With Craig Deitrich (Claremont Colleges) and Tara McPherson (USC)

The story of the digital humanities is often narrated at a decades-long history of the computational manipulation of print. What alternative histories are concealed by such a story? How might we imagine DH differently if we move beyond a focus on text toward multimodal expression and design? What audiences might such work reach? This talk will trace some of the alternate histories of DH, paying particular attention to the visual and the political by engaging the work of feminists, artists, and scholars of color.

McPherson will also consider how scholarly evidence might be engaged anew through the aesthetic possibilities of the digital archive. By taking up the work of the Vectors Lab, she will approach these questions through concrete examples of digital scholarship today.

Craig Dietrich is a digital artist, scholar, and educator. Deitrich is currently the Director of the Digital Humanities Research Studio at Claremont Colleges.

Tara McPherson is Associate Professor of Critical Studies at the University of Southern California’s School of Cinematic Arts. She is a core faculty member of the IMAP program, USC’s innovative practice based-Ph.D., and also an affiliated faculty member in the American Studies and Ethnicity Department. Her research engages the cultural dimensions of media, including the intersection of gender, race, affect and place. She has a particular interest in digital media. Here, her research focuses on the digital humanities, early software histories, gender, and race, as well as upon the development of new tools and paradigms for digital publishing, learning, and authorship.

Co-sponsored by the UCSC IGHERT Program, Film + Digital Media, HAVC,  University Library, Grad Division