About
I am a media and cultural theorist, as well as an experimental writer, editor and publisher. I work at the nexus of digital culture, politics and technology. I am Professor of Media in the Institute of Creative Cultures at Coventry University, UK, where I am director of the
Centre for Postdigital Cultures (a disruptive iteration of the
Centre for Disruptive Media). I am also
Visiting Researcher in the
Centre for Philosophical Technologies at Arizona State University in the US.
I am author of
A Stubborn Fury: How Writing Works in Elitist Britain (Open Humanities Press, 2021),
The Inhumanist Manifesto (Techne Lab, 2017),
Pirate Philosophy (MIT Press, 2016),
The Uberfication of the University (Minnesota UP, 2016),
Digitize This Book! (Minnesota UP, 2008), and
Culture in Bits (Continuum, 2002). I am also co-author of
Públicos Fantasma – La Naturaleza Política Del Libro – La Red (Taller de Ediciones Económicas, 2016) and
Open Education (Rowman and Littlefield International, 2014), and co-editor of
Experimenting (Fordham UP, 2007) and
New Cultural Studies: Adventures in Theory (Edinburgh UP, 2006).
My current research interests include: class, inequality and digital capitalism; the afterlife of DH, new materialism & posthumanism; political ontology; transitional thinking; non-liberal and non-humanist forms of collaboration & commons; critical infrastructure; radical OA; piracy.
Mastodon Feed
My argument in Defund Culture is that structural inequality cannot be remedied by means of social mobility initiatives that endeavour to include more diverse groups in a system that has historically excluded them and that was constructed in advance, although not by them. If we do attempt that, then our predominantly upper- and middle-class culture will continue to prosper. There’ll just be more working-class people involved in creating and disseminating it, regardless of whether they identify as upper- or middle-class or not. (2026-01-14 ↗)
‘We wish to platform working-class individuals and groups in this conference, so ask if you are submitting something that you identify as working-class.’ Might have liked to contribute to this event. But, with regard to the above statement, I’m not sure if identifying as working-class is not almost as much part of the problem as part of the solution: https://openbookcollective.org/books/book/5679981/ (2026-01-14 ↗)
Happily, this forthcomig event is not already full: Who does not envy with us is against us: A conference on working-classness as method in creative practice https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Nnqa5uxcXUGYAVMa_hNPdIqqfpUhry8B/view?fbclid=PAZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQPNTY3MDY3MzQzMzUyNDI3AAGnuT8Ji5tQU_9I_sr4Ny5dhlInc2k44v4r8lipWqUDg7A-nWve-W2S-SX5Dyg_aem_m1w3aGsgiGDb7jl6LzJ4sA Co-convened by Maria Fusco and Beth Hughes, with support from Tate Liverpool and Everyman Theatre, Liverpool 11-5pm, 10 April 2026 Everyman Theatre, Liverpool Free attendance Lunch will be provided Deadline for abstracts: 5pm 30 January 2026 #class #classwar #art #creative (2026-01-13 ↗)
Are reparations possible in a world still stealing? Hekayyatna Another event I’d have liked to have gone to but which is already sold out: https://ibraaz.org/whats-on/are-reparations-possible-in-a-world-still-stealing ‘While #museums debate returning artefacts, coltan mines fuel wars in the Congo. While conferences discuss #postcolonial reparations, Sudan’s gold finances its own destruction. Ibrahim Mahama’s “reverse restitution” asks us to look at the empire’s ruins – but what about the ruins being made right now? Join Hekayyatna for an evening exploring what #Justice repair, and #restitution mean when #extraction never stopped, when the #GlobalMajority is still being #colonised and when tomorrow’s debts are being written in today’s conflicts.’ (2026-01-13 ↗)
Can strongly recommend Wayne McGregor’s On The Other Earth (at Stone Nest) https://www.somersethouse.org.uk/whats-on/wayne-mcgregor-on-the-other-earth Made with the artists Ravi Deepres, Theresa Baumgartner and Jeffrey Shaw, On The Other Earth is very much as billed: ‘A 57-minute, virtual performance unlike anything you’ve seen before…’ #dance #art #cinema #virtual #performance #tech (2026-01-12 ↗)
