Grierson Chair in Communication Studies听
Department Chair
Professor
B.A., M.A. (Simon Fraser), Ph.D. (Toronto)
Darin Barney was born in Burnaby, Canada, and studied at Simon Fraser University and the University of Toronto, where he trained in political theory and received a Ph.D. in 1999. He has worked at several universities in Canada and the United States and from 2005-2015 was Canada Research Chair in Technology & Citizenship at McGill University, where he has also served as Chair of the Department of Art History and Communication Studies (2005-2007) and Director of the Graduate Program in Communication Studies (2010-2013). He was President of the Canadian Communication Association from 2010-2012, and served on the Advisory Council of the Law Commission of Canada from 2000-2005. He has received several awards for his academic work, including the inaugural Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada's Aurora Prize for outstanding contribution to Canadian intellectual life by a new researcher (2003).
Darin Barney is the author of several scholarly works, including听One Nation under Google: Citizenship in the Technological Republic听(2007 Hart House Lecture);听Communication Technology: The Canadian Democratic Audit听(UBC Press: 2005);听The Network Society听(Polity Press: 2004); and听Prometheus Wired: The Hope for Democracy in the Age of Network Technology听(University of Chicago Press 2000). He is co-editor of several books and journal editions, including 鈥淪olarity鈥� a special issue of听South Atlantic Quarterly听(2021; with Imre Szeman),听The Participatory Condition听(University of Minnesota: 2016, with Coleman, Ross, Sterne and Tembeck);听Community in the Digital Age: Philosophy and Practice听(Rowman and Littlefield: 2004 with Andrew Feenberg) and a special issue of听Theory & Event听on Quebec鈥檚 鈥淢aple Spring鈥� (2012; with Brian Massumi and Cayley Sorochan).
Prof. Barney鈥檚 current research, teaching and supervisory interests include: materialist approaches to media and communication; infrastructure; energy; environment; and insurgent political forms. His current work includes projects on emerging energy formats, resource infrastructures, energy transition and negative politics. He is a member of the Petrocultures Research Group, the After Oil collective, the McGill Centre for Innovation in Storage and Conversion of Energy, Future Energy Systems and an associate member of the Bieler School of Environment. He convenes the Grierson Research Group.