All speakers are listed in alphabetical order. For contact information please reach out to the conference organizers.
Katie Anania (University of Nebraska-Lincoln) Assistant Professor of Modern and Contemporary Art History, School of Art, Art History & Design, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Katie Anania is a scholar of modern and contemporary art who specializes in queer and hemispheric forms of knowing, particularly in makers’ relationships with their materials. Her work harnesses environmental art history, feminism, and queer theory to articulate the ways in which ideas emerge from outside Western aesthetic canons, including alternative histories of scientific visualization. Her first book, Out of Paper: Drawing, Environment, and the Body in 1960s America, forthcoming in 2024 from Yale University Press, examines the shifting position of drawing in American studio practice in the long 1960s. Her current book project, Devour Everything: Hemispheric Art After Agriculture, examines regenerative strategies for survival and nourishment in queer Latinx communities since the United Farm Workers movement. She is an assistant professor of art history at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, where she directs Art, Data, and Environment/s, an interdisciplinary consortium that uses art and design history to consider colonial histories of water use and resource extraction.
Link: Katie Anania's Faculty Page.
Craig R. Cohen, MD, MPH Professor, Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology & Reproductive Sciences, UCSF
Craig Cohen, MD, MPH, is a Professor in the UCSF Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences. He conducts clinical and implementation research in several areas: social determinants of health as it relates to HIV and sexually transmitted infection prevention and HIV/AIDS care and support in developing countries. He co-led the development of Shamba Maisha, a trial of a climate-adaptive multisectoral agricultural intervention to improve mental health and HIV outcomes in Kenya. In addition, Dr. Cohen leads several global health training programs aiming to build research capacity in low- and middle-income countries while building equitable global health partnerships.
Mahmoud Ghany (Fayoum University) Graduate Student, Faculty of Tourism and Hotels, Fayoum University
Majoring in tourism guidance, Mahmoud graduated from the Faculty of Tourism and Hotels in 2010 with a degree of Excellent with honors. In May 2015, Mahmoud had a Post-Graduate Diploma in Egyptology from the Faculty of Archaeology, Fayoum University. At present Mahmoud is a Master’s student at Tourism and Hotels, Fayoum University. His master’s thesis research titled the Water Heritage in Fayoum Depression. At this conference, he will discuss the significance of water wheels, and ancient technology for pumping water from ditches into raised fields. On instagram, you can follow his research at @fayoumer.
Mina Girgis (UC Berkeley) Zellerbach Hall, Director of Education, Campus and Community Engagement and Senior Fellow, Othering & Belonging Institute, UC Berkeley
Mina Girgis is an ethnomusicologist and an entrepreneur whose work spans across various sectors including music, education, conflict transformation and environmental sustainability. In 2011, he started the Nile Project – an international nonprofit that promotes the sustainability of the Nile River by curating innovative collaborations among musicians, university students, and professionals. In 2009, Mina founded Zambaleta, a community World Music school based in San Francisco, California. Mina has received awards and fellowships from Wired Magazine, National Arts Strategies, Synergos and Seeds of Peace, and the Othering & Belonging Institute at UC Berkeley. He currently serves as the Director of Education, Campus & Community Engagement at UC Berkeley’s Cal Performances and leads the arts strategy for the Othering & Belonging Institute’s Europe program.
Juniper Harrower (UC Berkeley) Director, Art + Science Initiative, UCSC, and MFA Candidate, UC Berkeley
Specializing in multispecies entanglements under climate change, Juniper Harrower works at the intersection of ecology and art. Through a multimedia art and science research practice she considers the ways that humans influence ecosystems while seeking solutions that protect at-risk species and promote environmental justice. With a Ph.D. in ecology and a teaching credential that focuses on education for multicultural classrooms, her artistic research practice crosses many disciplinary boundaries. Her award-winning work has been exhibited nationally and internationally in museums and galleries and her research and artistic products have received wide exposure in popular media such as National Geographic, Kunstforum International, KCET Artbound, Atlas Obscura, the associated press, podcasts, music festivals and conferences. Harrower is the director of the art+science initiative at UC Santa Cruz and teaches art at UC Berkeley and UC Santa Cruz.
Isabel Hofmeyr (University of the Witwatersrand) Professor of African Literature, University of the Witwatersrand
Isabel Hofmeyr was a Global Distinguished Professor at New York University from 2013 to 2022. She has worked extensively on the Indian Ocean world and oceanic themes more generally. Recent publications include Dockside Reading: Hydrocolonialism and the Custom House (2022). She co-directs a project Oceanic Humanities for the Global South with partners from Mozambique, India, Jamaica and Barbados. In 2019, Hofmeyr first defined the term "Hydrocolonialism" in her essay "Provisional Notes on Hydrocolonilaism". Hofmeyr will open this conference with remarks about the creation of the term "hydrocolonialism" and how it spans literary, sociological, medical, historical and hydrological frameworks.
Link: Hofmeyr's NYU Page.
Amanda Hughen (Hughen/Starkweather) Artist, San Francisco
Hughen/Starkweather is the collaboration of artists Jennifer Starkweather and Amanda Hughen, who have worked as a team for almost 20 years. Their work has been shown at the Public Policy Institute of California (SF), the Asian Art Museum (SF), University of San Francisco, and the Contemporary Jewish Museum (SF) among many other places. Recent large-scale works include a commission by SFMOMA for a 21 foot permanent artwork at the Chase Center, and an artwork embedded in the glass exterior and translucent ceiling of the Union Square Central Subway Station, both in downtown San Francisco. Hughen received an MFA from U.C. Berkeley and has been an artist-in-residence at the DeYoung Museum of Art (CA), the Headlands Center for the Arts (CA), and Yaddo (NY), among other places. Starkweather received an MFA from Tyler School of Art (PA) and has been an artist-in-residence at Ucross (WY), Skowhegan (ME), Oxbow (CA), and Ragdale (IL), among other places. Hughen/Starkweather is the recipient of a 2020 San Francisco Arts Commission Individual Artist Grant
Link: The Hughen/Starkweather Portfolio.
Rita Lucarelli (UC Berkeley)
Associate Professor, Middle Eastern Languages and Cultures (MELC), UC Berkeley
Rita Lucarelli is currently an Associate Professor of Egyptology at UC Berkeley and Associate Faculty Curator of Egyptology at the Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology of the University of California. She is presently working at a project aiming at realizing 3D models of ancient Egyptian coffins, and she is completing a monograph on demonology in ancient Egypt. Her specialty is the study of the ancient Egyptian religion and its reception in modern and contemporary times. Rita Lucarelli teaches, lectures and research Egyptomania and the reception of ancient Egypt in the contemporary world, in particular on the representation of ancient Egypt in Afrofuturism. She also teaches courses of Egyptology and interdisciplinary writing at San Quentin State Prison through the Mount Tamalpais College. For this conference, she will discuss the function of water in ancient Egypt as a connector between life and afterlife and as a vector of healthcare. The Magical Stele (Cippus of Horus), for example, was used to bestow water with healing qualities by puring it over the magical spells engraved in the stone.
Link: 3D Models of ancient Egyptian coffins.
Joshua Miller (UNC CHapel Hill) Ph. D. Candidate, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Josh is a doctoral student in the Department of Nutrition at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He uses a mixed-methods approach to understand the lived experience of water insecurity and its impacts on health, nutrition, growth, and development throughout the life course. He is a member of the Household Water Insecurity Experiences Research Coordination Network and assisted with the development and validation of the first cross-culturally comparable measure of household water insecurity.
Mercy Mueni (TMWDP) Thwake Multipurpose Water Dam Project Coordinator
Mercy holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Gender and Development Studies and a minor degree in sociology from Kenyatta University. She is a sociologist with experience in research, monitoring and evaluation, administration and community development, and data analysis. Her community engagement revolves around holding societies accountable for existing social inequalities and raising the voices of the marginalized to facilitate change. Currently, Mercy is a Community Liaison Officer at the Thwake Multipurpose Water Dam Project. She is a proactive and committed individual, an environmental enthusiast who is passionate about the impact of change on people’s lives.
Link: Thwake Dam Home Page.
Ibrahim Mwakare (TMWDP) Thwake Multipurpose Water Dam General Environment (Health and Safety) Engineer
Ibrahim Mwakare is a Graduate Environmental Engineer working at Thwake Multipurpose Water Development Project in the Eastern Region of Kenya. He has three years and six months of experience in the construction of a Concrete Face Rockfill Dam and ensuring compliance with Environmental Regulations and Occupational Safety and Health Standards. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Environmental and Biosystems Engineering from the University of Nairobi. He is an Environmental Impact Assessment Associate Expert registered with the National Environment Management Authority (NEMA). He is also a registered member of the Engineer’s Board of Kenya (EBK) and the Institution of Engineers of Kenya (IEK). Ibrahim is an environmental enthusiast who engages in community environmental activities, including tree planting and water conservation programs in schools, hospitals, and other public spaces.
Link: Thwake Dam Home Page.
Rahul Mitra (Wayne State University) Associate Professor, Dept. of Communication, Wayne State University
Rahul Mitra (PhD, Purdue University) is an Associate Professor of Communication at Wayne State University. His scholarship focuses on environmental organizing, sustainability and corporate social responsibility, and meaningful work discourses. He is a critical-interpretive scholar, and uses primarily qualitative methods, such as ethnography, interviews, focus groups, discourse analysis, and arts-based research methods. His work has appeared in numerous peer-reviewed publications such as Environmental Communication, Management Communication Quarterly, Human Relations, Communication Theory, International Journal of Business Communication, Public Relations Review, and Journal of Business Ethics. He also co-edited the book "Movements in Organizational Communication Research".In Detroit, he conducted extensive field studies with people who experienced water shut-offs in the context of economic hardship.
Link: Rahul Mitra's Profile Page.
Greg Niemeyer (UC Berkeley) Professor for Media Innovation, Department of Art Practice, UC Berkeley
Greg Niemeyer is a data artist and a Professor of Media Innovation in the Department of Art Practice at UC Berkeley. He's the former director and co-founder of the Berkeley Center for New Media. He started out with studies in Classics and Photography in Switzerland and switched to new media when he moved to the Bay Area in 1992.
He received his MFA from Stanford University in New Genres in 1997. Since childhood, Niemeyer was fascinated with making mirrors, and he still makes mirrors: media which allow us to see things from a new point of view, a point of view that is not our own, revealing both things we want to see and things we don't want to see. We need such mirrors, he maintains, to make better decisions about our lives in context with other humans and with the fragile environments we depend on.
Link: The Greg Niemeyer Portfolio.
Kyndall Noah (OVIWC) Communications Specialist, OVIWC
Kyndall Noah is an Enrolled Citizen of the Bishop Paiute Tribe Nuumu from Payahuunadu – land of the flowing water, and the Communications Specialist at Owens Valley Indian Water Commission. Kyndall leads the "Land Back, Water Back, Life Back" campaign to restore native water rights in Payahuunadu (Owens Valley).
Xitlaly Olivera (UC Berkeley) Fiat Lux Scholar, Haas Scholar, Undergraduate Student, UC Berkeley
Xitlaly is Zapotec and a fourth-year student at UC Berkeley. She is studying Conservation and Resource Studies (CRS) and Ethnic Studies. Her family resides in the neighboring town where a gold mine is located, San Juan Guegoyachi, Oaxaca, Mexico. She is currently conducting research with the HAAS Scholars Program, exploring the consequences of mining on Indigenous communities in Oaxaca, Mexico.
Patrick Owuor (York University, Wayne State University) Assistant Professor of Anthropology, Wayne State University
Patrick is a biocultural anthropologist whose work focuses on the biological and environmental impacts of infrastructure. His work lies at the intersection between culture, biology, and the environment. Currently, Patrick is a Postdoctoral Fellow at York University, Canada, where he is researching the ethics of biobanking in clinical trials in East Africa. In Fall of 2023, Patrick will begin his new Anthropology professorship at Wayne State University, Detroit.
Teri Red Owl (OVIWC) Executive Director, OVIWC
Teri Red Owl is an Enrolled Citizen of the Bishop Paiute Tribe Nuumu from Payahuunadu – land of the flowing water, and the Executive Director at Owens Valley Indian Water Commission. After studying Business at Western Governors University, Teri leads the "Land Back, Water Back, Life Back" campaign to restore native water rights in Payahuunadu (Owens Valley).
Christel Stalpaert (Ghent University) Professor of Performing Arts, Ghent University
Christel Stalpaert is Professor at the Dept. Art History, Musicology and Theatre Studies at Ghent University (Belgium). She is director of the research centre S:PAM (Studies in Performing Arts and Media) and co-founder of the dance research network CoDa (Cultures of Dance). She investigates how art practices throughout the 20th and 21st century activate awareness and change, generating also new modes of activism in relation to environmental and ecological crises, such as extreme drought and flooding, related to hydrocolonialism and climate change. She published works such as The Choreopolitics of Alain Platel’s les ballets C de la B: Emotions, Gestures, Politics (with Guy Cools and Hildegard De Vuyst, 2020, Bloomsbury) and Performance and Posthumanism: Staging Prototypes of Composite Bodies (with Kristof van Baarle and Laura Karreman, 2021, Palgrave Macmillan).
Link: Christel Stalpaert's Google Scholar Page.
Clancy Wilmott (UC Berkeley) Assistant Professor in Critical Cartography, Geovisualisation and Design at BCNM and the Department of Geography, UC Berkeley
Clancy Wilmott came to UC Berkeley from the Department of Geography at the University of Manchester, where she received her PhD in Human Geography with a multi-site study on the interaction between mobile phone maps, cartographic discourse and postcolonial landscapes.
Professor Wilmott researches critical cartography, new media and spatial practices. She holds undergraduate degrees in Communications (Media Arts and Production) and International Studies (Italian), as well as a postgraduate degree in Cultural Studies from the University of Technology, Sydney. She is the author of Mobile Mapping: Space, Cartography, and the Digital published in 2020 by Amsterdam University Press. This book argues for a theory of mobile mapping, a situated and spatial approach towards researching how everyday digital mobile media practices are bound up in global systems of knowledge and power. She has also published papers in the Annals of the Association of American Geographers, Big Data and Society, the Leonardo Electronic Almanac and the Journal of Television and New Media, amongst others. At Berkeley, Professor Wilmott teaches graduate level combined theory/studio courses on locative media, cross listed courses in digital geographies, as well as core curriculum on geographic information systems in the Geography department.
Link: Clancy Wilmott's Projects Website.
