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last.updated 5.31.05

 

Race & Technology


Purpose

To examine the strained relationship between technologies and individuals of color by exploring how race gets articulated by technology and the discourse about technology.


Questions

  • On pages 2-3, Banks positions himself in opposition to the cyborg project. How does he define cyborgs? Would Haraway agree with his position?
  • How/does Blackmon's pedagogy speak to the problems of race and representation on the internet? How does her approach differ from Romano's?
  • In this set of panels, is McGruder making a statement about technology and race? How might his argument speak to Banks's book?


Banks

  • I would argue that Bank’s quote epitomizes the essence of technology today. “Racism is enforced and maintained through our technologies and the assumptions we design and program into them- and into our uses of them. Without systematic study of our relationships with technologies and technological issues, we remain subject to those technologies and the larger pattern of racism and racial exclusion that still govern American society” (pg 10)
  • In chapter 7, Banks uses “One” repeatedly with emphasis. What is he trying to do with this?
  • I need more clarification on the term “Jeremiad”. I found a definition which states a Jeremiad “is a literary work or speech expressing a bitter lament of a righteous prophecy of doom” but I need more! Then I would like a better definition of a “Digital Jeremiad.”
  • Citing Michael Powell's belittling of the Digital Divide into a "Mercedes Divide" (34) and calling on teachers to effectively use techno-tools (20), it is obvious from Banks's study that how technology is perceived by African Americans is just as important as how it is experienced and used. Is it possible to entirely differentiate entertainment and communication technologies in a society that conflates entertainment with technology?
  • Are African-American spaces online, such as BlackPlanet, as
    exclusive as they are inclusive? Are segments of the African-American
    population alienated from these spaces because of the vernacular/ rhetoric found on them?
  • Is Banks correct in his argument that cyber technology is encoded (on
    various levels) for African Americans to be, at most, passive users of the technology? Or is it, as some conservative groups argue, that years of oppression and denied education prevents a fast (by historical terms) closing of the knowledge gap between African Americans and the dominant White group?
  • What are the determining factors in the ebb and flow of African American civil rights movements and victories? Why do movements get stymied? Did the Digital Revolution cause some of the factors which eroded some of the thrust of these movements?

Blackmon

  • Is there a hidden power structure on the Net that disallows
    African-Americans from accurately representing themselves? Why did "Justin" believe there is?
  • Blackmon seems to be arguing that people are in some kind of danger of losing their identity on the Net. In the section titled "Feeling Erased in Cyperspace (p.95) she says she asks her students to look at what the web does to humans as human beings and to consider the repercussion of the formation and maintenance of a universal cyberrace. She co-mixes this section with a discussion of inequality in access to technology. I had to read this section about five times and I'm still scratching my head and wondering if these two issues--access to technology for some and erasure of culture for those who do have access--have any kind of meaningful relationship to each other. The relationship feels artificial or circumstancial to me.
  • The author facilitates learning by situating her students within a matrix of critical communication designed to raise their consciousness on topics such as race, technology, etc. How are her pedagogical initiatives (and results) different from those of Susan Romano? Which class most effectively engaged the subject of racial construction?
  • What type of reforms can be implemented to eliminate the fear cyberspace for minorities? Is the fear culturally created or socially created? Is there some systemic racism embedded in the creation of technology.
  • How does this article read in relation to Romano, who claims that many “other” students have little desire to explore their “otherness” in a personal way in a classroom? How can Blackmon ensure an honest and safe environment when some students will identify with conflicting discourse communities?
  • She poses interesting points about the value of critical thinking and the need to challenge students’ assumptions through critical inquiry and offers a description of how she has done this in her own teaching experience. However, she did not offer new possibilities or theories for what to do after the students begin engaging these questions. I am interested in what the other folks in the class think are new possibilities in light of the self reflection that Blackmon illuminates.

McGruder

  • The child in the comic strip represents both cynicism and IT skill as the story of "grandaddy's myspace" account unfolds. How does the comic strip construct the child's subjectivity and the concept of technology? Does he have computer access of his own? Is technology for entertainment only?
  • Is McGruder just making fun of old people, or is he suggesting that different people (and generations) can use technologies in different ways?
  • What is McGruder saying about Grandad’s naiveté towards MySpace while simultaneous presenting misleading signs of his own? Could this cartoon be written with a white grandfather and grandson and would the message be any different?
  • I think it is interesting that one group that often gets overlooked in conversations about technology and or the web is the senior group. Perhaps as much as any other group that is “other”, seniors may feel marginalized and excluded from technology due to their age and lack of exposure. However, there are some interesting case studies that show increasing use in this demographic segment followed by an increasing knowledge base.
  • Is this cartoon supposes to illustrate a generational gap in the understanding and use of technology, the perverted uses of technology, or is it just a illustration on how people use technology to establish their various needs.
  • Is McGruder positing a generational gap rather than a racial gap
    in his story of Grandad on the Net? Is this an overlooked argument in terms of the Digital Divide?
  • BTW, http://www.myspace.com/robertjebfreeman is really Grandpa’s web address. He has over 1020 friends, which makes him pretty popular by the MySpace standard.

    McGruder himself is located at http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=48843494 and has 13152 friends