Nandita Biswas Mellamphy

Associate Professor & Chair, Undergraduate Program

PhotoofNanditaBiswasMellamphy

Ph.D., University of Toronto
Telephone: 519.661.2111 ext. 81161
E-mail: nbiswasm@uwo.ca
Office: Social Science Centre 7316

http://westernu.academia.edu/BiswasMellamphy

Editorships:
Assistant Editor, Canadian Journal of Political Science (CJPS), English language, 2020-2023.
Assistant Editor, Interconnections: Journal of Posthumanism, 2020-2025.

Affiliations:
Department of Gender, Sexuality, and Women's Studies, Western.
Centre for the Study of Theory and Criticism, Western.
Fellow of the Center for Transformative Media at the Parsons: The New School, NY, USA.
Fellow of the Center for War and Technology at Bath University, UK.
Director, Electro-Governance Group at Western (egg.uwo.ca).

Research Interests

Professor Biswas Mellamphy specializes in critical political theory, continental philosophy and speculative political theory (especially the work of Friedrich Nietzsche and the post-Nietzscheans), as well as the history of political thought. Particular areas of interest include post-humanism, information/digital warfare, and critical surveillance/terrorism studies.

Current Research Projects

1. Nandita Biswas Mellamphy, Tyler Girard, and Anne Campbell. 2021. "Looking Back at the First Wave: Does Canada Have a COVID Policy Narrative?" Research article draft manuscript.

2. Nandita Biswas Mellamphy, Full-Spectrum Operations: The Emergence of Larval Warfare. Draft book-length manuscript.

Selected Publications

Books

  • 2018-19. Schaffer, Scott and Nandita Biswas Mellamphy. Co-Editors Special Issue on ‘Cosmopolitanism, Social Inclusion, and Global Futures’: Frontiers of Sociology, https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/6544/cosmopolitanisms-social-inclusion-and-global-futures.
  • 2016. Biswas Mellamphy, N. and Dan Mellamphy, Editors. The Digital Dionysus: Nietzsche and the Network-Centric Condition. Punctum Books. 286 pages.
  • 2011. The Three Stigmata of Friedrich Nietzsche: Political Physiology in the Age of Nihilism. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

Refereed Journal Articles and Editions

  • 2021. Biswas Mellamphy, N. Humans “in the Loop”?, Nature and Culture, 16(1), 11-27.
  • 2015. Biswas Mellamphy, N. “Larval Terror and the Digital Darkside”. In E-International Relations. November 14. Republished in The Global Policy Journal, Blog Page.
  • 2015. Nandita Biswas Mellamphy, Nick Dyer-Witheford, Alison Hearn and Svitlana Matviyenko, Co-Editors. The Fibreculture Journal, Special issue on ‘Apps and Affect’, issue 25.
  • 2015. Biswas Mellamphy, N. and Dan Mellamphy, “Synarchic Regulation and Algorithmic Governance”. In The Fibreculture Journal, special issue on ‘Apps and Affect’, co-edited by Nandita Biswas Mellamphy, Nick Dyer-Witheford, Alison Hearn and Svitlana Matviyenko, issue 25. DOI 10.15307/fcj.25.185.2015.
  • 2015. Biswas Mellamphy, N. and Dan Mellamphy. "Welcome to the Electrocene" Culture Machine, Special issue on Drone Culture. Dean Lockwood and Rob Coley (Eds.) Volume 16. 1-27.
  • 2015. "L'informe Cybernétique: Concepts of Information and the Contemporary Sciences". In Philosophy and Technology, Volume 20, Issue 2.
  • 2015. (with Dan Mellamphy) "The Critique of Transcendental Miserablism". Parrhesia: The Journal of Critical Philosophy, number 22, 131-143.
  • 2014. “From Terra‐ to Terror‐Ecology: Secrets from the Arrakeen Underground”. In Design Ecologies 3.1: 66-91.
  • 2011. ‘Affective Aporetics: Complementary Contradictions in the Interpretation of Friedrich Nietzsche’ in PhaenEx: Journal of Existential and Phenomenological Theory and Culture 6.1 (Spring/Summer), 121-146.
  • 2011. ‘Ec(h)ologies of the Désêtre’ (with Dr. Dan Mellamphy) in Collapse: Journal of Philosophical Research and Development Volume Seven (Spring/Summer), 412-435.
  • 2009. ‘What's the “Matter” with Materialism?: Walter Benjamin and the New Janitocracy’ (with Dr. Dan Mellamphy) in Janus Head: Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature, Continental Philosophy, Phenomenological Psychology, and the Arts 11.1 (Summer), 162-182.  
  • 2009. ‘Paulitics’ (with Dr. Dan Mellamphy) in Symposium: The Canadian Journal of Continental Philosophy 12. 2 (Winter special issue on Alain Badiou), 127-146. 
  • 2005. ‘In “Descent” Proposal: Pathologies of Embodiment in Nietzsche, Kafka, and Foucault’ (with Dr. Dan Mellamphy) in Foucault Studies 1.3 (November 2005), 27-48.

Book Chapters

  • Biswas Mellamphy, N. forthcoming 2021. “Posthuman Futures: Speculations on Governing AI”.  In Posthuman? Neue Perspektiven auf Natur/Kultur (Posthuman? New Perspectives on Nature/Culture). Torsten Cress, Oliwia Murawska, and Annika Schlitte (eds.). Brill Publishers, Leiden: Netherlands.
  • 2021. Biswas Mellamphy, N. “Rethinking Democracy”. In What is Democracy and How Do We Study It?  Cameron Anderson and Laura Stephenson (eds.). University of Toronto Press, 191-206.
  • 2016. Dan Mellamphy and Nandita Biswas Mellamphy. “Nietzsche and Networks, Nietzschean Networks: The Digital Dionysus”. In The Digital Dionysus: Nietzsche and the Network-Centric Condition.  Dan Mellamphy and Nandita Biswas Mellamphy. Editors. New York: Punctum Books, 10-30.
  • 2016. Biswas Mellamphy, N. "Women Out of Time". In Speculations of the Other Woman: New Realisms in Feminist Philosophy, Katerina Kolozova et al (eds.). Punctum.
  • 2016. Biswas Mellamphy, N. "The Overhuman." In Critical Posthumanism, Planetary Futures. Debashish Banerji (ed.), Springer India.
  • 2015. Biswas Mellamphy, N. "Ghost in the Shell Game: On the Metic Mode of Existence. In The Funambulist Papers: Volume 2 (New York: Punctum Books), 2015, 224-235. 
  • 2014. Biswas Mellamphy, N. and Dan Mellamphy, "From the Digital to the Tentacular, or From iPods to Cephalopods: Apps, Traps, and Entrées‐without‐Exit". In The Imaginary App, eds. Svitlana Matviyenko and Paul Miller (Boston: MIT Press), 231-249.
  • 2014. Biswas Mellamphy, N. “Nietzsche’s Political Materialism: Diagram for a Nietzschean Politics.” In Nietzsche as Political Philosopher, Barry Stocker and Manuel Knoll (eds.). Berlin: De Gruyter, 2014, 77-92.
  • 2014. Biswas Mellamphy, N. "Nietzsche and the Engine of Politics." In Nietzsche and Political Thought, Keith Ansell-Pearson (ed.). London: Bloomsbury Press, 2013, 141-160. 
  • 2013. ‘Nietzsche's Experimental Ontology’ in Nietzsche’s Therapeutic Teaching: For Individuals and Culture, eds. Horst Hutter and Eli Friedland. London: Continuum Press, 205-216.
  • 2012. ‘On the Alchemy of War’ (with Dr. Dan Mellamphy) in Leper Creativity: The Cyclonopedia Symposium, eds. Ed Keller, Eugene Thacker and Nicola Masciandaro (New York City: Punctum Books): 192-212.
  • 2008. ‘Corporealizing Thought: Translating the Eternal Return Back into Politics’ in Nietzsche, Power and Politics, eds. Vasti Roodt and Herman Ziemens (Berlin: Walter de Gruyter), 740-764.

Translations

  • 2013. Laruelle, François.  ‘The Concept of ‘First Technology’: A Unified Theory of Technics and Technology’, available at Academia.edu/3337555.
  • 2011. Simondon, Gilbert. “The Essence of Technicity.” Ninian Mellamphy, Dan Mellamphy and Nandita Mellamphy (trans.). In Deleuze Studies, Volume 5.3: 407–424. 

Conference Presentations

  • Nandita Biswas Mellamphy, Tyler Girard, and Anne Campbell. 2021. "Looking Back at the First Wave: Does Canada Have a COVID Policy Narrative?"  Congress of Social Sciences and Humanities, 2021, forthcoming.
  • 2019. Biswas Mellamphy, N. “Humans out-of-the-loop?: Humancentrism and AI Ethics”. Research Center of Social and Cultural Studies, Johannes Gutenberg University, Mainz, Germany, September 19-20.
  • 2016. Biswas Mellamphy, N. "Excess and Ecstasy in  the Age of Furious Communication". Part of a panel on the Political Theory of Georges Bataille. Meeting of the Western Political Science Association, San Diego.  
  • 2014:.Biswas Mellamphy, N. and Dan Mellamphy, “The Planet of the Apps”, Apps and Affect conference, Organized by the Faculty of Information and Media Studies, UWO, October 18‐12, hosted by Museum London, Ontario.
  • 2013. ‘Larval Terror and the Digital Darkside’, The Dark Side of the Digital Conference, Centre for 21st Century Studies, University of Milwaukee, May 2-4.
  • 2013. Co-organizer (with Dr. Dan Mellamphy) of The Nietzsche Workshop, Cyber-Nietzsche: Tunnels, Tightropes, Net- & Mesh-works, hosted by The Center for Transformative Media, The New School, April 13.
  • 2011. Biswas  Mellamphy,  N.  “Affective  Aporetics:  Complementary  Contradictions  in  Interpretations of Nietzsche”. Annual meeting of the Nietzsche Society. Organized by Babette Babich and Tracy Strong. Held at the Annual conference of the Society for Phenomenology and Existentialist Philosophy (SPEP), October 19, Philadelphia, PA.
  • 2011. ‘On Plato's Dialogues in Nietzsche’s Early Thought’, Summer Academy of The School of Philosophy, Epineuil-la-fleuriel France. Organized by Professor Bernard Stiegler and Ars Industrialis, August 23-27.
  • 2010. ‘Hiero-Zoontotechnics: Individuation and Techno-Religion’ (with Dr. Dan Mellamphy), Zoontotechnics: Animality/Technicity Conference, Centre for Critical and Cultural Theory, Cardiff Wales.  
  • 2009. ‘Nietzsche's Experimental Ontology: Toward a Political Physiology of Individuation’, Nietzsche and the Becoming of Life Conference, Universidad Diego Portales, Instituto de Humanidades (Institute of the Humanities), Santiago de Chile.

Invited Talks

  • 2021. “Full-Spectrum Operations: The Emergence of Larval Warfare”, CalArts, School of Critical Studies, April 29.
  • 2019. “Larval War and Predatory Politics”, CalArts School of Critical Studies, October, USA.
  • 2018. "A.I. and Posthuman Futures”, Center for Transformative Media, The New School, December 7.
  • 2018. Keynote talk, “Nietzsche and the Network-centric Condition”, 24th International Conference of the Friedrich Nietzsche Society, University of Newcastle, September 21-22.
  • 2018. “Post-Human Politics”, Designing Artificial Intelligence, Parsons: The New School, New York, February 14.
  • 2018. “Hacking the Data Body: A Political Physiology of the Posthuman World”. Posthumanism Research Institute, Brock University, April 14-15.
  • 2017. “Approaching Post-Human Politics”, Posthuman Research Institute Speaker Series, Wilfrid Laurier University, October 19.
  • 2017. "Kali's Forlorn Ideology”, Annual Graduate Conference Center for Study of Theory and Criticism/Modern Languages, March 2-4.
  • 2016. “Isis Unveiled: Clothing, Consent, Control”. Western Caucus on Women’s Issues in conjunction with Western’s Consent & Sexual Violence Awareness Week, Western University, October 19.
  • 2016. “Meaningful Human Control and Lethal Automated Weapons”. Balsilie School of International Affairs, University of Waterloo, April 5.
  • 2016. Keynote Address, 'The Fog of Peace: War By Any Other Means'. Social Science Students Council Annual Conference, Western University, January 23.
  • 2015. Keynote Address, "Apocalypse Now: The Spreading of Darkness at the Speed of Light". Strategies of Critique XIX, York University, April 24-25.
  • 2015. Keynote Address, "War in the Age of Intelligent Machines". Kings University of Western Ontario Political Science Association, March 5.
  • 2014. (with Dan Mellamphy) Keynote Speaker, "Algorithmic Governance". Department of Humanities, York University, November 7-9.
  • 2014. "Con/deception: The Politics of Paradox and Aporetic Agencies". Department of Visual Arts, Western University, October 17. 
  • 2014. "The Digital Dionysus: Nietzsche and the Network-centric Condition". Contemporary Studies Program Student Association, University of King's  Collegs, Dalhousie University, March 22.
  • 2014. "The New P.R.: Posthuman Rationality in War, Cognition and Culture". Contemporary Studies Program Student Association, Univeristy of King's College, Dalhousie University, March 21.
  • 2014. Keynote Speaker, “The War on Terror in the Age of Intelligent Machines”. Retired Academic Group (RAG), Western University, February 21.
  • 2011. Roundtable Discussant, “The McLuhan Legacy: Hype or Inspiration?” Global Village: Calamity or Chance? Marshall McLuhan Centennial Europe 2011. Canadian Embassy Berlin and German‐Canada Professional Association, May.
  • 2011. Chair of panel, “The Nature of Ecology” Romanticism and Evolution, University of Western Ontario, May.
  • 2010. Chair of panel, Transduction, Translation, Transformation, Department of Global Communication at the American University of Paris, co‐sponsored by the Mellon Foundation and Duke University, May.
  • 2010. Respondent to Keynote Speaker, Dr. Graham Parkes, Becoming Loyal to the Earth: Ecology and Life‐Affirmation in Nietzsche’s Vision ‐‐ Nietzsche’s Teaching as a Therapy for Political Culture, Department of Political Science and Department of Philosophy, Concordia University, March.
  • 2009. Roundtable Participant, “Trans‐Individuation, Technology and Politics: Round‐table with Bernard Stiegler”, New French Thought, Department of Philosophy, Villanova University, April 3‐4.

Organizer of Conferences, Panels and Reading Groups

  • 2015. Co-organizer with Patricia Clough, Ed Keller, and Dan Mellamphy, Hacking Feminism, May 9,10, 2015. The Centre of Transformative Media, The New School, NYC.
  • 2013. Co‐organizer with Nick Dyer Witheford, Svitlana Matvienko, & Alison Hearn, Apps and Affect, October 18‐20, 2013, co‐sponsored by The Faculty of Information and Media Studies (UWO), Theory and Criticism (UWO) and Museum London.
  • 2013. Co‐organizer with Dan Mellamphy. Cyber‐Nietzsche: Tunnels, Tightropes, Net‐ and Mesh‐works. Hosted by the Center for Transformative Media. Parsons School of Design, The New School. New York April 13.
  • 2011. Co‐organizer, Enter the Fray: Theory and Criticism in the Network‐centric World, Graduate conference, Political Science and Centre for the Study of Theory and Criticism, April.
  • 2009. Founder and Organizer, The Nietzsche Workshop @ Western, Annual international interdisciplinary conference (2009‐present).

Awards and Distinctions

  • 2008-2009. University Student Council Teaching Honour Roll Certificate, The University of Western Ontario.
  • 2006. Nomination, Undergraduate Award for Teaching Excellence, University Students Council, The University of Western Ontario, 2006.