so many jonathan grays

There are so many Jonathan Grays out there doing so many different things - as though in a multiverse. As anyone with a common name will know this can feel unsettling and comfortingly decentring.

There are researcher Jonathan Grays, including in cultural studies, media studies, communication studies, and other humanities and social research fields. We’ve received emails, invitations and algorithmically generated “is this you?” notifications meant for each other. Our pages, records and publication lists have been merged and entangled in search engine results, bibliographic indices and library catalogues.

While many of my publications and writings (2012-2022) have been published simply as Jonathan Gray, as of 2022 I’ve started using my middle initials and writing as Jonathan W. Y. Gray as a belated and somewhat half-hearted contribution towards disambiguation.1

In the spirit of the Grace Lee project here are some of the other Jonathan Grays on the internet. If you’re another Jonathan Gray, say hi!

  1. It is also tempting to affirm the ambiguities of authorship and identification that comes with a common name - like an accidental Luther Blissett or nominal hive mind