Dr. Jennifer Petersen

Biography

Jennifer Petersen researches the implications of media technologies, law, historical constitution, emotion, reason, communication, and the law, as well as the public culture surrounding technology. She has written extensively on topics such as hate speech, the First Amendment, and media technologies. Her recent book, 'Machines Came to Speak: Media Technologies and Freedom of Speech' (2022, Duke University Press), explores how changes in media technologies—from silent film to computer code—transformed the ways legal practitioners understand communication, ultimately enabling a broader inclusion of diverse objects and actions into the legal guarantees of freedom of speech. Another significant work, 'Murder, Media, Politics and Public Feelings: Remembering Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr.' (2011, Indiana University Press), analyzes how media coverage of activism surrounding high-profile hate crimes has shaped public emotions and served as rhetorical grounds for the passage of law. Currently, she is focusing on the history of conceptions of agency, intelligence, and artificial intelligence, along with the legal implications of AI and personhood. Before joining USC, she worked at the University of Virginia, where she was affiliated with the Department of Women, Gender, and Sexuality.

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