WINNIPEG, MB –The University of Winnipeg’s Institute for Women’s and Gender Studies (IWGS) and the Department of Women’s and Gender Studies in the Faculty of Arts, are pleased to announce the awarding of their postdoctoral fellowship in Digital Humanities and New Media to scholar/artist/activist Praba Pilar. Pilar will begin her term in January 2013 at the Hub for InnoVative Exchange (HIVE), which is housed at IWGS.
“It is a great honor to join the team,” expressed Pilar. “My dream has been to work on feminist initiatives through emerging technologies. As a longstanding critic of technology, I am ready to move forward into generative and productive engagements.”
Praba Pilar is a performance artist, technologist and cultural theorist exploring aspects of emerging technologies which generate new forms of economic, environmental and sexual exploitation and erasure. Deeply rooted in Latino communities, she has spent the last decade presenting site works performances, street theatre, writing and websites which provide a counternarrative to the overarching rhetoric about the beneficence of biotechnology, information technology, and nanotechnology.
“Praba’s extensive experience makes her a perfect fit for consultation and collaboration,” said Dr. Fiona Green, Associate Dean of Arts, Associate Professor, Women’s and Gender Studies, Co-Director, Institute for Women’s & Gender Studies.
Pilar’s art covers such issues as genetic engineering, nanotechnology, and cross-border trafficking of women. She is currently finishing her PhD at the University of California at Davis with a dissertation focusing on Latina/o performance artists and their contestation of exploitative mechanisms of technology. Recipient of many honours and awards, Pilar also brings an impressive wealth of publications and an extensive professional art practice.
Please visit the Institute for Women’s and Gender Studies for more information.
