Alix Johnson

Alix Johnson serves as Assistant Professor of International Studies at Macalester College, based in Carnegie Hall, Room 407, with contact details including email ajohns39@macalester.edu and phone 651-696-6913.

Her academic credentials include:

• Ph.D. in Cultural Anthropology from University of California, Santa Cruz (2018)
• M.A. in Cultural Anthropology from University of California, Santa Cruz (2013)
• B.A. in Linguistics and French from University of California, Berkeley (2009)

Dr. Johnson's research centers on technological infrastructures—examining data centers, fiber-optic cables, and sonar surveillance networks through ethnographic methods to investigate sovereignty, spatial politics, and imperial power formations. Her work critically analyzes how digital and physical infrastructures reshape governance and place-making in Iceland and the Arctic, bridging cultural anthropology with infrastructure studies, surveillance studies, and imperial theory.

Her 2023 monograph Where Cloud is Ground: Placing Data and Making Place in Iceland (University of California Press) established significant contributions to Arctic studies, earning the 2025 Best First Book Award. She publishes in top-tier journals including American Anthropologist, American Ethnologist, and Journal of Environmental Media, where she currently serves as Associate Editor.

Her scientific recognition includes the 2025 Best First Book Award from the Society for Cinema and Media Studies.

Dr. Johnson actively contributes to academic discourse as Associate Editor of Journal of Environmental Media and through her ongoing research on Arctic technological landscapes, advising graduate students while developing new projects on infrastructure sovereignty.