Dr. Ali Karimi

Biography

Karimi’s current research examines the power politics the state produces, organizes, and uses population information. He studies this problem mostly in the context of weak states in the Global South where data is a contested source of information injustice that significantly affects marginalized groups. He is currently working on a book examining the history of counting in Afghanistan. This book demonstrates how numerical information—or the lack thereof—can impact the state, society, and market at large. Grounded in the intersection of media studies and Science and Technology Studies, his project is based on unexamined archival sources from Afghanistan and ethnographic fieldwork. Karimi received his PhD from McGill University, and his research was supported by the Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship. Prior to joining the University of Calgary, he was a postdoctoral fellow at the Centre for Advanced Research in Global Communication at the Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania.

Research Interests