Samantha Dawn Breslin

I am an associate professor at the Department of Anthropology and affiliated with the Copenhagen Center for Social Data Science (SODAS). My research centres the production of norms, values, and inequities in in relation to computing and data cultures, particularly in relation to gender and political economy.

My current research interests focus on value(s) and visions of the future in relation to tech entrepreneurship. My project "Silicon Island" funded by the Danish Research Council will examine what futures are being built through tech innovation and entrepreneurship in Newfoundland, Canada, and how are social and economic (in)equities (re)configured in and by these futures?

I'm currently working on a book project, titled "Render the World: Coding Exclusions in Computer Science Education" that shows how undergraduate computer science students learn how to build worlds in ways that they cannot even see themselves in. The book is based on ethnographic fieldwork in an undergraduate computer science program in Singapore and my own experiences as an undergraduate computer science student.

I was employed as a postdoctoral research fellow at as part of the REvolutionizing Engineering and Computer Science Education (RED) project at the University of San Diego, which sought to foster themes of social justice, peace, sustainability, and humanitarian practice as part of undergraduate engineering education. I have also worked as part of the School of Business on the growth of tech entrepreneurship in St. John's, the On the Move project studying employment-related geographic mobility, and as part of the Built Environment and Active Populations (BEAP) lab, all at Memorial University of Newfoundland. 

Education

PhD, Anthropology, Memorial University of Newfoundland, 2018

Visiting Research Student, Lancaster Universty, 2013

MA, Anthropology, Memorial University of Newfoundland, 2011

BMath, Computer Science & Anthropology, University of Waterloo, 2008

Positions

Associate Professor, Department of Anthropology, University of Copenhagen, April 2024 - present

Assistant Professor, Department of Anthropology, University of Copenhagen, 2019 - 2024

Postdoctoral Fellow, Shiley-Marcos School of Engineering, University of San Diego, 2019

Postdoctoral Fellow, School of Business, Memorial University of Newfoundland, 2018

Research Assistant, Built Environments and Active Populations (BEAP) Lab, Memorial University of Newfoundland, 2018

Research Assistant, On the Move Partnership, Memorial University of Newfoundland, 2017-2018

Memberships

OREO & Technē Researcher Groups, Department of Anthropology, KU

Copenhagen Centre for Social Data Science (SODAS), KU

Code Ethnography Collective (CECO)

Fall 2023 - Social Data Science Base Camp (co-coordinator), Fieldwork to Analysis

Spring 2023 - Anthropological Project Design, Economies of Tech

Spring 2022 - Anthropological Project Design, SDS Data Collection, Processing & Analysis

Autumn 2021 - SDS Basecamp, Economies of Tech, Fieldwork to Analysis

Spring 2021 - Anthropological Project Design

Autumn 2020 - SDS Basecamp, Digital Identities, Fieldwork to Analysis

Spring 2020 - Digital Methods

Autumn 2019 - Digital Identities, Fieldwork to Analysis