Philosophy, Art & Technology
My research in philosophy focuses on the foundations of digital technologies and their impacts on society. I am affiliated to JIAS, a Global South research hub and community space for experimental thinking and creative practice. Most of the year, I live in the mountains of the French Pyrenees.
© Fabien Hildelberg
Anaïs Nony, PhD
Over the last decade, I have given talks in the US, Canada, France, Italy, Ireland, England, South Africa, Turkey and widely published articles in academic journals and newspapers.
Taken together, this body of work addresses debates about how technology shapes and affects societies. My work questions the impact of technologies on psychic and social life. It engages cybernetics, artificial intelligence, and governmental technologies of behavioral surveillance and control to address critical changes in the structure and formation of contemporary societies.
My current preoccupations are fueled by the relationship between freedom and invention.
The following information are some highlights from my academic career:
- 2004
High school Diploma, Literature and Theater, public Highschool in the Lycée des Tarterets, Corbeil-Essonne
- 2005-2009
After graduating from the public Université Sorbonne Nouvelle with a BA and a Master of Research in Theater Studies, I was awarded a visiting scholarship at the New York University’s Tisch School for the Arts in 2009. It is at Paris Sorbonne-Nouvelle, New York University and later at the public University of Minnesota that I developed a research agenda invested in representational practices that merge performance and technology to further question the social ramifications that are shaping the ground of contemporary experiences.
- 2005-2018
I meet French philosopher Bernard Stiegler (1952-2020) in 2005. From 2010 until 2018, I worked with Stiegler who served as a mentor and a committee member on my dissertation. For over ten years, I took part in bi-monthly seminars, summer schools, conferences, and colloquia and engaged in regular one-on-one dialogues on the question of society and technology.
- 2016
PhD in Philosophy and Critical Media Studies, University of Minnesota.
- 2016-2018
Winthrop-King Postdoctoral Fellow in Contemporary French and Francophone Studies, Florida State University.
- 2018-2020
Andrew W. Mellon Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Center for Humanities Research, Flagship for Critical Thought in African Humanities, University of the Western Cape. Postdoctoral Research Associate, National Research Foundation, South African Research Chair Initiatives in Social Change, University of Fort Hare.
These two research positions gave me a precious opportunity to learn from scholars, students, and fellows about the history and politics of the anti-apartheid struggle, the Rhodes Must Fall and Fees Must Fall movements, freedom fighter collectives in the 80s and 90s, art-base unions and visionary activism. I have an immense debt to South Africa for transforming my soul and my work. Since 2015, it is in gratitude that I aim to further situate knowledge production from the southern hemisphere.
In 2020, colleague and friend Phokeng Setai and I edited a bilingual anthology of visual art, video performance and anti-colonial curatorial practices titled Creativity under Confinement. Creativity sous Confinement. The book showcases multi-media artists and cultural activists from Africa, the Caribbean, Latin America, North America, South Asia, and Europe.
- 2020-2022
Lecturer in Media Arts and Politics, Department of French, School of Languages, Literature and Culture, University College Cork
In 2021, I co-curated Data Streams: Art, Algorithms, and Artificial Intelligence at the Glucksman Gallery in Cork. The exhibition looks at how artists are engaging with the increasing advancement of data collection and digital surveillance, and how these technologies are silently transforming our surroundings.
In 2022, I founded The Write Technique, an academic writing consultancy to help scholars reclaim focus and publish their first book.
- 2020-present
Research Associate, Faculty of Humanities, University of Johannesburg
