Black Digital Humanities: State of the Field

Join the Black Digital Humanities in the Age of Technofascism research cluster at the University of Washington for a symposium and conversation on the racialized perils of digital technologies, led by scholars in the field of Black Digital Humanities alongside community-led organization Wa Na Wari and its Black Spatial Histories Institute.

From AI’s impact on ecosystems and scarce water resources to the use of surveillance technologies to suppress dissent and social movements, Black populations in the U.S. and abroad have historically been testing grounds for many of these rapid and far-reaching developments. Participants will address how digital technologies curtail freedoms and create unequal material impacts on everyday life while also highlighting the work of community-led organizations working toward a more just future.

This program is part of Public Scholarship + Practice: Black Futures + Archives, a series highlighting University of Washington-led research and practice at the intersections of visual art and culture.

Part 1: Digital Labor + Memory Work
4 – 5 PM
Inye Wokoma (Co-founder, Wa NaWari)
Sierra Parsons (Wa Na Wari, Seattle Black Spatial Histories Institute)
LaShawnDa Pittman (UW)
Kwame Otu (Georgetown University)
Golden Owens (UW)
A. E. Stevenson (University of Chicago)

Part 2: Surveillance +Counter-Surveillance
5 – 6 PM
Simone Durham (Morgan State University)
Jelani Ince (UW)
Brandy Monk-Payton (Fordham University)
Christopher Paul Harris (UC Irvine)
Chrystel Oloukoï (UW)
Rebecca Bayeck (Utah State University)