Whitney Pow

Whitney (Whit) Pow is an Assistant Professor of Media, Culture, and Communication at the Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development, New York University. Their research focuses on transgender media studies, trans of color critique, queer theory, and the intersection of these fields with electronic art, video game history, and computer history. Pow’s current book project examines how trans programmers and game designers contested computational limitations to critique institutional systems. Their work analyzes how state surveillance and biopolitical processes—mediated through documents like birth certificates and diagnostic manuals—intersect with computational systems like AI and software.

Research interests include:

• Reparative video game history
• Queer orientations in software interfaces
• Glitch studies as trans historiography
• Racialized surveillance in digital systems

Recent articles highlight themes like computational metaphors’ entanglement with medical surveillance (Camera Obscura, 2024) and the necessity of software studies for critical game studies (Just Tech, 2024). Earlier work (Feminist Media Histories, 2021) explores glitches as trans resistance in digital art. A 2019 essay in ROMchip advocates for archival recovery of trans game designers like Dani Bunten Berry.

No scientific awards listed. Research grants or advising roles are not detailed in available texts. Pow’s lab/team work centers reparative digital historiography and antiracist methodologies in media studies.