Jenna Supp-Montgomerie is Associate Professor of Communication Studies and Religious Studies at the University of Iowa. Her work examines the historical and theological underpinnings of modern communication systems, often through attention to infrastructure and material conditions. In this interview, she draws on her research into the Atlantic telegraph to show how religious imaginaries shaped early network culture, embedding ideas of connection, unity, and transcendence into technological systems. At the same time, she emphasizes what those narratives obscure: breakdown, delay, and disconnection. Rather than treating these as failures, she frames them as constitutive features of communication, opening analytical space for thinking beyond seamless connectivity. Her reflections extend into environmental concerns, highlighting how infrastructures—whether cables or waterways—reshape how humans inhabit and imagine the world.
