Introduction: Thinking of a Black Digital Ethos

Abstract

This special issue offers a series of cross-disciplinary perspectives from a network of Black scholars in sociology, technology, media studies and humanities living through economic, political, social, and technological paradigm shifts that prompt us to revisit Stuart Hall’s question, “What is this Black in Black popular culture?” in the context of Black Digital Culture. We take up the challenge to center Black technocultural production on social media platforms through an intersectional lens. Using critical approaches including Black Feminist Thought (as articulated by Patricia Hill Collins, Sylvia Wynter, bell hooks, and Kimberlé Crenshaw among others), Black Cyberfeminism (Kishonna Gray, Catherine Knight Steele, and Tressie McMillan Cottom), and Andre Brock’s Critical Technocultural Discourse Analysis, we investigate how race, gender, and digital media technologies have informed and influenced Black digital culture.