Head Shot of Prof. James DiGiovanna, white man with red hair and beard
James
DiGiovanna
Assistant Professor
Phone number
212.237.8336
Room number
NB 8.63.12
Education

PhD 2002   Stony Brook University
MA 1996     Stony Brook University
BA 1987     Wesleyan University

Bio

Assistant Professor James DiGiovanna received his BA from Wesleyan University and his PhD from Stony Brook. His research focuses on questions of personhood and personal identity, the nature of understanding, and the status of fictional worlds. His fiction has appeared in Spork Press, Blue Moon Review and 20X18. He is also a seven-time winner of the Arizona Press Club Award, and two-time winner of the Arizona Newspaper Award, for his film criticism.

Scholarly Work

Philosophy:

"Artificial Identity," in Robot Ethics 2.0​, edited by Patrick Lin, Oxford University Press, 2017 

Literally Like a Different Person: Context and Concern in Personal Identity, Southern Journal of Philosophy, December, 2015

"Identity: Difficulties, Discontinuities and Pluralities of Personhood" in Handbook of Posthumanism in Film and Television, Palgrave MacMillan, September, 2015. 

"Understanding as a Component of Knowledge: Rethinking Pedagogical Implications of Epistemology,” forthcoming in Conversations in Philosophy: Knowledge and Freedom, ed. by Ochieng-Odhiambo, Frederick, Cambridge Scholars Publishing, Fall 2015

Knowledge, Understanding and PedagogyTeaching Philosophy, vol 37, no. 3, (September 2014) pp 321-342

“You Are And Are Not The Person I Once Knew: Eclecticism And Context In Continuity Of Identity” in Appraisal: A Journal of Constructive and Post-Critical Philosophy and Interdisciplinary Studies, vol. 9, no.1, (March, 2012), pp. 14-17

“Dr Manhattan I Presume,” in Watchmen and Philosophy, January, 2009, pp 103-114, Wiley

“Is It Right to Make a Robin?” in Batman and Philosophy, ed. Mark D. White, 2008, pp 17-27, Wiley

“Losing Your Voice on the Internet,” in High Noon on the Electronic Frontier, ed. P. Ludlow,1996, pp 445-458, M.I.T. press.

Fiction:

“Meat 2” in Slipstream City: Volume 1, ebook through Spec Knot Publishing, NY, September, 2013. (available in/at all standard ebook formats and stores)

Plants and Animals, ebook published by Proconsul Editions, April, 2012. (available in Kindle and iBooks formats.)

"Kicks,” , in Spork, issue 9.1, June 2010, pgs. 1996-2020, print.

When God Came Back I Became Alone,” in Sporkpress , November 8, 2009, online.

Crotchcrust,” in Sporkpress , August 10, 2009, online.

“The Secret Cool,”  in Sporkpress , May 18, 2006, online.

Sole Survivor,”  in Spork/The Safehouse Quarterly, Summer 2004, pgs. 1080-1103, print.

The Exam,”  in Blue Moon Review (online) Spring, 1999, online.

"Wired” and “Hook,”  in 20 X 18, edited and selected by Walter Abish, Cooper Union Press, 1995, print.

Journalism:

Feature writer and chief film critic for Tucson Weekly

http://weeklywire.com/ww/archives/authors/tw_jamesdigiovanna.html

Research Summary

My current research focuses on the nature of personal identity. I'm especially concerned with what we value in our identity, how we assign responsibility across time, and the effects of technological enhancement on our identity and ethical character.