Tactical Biopolitics: A talk by Kavita Philip

Tactical Biopolitics, a talk on (un)disciplinary collaborations with the late Beatriz da Costa by historian of science and technology Kavita Philip.
Moderated by Andrew McNeely

October 30, 1pm–3pm PDT
Online Talk via Zoom

This event is organized as part of the research phase of the upcoming exhibition, (un)disciplinary tactics: Beatriz da Costa, Getty PST initiative Art and Science 2024 with A Preemptive Study: Session II, organized by Andrew McNeely, Daniela Lieja Quintanar, and Ana Briz. Kavita Philip is part of the advisory team for the research project and exhibition (un)disciplinary tactics: Beatriz da Costa.

This talk contemplates the place of technology, science, and the arts within decolonial thought by bringing these concerns to bear on the life and work of the late artist Beatriz da Costa (1974–2012). As a former colleague and close collaborator of da Costa’s, Kavita Philip will share her experience developing experimental inter- and un-disciplinary research projects between the humanities, the arts, and the sciences, giving special attention to their co-edited book Tactical Biopolitics (2008) with MIT Press. A book that delves into important political issues that raise questions of race, gender, and nation around historical changes such as decolonization and neoliberalism. This talk will also take a broader look at the history of technoscience in the history of South Asia and its diasporas to connect it with da Costa and Philip’s migration experience and heritages.

In preparation of this program, we encourage you to read the following texts by Kavita Philip:
Philip, Kavita – The Internet Will Be Decolonized (2011) and Philip, Irani, and Dourish – Postcolonial Computing (2010). 

Kavita Philip is a historian of science and culture, and the President’s Excellence Chair in Network Cultures and a Professor of English at the University of British Columbia (UBC) Department of English Language and Literatures. She is author of Civilizing Natures (Rutgers University Press), and co-editor of five volumes curating interdisciplinary work in radical history, political science, art, activism, gender, technology studies, and public policy. Previously Philip taught as Professor in History at the University of California, Irvine. She was also an affiliated Faculty in Informatics, and the Director and co-founder (with Du Bois scholar Dr. Nahum Chandler) of the research group in Science, Technology and Race. During her time at UC Irvine, she also served as the Director of the Critical Theory Institute, Director of the Graduate Feminist Emphasis, and Director of Graduate Studies in History. Philip holds a PhD in Science and Technology Studies from Cornell, an M.A. in History and Philosophy of Science and Technology from Cornell, an M.S. in Physics from the University of Iowa, and a B.Sc. in Physics (with Chemistry and Mathematics minors) from Stella Maris College (University of Madras, India).