Race and the Digital: Racial Formation and 21st Century Technologies

"Beyond Margins: Intersectionality and the Digital Humanities By Kid Comet"

Goth







Media Summary:

Citation:

http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=Goth&FORM=HDRSC2

http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=Afro%20Goth&qs=n&form=QBIRMH&pq=afro%20goth&sc=3-9&sp=-1&sk=

Employ observational science, and make note of the difference in styles, tones, and ethnicities between the two searches. You can also feel free to search for yourself and gaze upon the riff that exist within the imagery of Alternative culture.



Reading Summary:

Citation: Risam, Roopika. "Beyond the Margins: Intersectionality and the Digital Humanities." Digitalhumanities.org. The Alliance Of Digital Humanities Organizations, 2015. Web. 04 May 2016. http://www.digitalhumanities.org/dhq/vol/9/2/000208/000208.html                         

The article actually has a very nice abstract at the top of the piece that lets you know exactly what is entailed; the abstract does an excellent job in talking about what Risam's piece will entail. Moving forward, Risam's article, "Beyond the Margins: Intersectionality and the Digital Humanities confronts the process between methodology and theory. Throughout the article, Risam's takes you through a myriad of quotes which make the reading a tad bit wordy but informative. The first major area she touches down on, talks about the realization within the Digital Humanities for representation that includes minorities and gives a critical perspective that fosters thoughtful diversity to that field. "Such calls suggest that scholars within digital humanities have begun recognizing the need for inclusive representation and a critical approach that foregrounds intellectual diversity within the field." (Risam Paragraph 2) From there, she talks about the need for cultural diversity and begins to advocate against the normative/traditional structure of Humanities that has a Binary (truth or false or Basic Bitch) level of logic. "As a lens for scholarship in the digital humanities, intersectionality resists binary logic, encourages complex analysis, and foregrounds difference." (Risam Paragraph 5) Risam takes it a step further, and begins to advocate for not just a simple "add and mix" where a new system would be formed; "This identity based mixing does little to address the structural parameters that are set up when a homogeneous group has been at the center and don’t automatically engender understanding across forms of difference" (Risam Paragraph 19) But would marginalize the efforts of minorities but rather a new base that would posses either an "Umbrella" type structure that encompasses Intersectionality or one of a "Tent" type structure that possess the many facets of Intersectionality within the Digital Humanities. 


 

Analysis:

In answering the Analysis question of how these two pieces may relate to each other:

Although it may seem like a stretch, the results shown here are clear and a distinguishable marker of Intersectionality that exists with the Digital Humanities. One may be inclined to believe and not even consider the experience , imagery, or structure that exists within Intersectionality. The imagery alone within this alternative niche can create debates over difference in the digital humanities within the context of the culture and personal perspective. Within the Digital Humanities, It surveys projects, outlining the need for alternate histories of the digital humanities told through intersectional lenses (eg. goth, afro/goth). Ultimately, both pieces encourage deeper intersectional analysis which is needed to expand intellectual diversity in the field and move difference beyond the margins of the digital humanities.



 

Discussion Questions:
 

1. Do you believe we have created a successful and thriving creative, and diverse field; If the answer is yes, what may be be the next step for the Digital Humanities? And if no, why not?

2. "Retro-Humanism" was a term only used once within Risam's paper. It went undefined, and in doing a search for the term, yielded no results. As a class, can we think of how "Retro-Humanities" may be different from "Digital Humanities"

3. "Divide and Conquered? or Divided, and Conquer?" Do you consider yourself apart of any groups of insectionality? And do you think it is important to have a space where you can be recognized for your difference compared to a group, even if you and the group are both working for the same cause?

This page has paths:

This page has replies:

  1. I think that we have done a good job of creating a thriving place online where people can communicate and have a creative space to express themselves. Again, one of the large issues that is present is the fact that some people do not have access to technologies that allow for this creative space to truly thrive and prosper. This is very limiting in lots of different aspects in the sense that a lot of voices are being stopped from expressing themselves. I think that the people who do have access to these technologies will have an unfair advantage and ability to create more and add to these cyber spaces. I think that I do belong to certain groups that celebrate their differences. I think it is important for these subgroups to exist in order for other people to celebrate their identity and to find something they like about themselves. People need a certain reinforcement and subgroups serve exactly that purpose.
  2. After reading the articles and attending lecture, I strongly believe that the Digital Humanities are not successful nor diverse. This is due to the Digital Divide. Access to ICTs is still unevenly disproportionate. There are household and areas with no internet access. And if people are unable to access the internet, they really can't participate or interact with the Digital Humanities. So no, there should be improvement in making the DH more accessible, social justice driven, and diverse.

    I do consider myself apart of many inter-sectional groups. I think the main one is as a Chicana. Chicana is a political identity for women who are of Mexican American descent and want equal treatment compared to white, and male. I think it is important to have a space where I can feel accepted and kind of as a support system. On Facebook and other social media sites, there are many pages that are devoted to Chicana/Latina feminists. Knowing that these pages exists shows some growth in accessibility to women of color.

    I also wanted to comment on your Media. When doing a general search of any thing, the result is usually white-oriented. If you want people of color, you do have to type in the ethnic group you want. I did the same thing by typing in Christmas family, and the results were the same. It was definitely a White Christmas. And if I wanted to see more people of color, I had to alter my search. It's actually unbelievable, but it furthers the point that the internet hasn't caught up with equal representation yet.