Imani C. Mkandawire Ph.D is an interdisciplinary artist, researcher, and educator. She received her PhD in Comparative Literature at the University of Michigan (2022) where she studied mathematics as a constructed language, focusing on how mathematical concepts are expressed within African and African diasporic cultures. She obtained a Graduate Certificate from the Digital Studies Institute concentrating on methods for creative computing. Mkandawire’s research emerges at the intersection of Black cultural studies, creative computing, and ethics of Artificial Intelligence, often using multimodal and cross-disciplinary methods. Her work reimagines the integration of mathematics for computer science with artistic methods that can captivate learners in personally significant, creative expressions as they delve into topics about cultural identities, and the social and political aspects of society. Through a creative practice dedicated to photography, performance, video, writing, installation, and machine learning, Mkandawire sparks conversation about power dynamics latent in the production, circulation, and commodification of knowledge and intelligence.
Mkandawire has presented research at conferences including the Society for Literature Science and Arts (SLSA), Association for the Study of Arts of the Present (ASAP), and the American Studies Association (ASA). Her artwork has been exhibited at the Festival for Unconventional Computing in Bristols, UK, the Ann Arbor Art Center, and the Avery Research Center. She is the recipient of various awards including, the Rackham Merit Graduate Fellowship, Social Science Research Council Predoctoral Awards, University of Michigan Digital Studies Institute Research Grant, National Institute for Institutional Diversity Anti-Racism Research Award, The Center for European Studies for Research on integration and is currently a 2023 Mozilla Creative Media Awardee.
E D U C A T I O N
University of Michigan PhD. [2022] Department of Comparative Literature University of Michigan
University of Michigan Digital Studies Institute Graduate Certificate [2022]
B.A 2015 | English Literature, French Minor City College of New York, CUNY
P R E S E N T A T I O N S W O R K S H O P S & E X H I B I T I O N S
2023| co-exhibition| The Avery Research Center| Charleston, SC
2022| Workshop| Ball State University
2022| co-exhibition| 100th All Media Show | Ann Arbor Arts Center
2022| co-exhibition| Festival for Unconventional Computing| Bristols, UK
2022| co-exhibition| Post- Apocalyptic Computing and Technology| Bristols, UK
2021| Panelist | Society of Literature Science and Arts (SLSA)
2021 | Talk | “Building an Academic Public Presence” | Digital Studies Institute at U of M
2019 | Panelist | American Studies Association (ASA)
2018 | Workshop | Association for the Study of the Arts of the Present (ASAP)
2016 | Panelist | York University Graduate Student Conference
2015 | Panelist | New York African Studies Association
P U B L I C A T I O N S
2022 | “In my Father’s House” | Are.na Annual
2022 | “Knowledge Representation and Reasoning a Transdisciplinary Definition” | Chimeras: Inventory of Synthetic Cognition | Onassis Publication
2022 | “The Lag Manifesto”| The Digital Inequalities Lab | Afterimage , vol 49, Issue 1, 2022 pp. 110-126.
2019 | Absinthe A Journal of World Literature in Translation “Inheritance, An Ode to NTOO”
A C A D E M I C E M P L O Y M E N T
Winter 2021 | Main Instructor Digital Literacies: Multimodal Writing in an Era of Information LSA, University of Michigan Ann Arbor, MI
Fall 2020 | Instructional Aid SIADS 503 Data Science Ethics School of Information, University of Michigan Ann Arbor, MI
Summer 2020 | Graduate Student Researcher University of Michigan Hybrid Education Initiative for Remote Learning
Winter 2019 | Ideation Team Member DAAS111 Global Blackness LSA, University of Michigan Ann Arbor, MI
2017-2018 | Main Instructor Comp Lit122 Writing Images: Introduction to Mix Media Writing LSA, University of Michigan Ann Arbor, MI
2016 -2017 | Main Instructor CompLit122 Introduction to Argumentative Writing LSA, University of Michigan Ann Arbor, MI
2013-2014 | English Instructor Paris, France | The Paris Graduate School of Digital Innovation
2013-2014 | English Instructor Paris, France | Babylangues: Cours d’anglais pour bébé et enfant
G R A N T S, A W A R D S, N O M I N A T I O N S
2023 | Mozilla Foundation Creative Media Award
2021 | Nomination Claudia Jones Alexander Trailblazer Award for Contributions in STEM
2019 | Digital Studies Institute Research Grant
2018 | Honorable Mention Ford Predoctoral Fellowship
2017 | Social Science Research Council Research Grant
2017 | Weiser Center for Europe & Eurasia Studies Research Grant
2015 | Rackham Merit Fellowship
2013 | Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship