//A Bit, How I'm dwelling now

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I'm currently a PhD student at the University of Texas at Austin, in the department of Geography and the Environment. My Masters was done in Human Geography at the University of Amsterdam.

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My doctoral research contemplates the role that simulated Natures[1] in virtual reality (VR) play in shaping trajectories of human-environment relations. In order to unravel the current forms and functions of this medium, I investigate various ways in which VR is used to provide experiences of Nature, and consider how these Natures act as arenas in which human-environment relationships are (re)considered, (re)negotiated, contemplated and enacted. This research centers the socio-material entanglements of virtual Nature environments, contextualizes this within a broader discussion of mediated subjectivity within technocapitalism, and considers the overlap of the two as a dynamic and central geographic question of the Technocapitalocene[2] epoch.

 

[1] Following Max Liboiron’s (Pollution is Colonialism) capitalization of Nature as a strategy of renouncing the idea of a singular, universal ‘nature’, instead treating it as a contingent proper noun that is highly specific to one place, time and culture.

[2] I converse with ongoing debates about how agency is attribute in the naming of our current geologic era. Some have argued the term ‘Anthropocene’ does not do justice to the heterogeneity of humanity and differential contributions to climate change. Others have argued ‘Capitalocene’ more aptly puts the responsibility of climate change in the hands of our contemporary extractive and exploitative economic structure. I use Technocapitalocene to signal the increasing importance of technology in shaping our capitalist economy’s relation to Earth and the lives lived on it.  

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Interests: Virtual Reality, human-environment relations, affect, assemblage theory, relational space, non-representational geography, more-than-human geography, post-phenomenology, abstract photography, trying to find sweetness in iMovie, gas stations on the gulf coast, painting with oils, eating fruits, walking in creek beds

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contact me with anything! claire.fitch@utexas.edu

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