Algorithm & the Web (Part 2)

"Intersectionality & the Rhizome: Math, Metaphor and Modeling the Social"

2 of 3 in short course: ALGORITHM & THE WEB: An Anthropology of Social Movements for the 21st Century, by Erica Lagalisse

Algorithm & the Web is a three part series exploring the relationship of culture and technology since 2000. The course studies how activists have used the Internet over time, and analyzes how we shift between the algorithm vs. network as mental models. We see how thinking with geometry creates real world effects, influencing social movement debates around class vs. identity, spectrums and binaries, intersectionality, and technology itself.

Algorithm & the Web teaches an anthropology of social movements in the twilight of the 20 th century, inviting intergenerational exchange during an era when technology changes faster than most can adapt. Long live the library.

Part 2: Intersectionality & the Rhizome: Math, Metaphor and Modeling the Social

Between 2000 and 2015, the "web" and networking were positioned as ends and means. Activists also identified with the "rhizome", complexity theory and fractals, but their anti-oppression workshops involved linear statistics. Black feminists had called for listening as coalition, yet intersectionality was often rendered a tool for guesswork. Here we explore the mental maps shared by activists in relation to collective everyday practices.

We begin to see how even anarchists against the state are influenced by the state's forms of measurement, the logic of property relations, and the technology that orders our lives.

Doors open at 18:30h (for book table, installation) Mix of Lecture & Discussion 19h-21h (+/- 30min) Break & Open Discussion (≈ 21h-22h) No photography, audio or video recording allowed. Food & drink welcome (please be discreet).

This is a course developed to be attended in order. Drop in participation in both lectures and discussions is welcome, yet please work to honour the cumulative discussion of repeat attendees.

Supported by Scrappy Capy Distro, and funded in part by the Canada Council of the Arts.