The Digital Lives of Black Women in Britain

verfasst von: Dr. Francesca Sobande

Verlag: Springer International Publishing

Buchreihe : Palgrave Studies in (Re)Presenting Gender

Enthalten in: Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik" , Springer Professional "Wirtschaft"

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Über dieses Buch

Based on interviews and archival research, this book explores how media is implicated in Black women’s lives in Britain. From accounts of twentieth-century activism and television representations, to experiences of YouTube and Twitter, Sobande's analysis traverses tensions between digital culture’s communal, counter-cultural and commercial qualities.

Chapters 2 and 4 are available open access under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License via link.springer.com.

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Frontmatter

1. Why the Digital Lives of Black Women in Britain?

Abstract

This chapter outlines questions that buttress this work, such as: How is digital media implicated in the lives of Black women in Britain? In what ways do such digital experiences involve forms of creativity and cultural production? How are the intersections of anti-Black racism, sexism, and capitalism connected to this? What is the ‘digital’ in the lives of Black women in Britain, and how can it be both a source of joy and pain? How and why are Black women often identified as digital ‘trendsetters’, while being both erased and hyper-visible as creators, knowledge-producers, and social movement builders? This chapter provides an overview of key themes in this book, including digital diasporic dynamics and transnational, national, and regional relations.

Francesca Sobande

Open Access

2. Black Women and the Media in Britain

Abstract

This chapter outlines media developments and key matters concerning the on-screen depiction of Black women in Britain in recent decades. It draws on material accessed at the Black Cultural Archives (BCA) in Brixton, London and the Spare Rib digital archive at the British Library. This chapter discusses self-representing and organising in relation to Black women and the media. The discussion explores the politics of representation in connection with superficiality, conceptualisations of Black women’s media experiences and television representations, as well as the influence of variations regarding regionality and rurality. This chapter emphasises that due to the geo-culturally and socio-politically specific setting of Britain—and its consititutive nations—work focused on the lives of Black women (t)here demands a critical lens that is sensitive to this context’s various characteristics.

Francesca Sobande

PDF Zum Volltext

3. Black Women’s Digital, Creative, and Cultural Industry Experiences

Abstract

This chapter focuses on Black women’s contemporary digital, creative, and cultural industry experiences. It reflects on the overlap between tacit issues concerning racial, gender, and cultural identity in online spaces, and tensions between the emancipatory, enterprising, enjoyable and extractive dimensions of the digital experiences of Black women in Britain—which are inevitably impacted by capitalist infrastructures. This chapter addresses how labour is (un)defined and understood in society, in ways influenced by social hierarchies and structural exploitation linked to anti-Black racism, sexism, classism and different interlocking oppressions. Traumatic aspects of Black women’s digital experiences are discussed, as well as the endeavours of self-serving and institutionally racist arts organisations that attempt to ‘diversify’ their brand image by spectacularising Black people.

Francesca Sobande

Open Access

4. Black Women’s Digital Diaspora, Collectivity, and Resistance

Abstract

This chapter highlights issues to do with Black digital diasporic content and communication. It discusses how Black women’s digital activity can enable them to deal with experiences of oppression that are specific to their lives and in communal ways. This chapter explores resistant credentials of some of the digital experiences of Black women in Britain, while reckoning with potentially conflicting aspects of counter-cultural practices which exist in the context of digital consumerism. This discussion features analysis of how Black American popular and digital culture contributes to some of the digital encounters and lives of Black women in Britain in impactful ways. Overall, this chapter focuses on Black women’s experiences of knowledge-sharing online, including via natural hair video blogs (vlogs) on YouTube.

Francesca Sobande

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5. (Un)Defining the Digital Lives of Black Women in Britain

Abstract

This chapter is a closing consideration of why digital terrains continue to be a source of pleasure, creativity, and knowledge-sharing, as well as distress and danger for Black women in Britain. It reflects on the (un)definable nature of the digital experiences of Black women in Britain, similarities and differences between them, and the impact of the COVID-19 (coronavirus) global pandemic in 2020.

Francesca Sobande

Backmatter

Titel: The Digital Lives of Black Women in Britain
verfasst von: Dr. Francesca Sobande
Verlag: Springer International Publishing
Electronic ISBN: 978-3-030-46679-4
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-46678-7
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-46679-4