Course Description
The digital is virtually omnipresent in our lives. It conditions our existence in the world and the multifaceted way we generate knowledge, aspects that we, as humanities scholars are called upon to analyse. Whether or not we specifically use digital research methods in our work or analyse digital objects directly, the digital affects knowledge production in the humanities.
The digital humanist Jonas Ingvarsson conceives of digital epistemology as a way of conceptualising the technological situation in which we are immersed. In this context, the digital is a “critical, discourse analytical and media archeological concept” (Ingvarsson, 2021, p. 7).
As mode of thought, the digital holds a potential for critical reflection on our contemporary world as well as on history, according to Ingvarsson, who is among others, inspired by Michel Foucault and Alan Liu.
The candidates will explore the concept digital epistemology. They will also work with related perspectives, such as media archaeology and discourse analysis.
The objective of the course is for the PhD candidates to gain insight into how the digital transforms not only our tools, machines and objects but also our ways of organising knowledge and ultimately our thinking.
The course will stimulate the candidates to reflect upon relations the digital both makes it possible to establish and forces us to investigate: relations between texts, artworks or other objects we historically have kept apart, between human and machine, and more.
Registration closes when the course has reached its maximum number of participants. The maximum number of participants is 16.
Course preparations
All participants read the entire curriculum. A list where participants are to choose among its texts and organise presentations in pairs will be made available in Canvas.
The presentations should discuss the chosen text in relation to the objective of the course (see course content).
In class
The seminar begins with a lecture on digital epistemology with an emphasis on Jonas Ingvarsson’s work.
This introductory session is followed by seminar work. Each pair presents the chosen text and relates it to the objective of the course. A general discussion follows, led by the course holders.
Follow up
After the seminar the participant should write a brief reflection paper (1-2 pages). The paper should discuss a couple of problems, or texts, that seem particularly relevant to the participant’s own work and field of research. Deadline for the reflection paper: Wednesday 12 June.
Course conveners: Heidi Karlsen (ILN) and Kristin Ranestad (IAKH)
Curriculum
Apter, E. (2017). Overburden. Overburden. https://www.e-flux.com/architecture/accumulation/96423/overburden
Berry, D. M. (2026). “Vector Theory: Epistemology, Political Economy, and Probabilistic Computation.” Philosophy & Technology, 39 (149). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13347-026-01162-w
D’Ignazio, C., & Klein, L. F. (2020). Show your work. In Data Feminism. The MIT Press. https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/11805.001.0001
Drucker, J. (2012). Chapter 6: Humanistic Theory and Digital Scholarship. In M. K. Gold (Ed.), Debates in the Digital Humanities. University of Minnesota Press. https://dhdebates.gc.cuny.edu/read/untitled-88c11800-9446-469b-a3be-3fdb36bfbd1e/section/0b495250-97af-4046-91ff-98b6ea9f83c0#ch06
Hoel, Aurora and Lukas R. A. Wilde. 2026. «7. AI as Media». In Humanities Perspectives on AI. Books. Scandinavian University Press. https://www.scup.com/doi/10.18261/9788294167234-26-07.
Ingvarsson, J. (2021). Towards a Digital Epistemology: Aesthetics and Modes of Thought in Early Modernity and the Present Age. Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-78724-0 (Open access. Read the introduction, pp. 1-29)
Kittler, F. A. (1999). Gramophone, film, typewriter. Stanford University Press. "Introduction" p.1-19.
Moretti, F. (2000). Conjectures on World Literature. New Left Review, 1, 54–68.
Roe, G., Gladstone, C., & Morrissey, R. (2016). Discourses and Disciplines in the Enlightenment: Topic Modeling the French Encyclopédie. Frontiers in Digital Humanities, 2. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fdigh.2015.00008