Camilla Hawthorne

PhD Designated Emphasis in STS

PhD Candidate, Geography
University of California, Berkeley
CSTMS Research Unit: Berkeley Program in Science and Technology Studies
Affiliation period: January 2014 -
Website
camilla.hawthorne@berkeley.edu
Advisor(s)Jake Kosek
Degrees MPA (Master of Public Affairs) :: Brown University (2010)
BA International Relations/Africana Studies :: Brown University (2009)

Research Areas

My research addresses questions of race, national belonging, and media in contemporary Italy. I am interested in the various ways the Italian-born children of African immigrants engage with the question of whether it is possible to be both Black and and Italian. My project also takes seriously questions of media and circulation--for instance, the relationship between diasporic subjectivities and technologically-mediated social networks. Broadly, I am interested in the ways the Internet has become entangled with racialization in Italy, both through the online activism of people of color and though other processes such as pervasive cybersurveillance.

I was born in Fairfield, CA but grew up in a transcontinental family that spans the United States and Italy. After high school, I ventured out to the East Coast to pursue an undergraduate and master's degree at Brown University. I then moved to Washington, DC to work as a Presidential Management Fellow for the Broadcasting Board of Governors, where I developed digital media strategies for international broadcasters such as the Voice of America. I subsequently transferred to Prague, where I served as Manager of Digital Media Initiatives for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. During that time, I also worked with the U.S. State Department's Civil Society 2.0 "Tech Camp" initiative as a technology trainer for civil society organizations in Eastern Europe.

last updated: March 9th, 2020