ICM [Imani Cooper Mkandawire] is an interdisciplinary artist and educator whose practice facilitates modes of learning complex science and technology concepts through dynamic explorations of culture, aesthetics, and the dimensions of human experience. ICM creates sculpture, performance, video, mixed media writing, and immersive art environments at the intersections of science, politics, community, and culture.
She earned her PhD in Comparative Literature from the University of Michigan (2022) studying the role of African and African American literature and visual culture as data for training algorithms. ICM obtained a Graduate Certificate from the Digital Studies Institute, where she concentrated on creative computing methods. Her doctoral research explored how Black cultural concepts can reshape machine learning processes, focusing on African diasporic knowledge systems in algorithms and computation.
ICM 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 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
2024| co-exhibition| The Avery Research Center| Charleston, SC
2023| Workshop| University of Michigan| Ann Arbor
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 | 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
Fall 2017-2018 | Instructor Comp Lit122 Writing Images: Introduction to Mix Media Writing LSA, University of Michigan Ann Arbor, MI
Fall 2016 -2017 | 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