Black feminist and digital media studies in Britain

Abstract

ABSTRACT Based on an in-depth discussion between us (six Black PhD and early career researchers), this work explores burgeoning Black feminist and digital media studies in Britain. Our article is rooted in dialogue about Black feminist digital culture, communications, aesthetics, joy, and our different yet interconnected scholarly experiences. We consider who and what shapes the work that we do, the way we approach it, and how it has developed in recent years. Specifically, our thoughts relate to five expansive and interlinked themes: 1. Digital Blackness, Twitter, and Community-Building, 2. Aesthetics, Archives, and Knowledge Production, 3. Pressures, Projections, and Power Dynamics, 4. Research on/as Black Feminist Joy and Pleasure, 5. The Politics of Research. By reflecting on our research and encounters in academia we provide an overview of key aspects of Black feminist and digital media studies in Britain, including how such scholarship is impacted by the specifics of where we are (and have been) located. In doing so, we share insights at the nexus of Black studies, digital studies, cultural studies, and feminist media studies that foreground possibilities, problems, playfulness, and pleasure that can be part of doing Black feminist and digital media studies work in Britain.