Associate Director of Research, Stanford University’s Digital Civil Society Lab
Toussaint Nothias is the associate director of research at Stanford University’s Digital Civil Society Lab, a research scholar in the Stanford Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society (PACS), and a faculty affiliate of the Center for African Studies. Prior to joining Stanford, he completed his doctorate of philosophy in the School of Media and Communication at the University of Leeds in 2016. In the Spring of 2022, he was a visiting fellow in the Department of Media and Communications at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE).
His research explores the multifaceted legacy of colonial power relations on contemporary media representations, journalistic practices, associational life, and digital networks. Disciplinarily, his scholarship sits at the intersection of global communication, journalism studies, critical/cultural studies, African studies, postcolonial/decolonial theories, and critical tech studies.
The first stream of his research agenda concentrates on media stereotyping and representations of Africa in global news, and his other research stream explores digital technology and advocacy across several African contexts. His most recent article – “Access Granted: Facebook’s Free Basics in Africa”– traces the history of one of the most notorious and controversial initiatives by tech corporations to increase connectivity across the Global South: Facebook’s Free Basics project. Drawing on an innovative virtual private network (VPN)-based method, his paper outlines the key drivers behind the quiet expansion of the program to 32 African countries.
His work has been published in various journals including the Journal of Communication; Media, Culture, Society; Journalism Studies; Communication, Culture, Critique; African Journalism Studies, Visual Communication; Public Books and the International Journal of Communication.