RECOMMENDED: In the Shadows of the Digital Humanities

The latest issue of differences: A Journal of Feminist Cultural Studies is organized around the theme, In the Shadows of the Digital Humanities (subscription required). The issue draws on ideas first presented at an MLA 2013 session titled, “The Dark Side of the Digital Humanities,” and later expanded into a 2-day conference sponsored by the Center for 21st Century Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, “The Dark Side of the Digital” (both were organized by Richard Grusin).

In their Editor’s Note, Ellen Rooney and Elizabeth Weed note:

The contributors to this issue approach the digital humanities from radically different perspectives and come to fundamentally different conclusions concerning its origins, nature, proper and improper objects, possible futures, and current impact on the university and its others.

For those without access to the issue, Matt Kirschenbaum has posted the full text of his essay, “What is ‘Digital Humanities’ and Why Are They Saying Such Terrible Things about It?”

Citations for the full list of contributions are listed below:

Article

• “Editor’s Note.” Differences 25, no. 1 (1, 2014): iii–v. doi:10.1215/10407391-2432538.

The Shadowy Digital Humanities

• Chun, Wendy Hui Kyong, and Lisa Marie Rhody. “Working the Digital Humanities: Uncovering Shadows Between the Dark and the Light.” Differences 25, no. 1 (1, 2014): 1–25. doi:10.1215/10407391-2419985.
• Raley, Rita. “Digital Humanities for the Next Five Minutes.” Differences 25, no. 1 (1, 2014): 26–45. doi:10.1215/10407391-2419991.
• Kirschenbaum, Matthew. “What Is ‘Digital Humanities,’ and Why Are They Saying Such Terrible Things About It?” Differences 25, no. 1 (1, 2014): 46–63. doi:10.1215/10407391-2419997.
• Barnett, Fiona M. “The Brave Side of Digital Humanities.” Differences 25, no. 1 (1, 2014): 64–78. doi:10.1215/10407391-2420003.
• Grusin, Richard. “The Dark Side of Digital Humanities: Dispatches from Two Recent Mla Conventions.” Differences 25, no. 1 (1, 2014): 79–92. doi:10.1215/10407391-2420009.
• Koh, Adeline. “Niceness, Building, and Opening the Genealogy of the Digital Humanities: Beyond the Social Contract of Humanities Computing.”Differences 25, no. 1 (1, 2014): 93–106. doi:10.1215/10407391-2420015.

Shadowing the Digital Humanities

• Galloway, Alexander R. “The Cybernetic Hypothesis.” Differences 25, no. 1 (1, 2014): 107–131. doi:10.1215/10407391-2420021.
• Lennon, Brian. “The Digital Humanities and National Security.” Differences 25, no. 1 (1, 2014): 132–155. doi:10.1215/10407391-2420027.
• Golumbia, David. “Death of a Discipline.” Differences 25, no. 1 (1, 2014): 156–176. doi:10.1215/10407391-2420033.

In the Shade of the Digital Humanities

• McPherson, Tara. “Designing for Difference.” Differences 25, no. 1 (1, 2014): 177–188. doi:10.1215/10407391-2420039.
• Jagoda, Patrick. “Gaming the Humanities.” Differences 25, no. 1 (1, 2014): 189–215. doi:10.1215/10407391-2420045.
• Dieter, Michael. “The Virtues of Critical Technical Practice.” Differences 25, no. 1 (1, 2014): 216–230. doi:10.1215/10407391-2420051.