theory

Lydia Liu, in conversation with Martin Jay and David Bates on her new book, "The Freudian Robot"

The author of "The Freudian Robot: Digital Media and the Future of the Unconscious" talking to Martin Jay (History) and David Bates (Rhetoric) Read more

03 Nov, 2011 History & Theory

Transmedia

A History and Theory of New Media lecture by Henry Jenkins (USC) Read more

13 Oct, 2011 History & Theory

How to Knit a Popular History of Media

with Kristen Haring (Auburn University) Read more

06 Sep, 2011 History & Theory

Technology as the Architect of our Intimacies

with Sherry Turkle -- pioneering technologist; professor, author, consultant, researcher and licensed clinical psychologist Read more

25 Nov, 2024 History & Theory

The Khipu Model: An Indigenous Knowledge-Based Research Framework

with Mariaelena Huambachano
Professor, Environmental Humanities and Indigenous Studies, Syracuse University

An Indigenous Technologies event co-sponsored by the Arts Research Center (ARC) Read more

23 Apr, 2025 History & Theory

Data Are Made, Not Found

with danah boyd
Partner Researcher, Microsoft Research and Distinguished Visiting Professor, Georgetown University

Presented with the Digital Humanities program and co-sponsored by Jacobs Institute for Design Innovation and the School of Information Read more