Title: Digital Black Feminism
Author: Dr. Catherine Knight Steele
Rating: 5 / 5 stars
Favorite Quote: “Digital black feminists demand a space that revolves around Black women. Black feminism does not exist to correct white feminism, the beauty shop is not a derivative of the barbershop, and Black feminist technoculture is not defined through its resistance to white technoculture. The critical lesson of Black feminist technoculture is that we stop using whiteness as the lens through which we examine technology and maleness as the lens through which we examine Blackness. When we lift those limitations, Black feminist technoculture provides an essential tool for understanding technology and society.” Catherine Knight Steele. Digital Black Feminism. E-book ed., NYU Press, 2021.
Review: Thank you to the publisher, NYU Press, and the NetGalley platform for the e-ARC I received in exchange for an honest review.
From the very first line, I was absolutely hooked. From the title of this book, I picked it up expecting Digital Black Feminism to be about the lives and work of Black feminist in our contemporary, technology-centered culture. And the later chapters of this book very much deliver on that expectation. But even more than that, this book also provides an historical analysis of how Black women have used technology throughout history to create spaces for themselves and others and to advocate for and work towards justice and equality.
Digital Black Feminism analyzes the way traditional structures of understanding technology (and other topics in life and culture) have developed by excluding the analysis of Black women and non-binary folks in those structures. Dr. Steele emphasizes the fact that just because Black women and non-binary folks are absent from histories (such as the historical analyses of technological innovation), that does not mean they actually were or are absent. In fact, Dr. Steele draws from a long line of work that shows the opposite - Black women and non-binary folks throughout history have used technology to subvert traditional racial and gender power dynamics and to create spaces for themselves that meet their needs and address issues relevant and of interest to their lives.
The historical analysis is probably my favorite aspect of this book. It roots Dr. Steele’s thesis regarding contemporary uses of technology in a broader narrative that serves to demonstrate her arguments across time.
Another aspect of this book that I really appreciate is the balance between academic theory and the specific examples she provides to illustrate the more theoretical concepts she discusses. I think that this not only furthers the author’s point, it also makes this even more accessible for individuals who may not have as academic of a background. Like I mentioned earlier, it’s been a while since I was in an academic environment where works like this may be widely read and discussed. And some of the concepts are one that are outside the areas I used to study when I was in school, so some of the concepts were new to me. But having the academic side explored alongside examples that are more widely known (for instance, there are multiple sections about Beyonce) provide a context for the more theoretical concepts found in the book.
These examples also serve another purpose - they achieve a goal Dr. Steele articulated in the conclusion of the book:
While I am committed to doing critical work that unpack these nuances, one
contribution I hope this text makes to future researchers is a commitment to the
people at the center of the work . . . I take caution in whom I cite . . . In this text, I
choose to cite and publicize the work of those who through their public writing,
signal a willingness to enter the public discourse on issues of race and gender.
Catherine Knight Steele. Digital Black Feminism. E-book ed., NYU Press, 2021.
Finally, I think Dr. Steele strikes a really great balance between the utility of and necessity of digital black feminism and the limits placed on advocacy in general, including digital black feminism, when it exists in a capitalist structure.
This is a book that I intend to read more than once because I feel like it has so much more to offer than I was able to learn in just one reading. Dr. Steele is clearly a brilliant academic and it’s been a while since I’ve had the opportunity to read an academic work critically - I want to exercise my brain muscles a bit more before I read it again so that I can learn and understand even more. I plan on buying myself a copy and will likely keep it in mind for books I give to or recommend to friends and family.
About that Quote: While it’s impossible to capture the nuances of this book, I think this particular quote goes really far in capturing the broad themes of this book. It touches a bit on the analogy to the beauty shop that Dr. Steele uses to develop her arguments, thus tying the book together, and provides a roadmap for the arguments that are developed throughout the book.
Have you read Digital Black Feminism? It’s out now and I highly recommend it. Share your thoughts below!
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