USF Department of English Associate Professor, Nathan Johnson, PhD. (Photo courtesy of Nathan Johnson)
Dr. Nathan Johnson, an associate professor in the Department of English at the University of South Florida College of Arts and Sciences, was recognized with the National Communication Association’s 2022 Distinguished Book Award for the Philosophy of Communication Division. The Philosophy of Communication Division recognizes philosophical works that better illuminate human communication.
Johnson’s book, Architects of Memory: Information and Rhetoric in a Networked Archival Age, details key moments in the 20th century when a handful of intelligence agents worked with librarians to create the foundations of major modern information systems.
He argues that to understand how modern information systems transform human memory, it is important to better understand human memory as part of a vast material infrastructure consisting of historical technologies that transform the way we remember and forget today.
His book was also recognized by the Association for the Rhetoric of Science, Technology, and Medicine as an honorable mention for its 2021 Book Award.
“I appreciate being nationally recognized by my peers,” Johnson said. “Architects of Memory took years to research and write. When it was published, I wasn't certain how many people would read it.”
“It’s an honor to know that not only was it read, it was recognized with not just one but two awards identifying it as one of my discipline's best books!”
Johnson’s research focuses on the history of data infrastructures, institutional rhetorics, and rhetorical theory. He is specifically interested in how data collection procedures become part of the built environment and change economic conditions for residents.
“I've felt a renewed motivation to continue my work,” he shared.
“My next project is a co-authored book with Meredith A. Johnson called A Sense of Place: The Affective Dimensions of Urban Planning and Public Debate. The project continues themes from Architects of Memory, as it analyzes public dialogue about urban development in Tampa, FL.”
Other future projects will continue to explore the traffic between data infrastructures and public rhetoric. Rhetoric’s Sensorium is a study of how city zoning ordinances and policies affect public discourse about the future. Rhetorics of Hate: Data Infrastructures and Crime Reporting details how federal and state hate crime reporting protocols marginalize vulnerable publics.
Architects of Memory (2020) is available for purchase from the University of Alabama Press.