- Professor of Sociology, University of Pittsburgh
I am interested in the history and science of bodily sensation, and technologies of the senses. This has led to collaborations with designers, archaeologists, roboticists, physicists, geographers, and more. I have been involved in research projects on digital heritage, robotics, the human-computer interface, and human-robot interaction design.
Along with articles in social science, humanities, and engineering journals, I have written a number of books including The Senses of Touch: Haptics, Affects and Technologies (Routledge, 2007), Seeing with the Hands: Blindness, Vision and Touch After Descartes (Edinburgh UP, 2016), and How We Became Sensorimotor: Movement, Measurement, Sensation (University of Minnesota Press, 2021). I am co-editor of Touching Space, Placing Touch (Routledge, 2012), and of a special issue of ACM Transactions in Human-Robot Interaction (2023), 'Designing the Robot Body: Critical Perspectives on Affective Embodied Interaction'. I am on the Editorial Board of the journals The Senses and Society (since 2008), Emotion, Space and Society (since 2014), and Multimodality & Society (since 2021).
My current research is concerned with the role of embodiment in the histories of human-robot interactions. For more, see http://sensory-motor.com.
Experience
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2023–presentProfessor of Sociology, University of Pittsburgh
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2007–2011Lecturer in Human Geography, University of Exeter, UK
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2003–2007Lecturer in Philosophy and Cultural Studies, University of the West of England
Education
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2002University of Bristol, UK, Human Geography
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1996University of Warwick, UK, European Philosophy
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1994University of Reading, UK, Philosophy
Publications
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2023Consumption and Everyday Life (3rd Ed),
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2021How We Became Sensorimotor: Movement, Measurement, Sensation,
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2017Consumption and Everyday Life (2nd Ed.),
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2016Seeing with the Hands: Blindness, Vision & Touch after Descartes,
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2012Touching Space, Placing Touch, Co-editor, with Martin Dodge
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2007The Senses of Touch: Haptics, Affects & Technologies,
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2006Consumption and Everyday Life,
Professional Memberships
- International Sociological Association (ISA) Vice-President of TG07
- Society for Literature, Science, and the Arts (SLSA)
- American Sociological Association (ASA)
Contact Mark for
- General
- Media request
- Speaking request
- Consulting / Advising
- Research collaboration
- Research supervision
- Location: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S.
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